Sometime last year I was approached by Vasakronan, Swedens largest property brand with a property portfolio valued at SEK 80.3 billion. Being a market leader the felt their digital presence had to reflect that position. Their question: What do we do? As always I teamed up with Caroline Karlström and accepted the challenge to answer that question. In this project I took on the role as both head of strategy and concept as well as actually delivering the top level designs of the new Vasakronan that Britny later implemented and refined.

This is what we did. Parts of the new Vasakronan digital brand presence

The new Vasakronan.se runs WordPress!

Me and Caroline started the project with an analysis phase and analysed their existing presence, the traffic to their site, the content, the design and the site structure. We interviewed representatives from Vasakronan as well as their clients and potential prospects. We also performed an extensive technical analysis of their technical platform. Their brand presence online was running on Episerver, one of Swedens most common content management platforms and the front end was about three years old. It was classical site with tons of sections and also some flash content.

The old Vasakronan.se site.

On top of that the site was connected to their back end, partly built on Sharepoint. Already from start I felt that there was no need for this complex set up. If you also include the fact that Vasakronan intended to lead – not follow, then I also thought we needed to look at modern platforms such as WordPress.

Once we’ve passed the analysis phase, it was clear that there really was no need to run Vasakronan off Episerver. Instead we decided to give WordPress a try. WordPress would, beside the fact that the platform is free, give Vasakronan the ability to adapt to the world outside, fast! WordPress has got some 20000 developers devoted to making sure the platform is up to date. Future branding is all about making sure you stay on top technology instead of being dictated by technology due to the fact that you’re stuck in a slow developed platform. Vasakronans ambition moving forward is also to be a part of that community, meaning develop new plugins and functionalities that other brands can make good use of.

A new brand plattform needed to be digitalized.

Part from the fact that Vasakronan’s digital presence was a couple of years old another important fact was also that they we’re redesigning their brand language. Not their logo – but their tone of voice, their graphical expressions, colors and how they worked with images. This was a challenge.

Parts of the Vasakronan brand manual that we had to digitalize.

Their new brand language was classical yet bold, however it was clearly developed to be used offline. I’m personally a big fan of simplicity and there was something in that brand presentation we were handed that struck a chord inside me.

The new Vasakronan.se – on brand!

The challenge to bring this stuff online was something that made me smile. After some tweaking back and fourth I felt that I had nailed the graphical concept quite well. It was fresh, clean, usable and on brand.

Great content and simplicity is the new black.

Until now Vasakronan had been working quite a lot with SEM activities. However, their SEO presence was nothing to brag about. In order for this to change I developed a concept that was based on how blogs work. Basically, the content bloggers pushed ends up further down the site structure as more content is being pushed.

An example of how content from the first page is being pushed down in other sections

Considering the website analytic part of the project pointed in the direction few, if any visitors, were interesting surfing the Vasakronan website, instead people landed on one page, clicked one or two pages to get what they were there for and then left, I felt we needed to simplify everything – the site structure, the navigation, the amount of pages and way you search for new properties and of course also the design.

Simplicity was something we kept on striving for all through the project

Yet we also needed people to actually find Vasakronan. There’s of course tons of traffic ending up on Vasakronan via typed url’s or a search for Vasakronan. But there’s also a huge potential in attracting people through generic search. In order to establish a broader and better presence on Google we decided to make better use of Vasakronan’s customer magasine ‘En bättre värd’ (A better host).

Making sure content is spread over multiple platforms to do good for the brand.

On the old site this magazine was published once a month as a PDF. Fine, the PDF attracts Google spiders too – but the content is not very readable online. This magazine was packed with quality content that will do a great job when the spiders comes crawling. Said and done. We established a section called Inspiration & lägen (Inspiration and locations) where the magazine is now portioned in smaller bits over time – just like a blogger would publish it.

iPhone and iPads. What should you do?

If you ask around I think most agencies out there will tell you that you must have a site for mobiles and one for iPads and other tables. I beg to differ. My point of view is that the visitors you have will visit your brand from different devices but that doesn’t mean they’re interested in learning new ways to navigate depending on which device they use today.

People should not have to learn new navigations from one device to another.

