Redefining renewable energy

Relevate Power was formed in May 2023 with one powerful mission: to produce clean affordable energy and, through this, power local communities and enhance quality of life.

The company acquires water dams in the US and restores them to create affordable, clean energy that connects back to local customers; enabling businesses to meet their requirements to go green, create local jobs, and deliver sustainable energy to communities.

“Our company revitalizes old hydroelectric facilities spread across rural America to provide 24/7 renewable energy, which these rural communities require to meet the energy transition,” says Matt Wenger, CEO at Relevate Power.

When the business got its start five years ago, they explored how to solve the challenges of climate change using renewable technology. Though solar and wind power were heavily invested in, hydroelectric power, which has existed for centuries, had seemingly been forgotten about – leaving those facilities in disrepair and heavily impacting on the communities which they served.

“These facilities were beginning to fall apart, causing massive implications and ramifications. This infrastructure is critical to the social, economic, and environmental flourishing of rural communities across America. We apply our skills and passions to help revitalize, reinvest in, and restore these assets to bring them back to their peak,” explains Wenger.

Though the business purpose to help local life flourish was lived every day on the ground by its employees, the existing brand did not fully encapsulate their ambition and passion, causing a disconnect. In Wenger’s words, the brand made the business appear “small and scrappy” and not indicative of the great, regenerative work they were doing, making it difficult to raise the investment needed for the company to continue redefining renewable energy.

“Although we loved our purpose and essence, the brand wasn’t on the same level and needed to be elevated. We engaged Brandpie with a challenge to evolve the brand with a tight deadline of just 10 weeks. We were taking the business to market to raise capital and wanted to avoid confusion with the old brand.”

Purposeful intent

This was a pivotal moment for Matt and the team at Relevate. The brand needed to be rebuilt and elevated to better capture the essence of the company – powering local communities with clean affordable energy – and deliver this, ready to launch, in just two months.

“We had done a lot of soul-searching to clearly understand who we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it,” says Wenger. “This was the springboard from which the new brand started to take shape and flow.”

Through the lens of their vision for regeneration, Brandpie delivered a new positioning – ‘Next level energy’ – name, brand identity, website, corporate assets, and messaging to mirror the mission that lies at the heart of the business – to make a difference and preserve quality of life in rural communities.

“Thanks to the commitment and deep engagement from Matt and his team, we were able to work closely together and in an agile way to develop the new brand identity, website, and assets in a condensed time frame,” says Jennifer Goodchild, Brandpie Account Director. “That level of commitment is special and made for a dynamic and interesting partnership.”

Reflections of our time

The new name, Relevate Power, was created in just four weeks. To ‘relevate’ is to lift the spirit, to enhance, improve, restore character, and to elevate. This perfectly captures the company’s commitment to regeneration, renewal, and its pledge to help local communities flourish.

"Our challenge with renaming the company was that everyone loved the original name, but it wasn’t ownable. Working with naming consultants, Skriptor Zigila, we developed the new name – which is more meaningful than the original yet emotionally close to it. It successfully moves the business forward while remaining true to its DNA and purpose,” Nick Ranger, Managing Partner at Brandpie, said.

Every element of the brand was given careful consideration to better represent the business and to show the delicate balance and connection between nature and humanity.

“The brand began to take shape. We developed a wonderful blue line as a visual element that represents the river connecting our communities, with blue squares to show the impact of energy nodes on different locations. This visual element is used throughout, creating a sense of flow and connection between all elements,” explains Wenger.

This is further reinforced in the new identity symbol, which delivers on several levels: It represents the flow of water through a turbine, the regeneration of waterpower infrastructure, and the combination of sustainable renewable energy sources – water and solar.

“For the logo, we landed on a symbol that represents the water wheel as a reflection of the cascading blue river. The water wheel pays homage to the history of water power but, at the same time, represents a modern turbine. The combination of solar and hydro power is showcased through the rays over the water wheel, which portray the sun,” says Wenger.

This concept of balance, and of subtlety and boldness is captured in each asset of the brand and encapsulated in the website to take the brand externally to the market.

“We’re paying homage to the history and the shoulders of giants that we stand on, but also looking forward into the future and the change we're making to revitalize and preserve the quality of life in our communities. So much of our brand is about balance – rather than showing the extremes between good and bad – and this is a true reflection of our time.”

Relevate Power is a company of ambitious people with the drive and vision to change the face of renewables. Their new brand perfectly captures their ambition; taking renewables and their business to the next level. It has allowed them to go to market fast, secure new investment, and grow and build a sustainable future.