Taken from the TwelveStars own web-page:

In the mid 1990’s, Nicolas was asked to assist in the brand and marketing re-launch of the European Movement, a European think tank founded in 1950 by Sir Winston Churchill. Following the successful launch of this project, which was noticed by MEPs and the European Commission, Nicolas was called on by the European Parliament to help the EEC (now the EU) to better understand how Europeans perceived the European Community, its institutions, enlargement and its future currency, the ECU (later renamed the EURO). Nicolas undertook a series of large scale research projects which identified the difficulties Europe faced in engaging with its citizens.

Nicolas found that citizens did not understand the European project, the EU institutions or their mission. Most importantly, the symbols of the EU, like the European flag, the choice of Beethoven’s 9th symphony as the EU anthem or the fact that the 9th of May was Europe’s day, failed to resonate with most Europeans.

Nicolas presented these problems along with his radical recommendations to define a future vision of Europe that would clarify the project’s purpose to millions of citizens and engage them emotionally. The project required the agreement, cooperation and collaboration of several EU institutions but due to internal EU politics and bureaucracy the project proved impossible to implement. Most of the issues Nicolas’ project addressed are still as important today as they were back then and the EU is still dealing with the difficulties Nicolas identified; as recently as last year(2005!) the European Constitution was rejected by EU citizens.

As part of his work with the EU, Nicolas privately funded Captain Euro, a superhero character used to research how people felt about EU identity and citizenship. The project became an overnight sensation and made the cover of the Wall Street Journal and was featured in global TV news media. Simple Minds dedicated their City Lights theme to Captain Euro. The Captain Euro project continues to engage people from around the world and the website receives thousands of international visits to this day.

And here is our up-to-date redesign of this magnificent piece of art:

Incidentally, did you realise you were living in an era of Brand Wars?