This is why I, when I started to design the site, aimed to create a design that would work on your desktop computer, your laptop, iPad and ultimately the smartphone of your choice. Of course it’s important to make sure you’ve thought about mobile sites and apps too. I don’t think there’s ever a need for a specific app or mobile interface to browse the generic content on Vasakronan.se if it’s built and designed right.

Trying out how content could be swiped in potential future apps.

However I definitely think there’s a need for apps that gives landlords, tennants and other target groups the ultimate way to access information and nurture their relation with vasakronan. For these needs we of course designed extra proof of concepts to make sure we didn’t launch anything that could not be developed further.

Now it’s time to put the concept into action – we need more pro’s!

Brands like Vasakronan hire me to make change happen. My assignment usually includes a strategy phase, a concept phase and a visualisation phase. With a set of different tools such as strategic and technical analysis, problem definition, conceptual and creative develoment and prototyping I help brands, in this case Vasakronan, to establish a communication platform. It’s extremely important to deliver the conceptual and creative concepts without having to think about your own organisation – this is why I do not recommend having an agency that delivers both the concept and the implementation – it usually ends up being something that agency makes money off suggestion.

In this case me and Caroline together with different freelancers delivered a concept that focused on creating the best possible solution online for Vasakronan – now it was time to find the best fitted consultant that could take our concept and implement it. In order to find that consultant we, together with Vasakronan, selected five agencies. After having heard the agencies present themselves we also asked them to present how they were to implement the concept we had delivered for Vasakronan. Britny, Swedish kick ass web agency that I’d been working with before, delivered a fantastic presentation. It was clear that both their creative department and technical department understood why we’d chosen the solutions we had and how we intended them to be implemented.

The listing of properties – the concept brought all the way by Britny

Said and done – Britny and Vasakronan came to an agreement and they started working on the implementation of our project. From our side Caroline left the project and I stayed on board to secure that the concept we’d delivered would be treated right. It was also important to make sure the kept to our technical strategy when using WordPress as the content management system. We’d built in tons of strategical and graphical executions that only made sense if you’d built them into WordPress the right way. The team at Britny did a fantastic job when taking our concept further. They treated it with great care. I especially found it rewarding that their lead designer, Daniel Stridsberg and head of tech Fillip Wastman, embraced the design platform I had initiated and nurtured it well. Except for Daniel and Fillip the team consisted of Iyob Mesfin, Jonas Rogert and Jonas Eriksson all equally important.

The result?

Vasakronan has managed to revamp their online presence in a magnificant way. The new site is easier to use, we’ve taken away all second level menues we’ve could, the design is on brand and may I say so – ground braking in terms of sitting on top of a content management system, it’s like nothing else and differentiates Vasakronan from their competition and it works like a charm on any platform. Knowing what they’re up to behind the scenes I’m proud to say this is one of the projects I’m most pleased with during 2011! But then again – that’s what I think

Thank you Britny for sticking to our guns. Thank you Vasakronan for daring to be different!

Rock on!

As of monday this week you can spot the latest TVC created for Marginalen Bank.

This sweet little flick is the latest short film (I see it more as a short film than a TVC) in a series of three (1 & 2) created by me for Marginalen Bank, the brand I took part in developing and launching last fall. This time I’ve written and Art Directed it. As usual I’ve partnered with Caroline Karlström to make sure the project was delivered on time and quality. This time we contracted Mr Potemkin, aka Magnus Östergren to make sure the dream came alive.

Malin Erkonnen made us all smile with her fantastic illustrations and finally as always we had Erik Heusler produce the music.

This is of course just one of many activities going on right now but I wanted to share this little beauty with you.

I hope you like it!

I’m currently working on my 2011 brand and communication prediction. While I’m working on that I drew up one of the best models I know when it comes to predicting future trends. Enjoy!

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about SAAB. It obviously created some sort of attention since I almost had a new unique visitor record. Among the commenters were official SAAB representatives, positive even though I had quite a strong tone in my post. Another commenter, a bit surprising, was David Holecek, Interactive Marketing Manager at Volvo Cars. In his comment he wrote – “Sticking my neck out a bit, it would be interesting if you would do a similar exercise on our volvocars.com site (or rather volvocars.se, as we do not have all the shopping tools on our international site). We may be asking for a potentially harsh treatment , but feedback is always important.”

