On 1 February 2010 we changed our brand name from Global Refund to Global Blue and we have developed an exciting new brand identity in the process. Although many companies seek to refresh their brands on a regular basis, there were a number of strategic imperatives that underpinned our decision to move our brand forward.

Why we’ve changed

In the past few years we’ve been working hard to develop and expand our business model to become multi-product, multi-customer and multimedia. We found that the perception of our brand lagged behind the reality of our business and we needed to make a big transformation to announce the change. Specifically, the word ‘refund’ in Global Refund was proving a brake on our business growth as it led people to believe that all we did was administer tax refunds.

A new name, a new logo

We chose Global Blue as we wanted a name that would allow us to expand into a wide variety of areas and develop a brand that would be able to forge a lasting relationship with travellers all over the world. Along with our identity, which heavily features blue, our name pays respect to our heritage while moving us forward into the next chapter of our growth.

Our new logo, ‘the journey’, is illustrated by a line that represents the trajectory of journeys travellers make as they move from country to country around the world. Each pathway is unique and the line – just like the journey – is endless.

A beacon for shopping

We aim to build, very quickly, one of the most recognised brands on the planet and become a trusted friend for travellers when they’re shopping and spending in foreign countries. We’re making it clear who’s behind the world’s biggest Tax Free Shopping programme; the Tax Free Shopping sign is an icon that’s already on display in over 300,000 shop windows around the world.

This is the driving force that will enable us to better provide merchants with access to international travellers – and to provide those travellers with the insights and inspiration that will make shopping the main attraction when they head abroad.