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[00:00.41] We're talking about branding.

[00:02.00] And in particular, we're looking at one brand.

[00:04.93] We're looking at the British cycling team, Team Sky, and how, after only two years of racing, they were the most recognised of all the teams on the Tour, the Tour de France.

[00:19.00] Yeah, so how did that happen, eh, Richard?

[00:21.13] Well we should say, of course, that they are an incredibly ambitious and successful team.

[00:28.30] They didn't start until 2010, did they?

[00:30.69] And they had this amazing aim to create the first British winner of the Tour de France within five years.

[00:37.33] Mmm, and they actually achieved it within two.

[00:40.79] Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France to become the first British rider in 2012.

[00:46.89] And then his Sky teammate, Chris Froome, won it the following year. So an amazing achievement for a fairly new company.

[00:55.13] Going back to 2010, the Sky team, they needed to create a brand that would inspire the world's best riders, didn't they?

[01:03.63] And to get everyone, their partners and the fans behind it, but without ever having won anything.

[01:10.27] The man behind Team Sky, the brains, if you like, Dave Brailsford, he approached a British design company... Antidote. ...called Antidote, and they developed together their idea, and they called it The Line.

[01:26.47] It's been brought to life across everything.

[01:29.39] The kit, the bikes, the vehicles, the website, the advertising, and the team merchandise.

[01:36.30] And in fact, it's referred to explicitly in editorials by journalists as well.

[01:42.41] The Sky team, The Line. Exactly.

[01:45.60] So where did they get this idea then for The Line?

[01:48.79] Well, it was an idea that the graphic design company came up with that developed from the team philosophy, this idea that there's a thin line between winning and losing, between failure and success, between good and great.

[02:04.99] And Team Sky think it's a fine line that challenges everything that they do.

[02:09.50] Yes, and now they say, isn't it, we ride the line every day. Yeah.

[02:14.02] I quite like the idea as well that The Line represents the line of cyclists that you see when you watch the Tour de France, when you see the peloton stretched out.

[02:24.13] I quite like that idea as well.

[02:25.72] But they took this line, this idea of The Line, the graphic designers, and they put that amazing bright blue strip all the way down the back of the riders against their black shirts.

[02:39.00] And it's extraordinarily striking.

[02:41.13] Yes, and it's practical as well because obviously that line of blue stands out against the black so the riders can pick each other out more easily during races, as do the fans on the roadsides and those watching on TV. Yeah, the helicopters.

[02:58.13] When the helicopter goes over, you can see the Sky train.

[03:01.31] Exactly. And the interesting thing is though, it's not the colours of Sky, they're sponsors either.

[03:07.95] It's a completely separate colour that they've developed just for the cycling team.

[03:12.47] A whole new concept that goes with the team.

[03:15.66] Well, it's certainly worked, hasn't it, Richard, in creating a strong identity.

[03:21.24] It's certainly a strong, very strong corporate identity.

[00:00.00] And maybe that's the success behind a very strong winning team.