I was planning to do a video on the Volvo site as well, but due to kids at home I’ve not gotten the possibility to record something yet. It’s just to noisy! But, David, I decided to give you some feedback anyway.

I only walked through the XC60 part of the site since I’m more or less looking at buying exactly that kind of car right now. (Probably the new BWM X3, but I do like the XC60)

It’s sort of two-faced but here we go.

1. You’ve done your lesson when it comes to usability. Most things work the way they should part from minor things when I’ve already chosen a car and then have to re-choose it once I wanna testdrive for example. I like that I can have a PDF mailed with my built car.
2. The ‘closed’ interface forces me to navigate to much. Create less pages with more content instead. People don’t care about scrolling if they’ve come to the right place. Especially not in iPads and iPhones.
3. Drop the http://www.volvocars.com/se/all-cars/volvo-xc60/Pages/default.aspx link structure and implement a more SEO friendly structure and taxonomy.
4. I’d implement a lot more links between the sections. Such as moving people from the ‘What XC60 should I choose’ into the configuration tool for example.
5. It’s all built in Flash. That sucks from several known reasons.

How Volvo Cars look on the fastest growing internet platform in the world…not good.

And probably lots of more things. But…time…kids…

What if it looked like Apples website?

So, how should it look then? That’s of course a big thing to give feedback on and it would take some time, on the other hand, it’s sort of interesting to have a look at Apple, then swap all the content for Volvo Car content and see what happen. Hmm, why not try it? Said and done. I sat down for an hour and overlaid Apples Macbook Air section with XC60 content just to see what would happen. Here’s the result.

XC60 First page in an Apple Costume.

I’ve more or less just swapped content except for some copy that I quickly wrote to convey the right feeling. Don’t mind the top nav, it’s just there to get that Volvo feeling into the site. Click here to get the full view

Note. The design above is only produced for teaching purposes. Not to be used commercially

Volvo XC60 – The Design in an Apple Costume (excuse the mega long image)

By building the entire design experience, with designer videos, galleries and more, into one single page, you’ll award the visitor by letting him explore everything about the design without having to open new pages. You’ll also ensure that every link to the new Volvo XC60 design section delivers the exact same experience. You’ll have seconds to get people to stay, dont waste them on endles menus. Click here to get the full view.

Note. The design above is only produced for teaching purposes. Not to be used commercially

So, with that said (or designed…copied… in an hour). I think the Volvo Cars site features some sweet content and nice functionalites, but I’d repackage them into HTML5 based websites, lesser menu options and a bolder feeling to it. Obviously I’d spend more time than this to really work out how it should look in the future. Cars are beautiful objects made to be used by people so their sites should be too.

Thanks David for reaching out and I hope I’ve give you something to think about!

What do you do when someone asks you to sign a non disclosure agreement and then asks you to spend the coming year planning, creating, implementing and launching a new Swedish bank?

Say yes of course!

This is where the story of the freshly launched brand Marginalen Bank starts. Together with recidivist Caroline Karlström I found myself 50% giggling like a child about the fact that we had secured the coolest and most complex project I’ve ever worked with while feeling 50% scared to death about the fact that this was that big ass project where you either succeed or you end up in a grave. Well, we did a fairly good job with Poseidon last year so why should this be any different? Little did I know what we had coming.

My main responsibility on the project that follows below has been:

• Head of strategy – Develop the brand platform and the product positioning strategy
• Creative direction – Creating, overseeing and keeping together everything that was produced and communicated in this project from a brand perspective.
• Art direction – Designing visual brand components and overseeing the implementation of these.
• Conceptual copy writing – Developing the brand vision and tonality
• And some design here and there…where needed.

This project could never have been executed without my partner in crime – Caroline Karlström. In Sweden we have a saying “I vått och tort” – boy let me tell you she’s been there for me and everyone involved in this project. Caroline did a lot of the planning including most of the interviews and then managed every little piece of the project…I ran of into the wild and she took care of the tigers.

September 2009 / The challenge – create a brand that stand the tests of time!

Marginalen was founded back 1979 and has since then primarily been a B2B brand with services like debt collection, business administration, legal support and a lot more with offices in Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia and the Netherlands. Since two years back they owned a bank called Bank2 and an online service offering real estate financing. Now, in my hand I held a confidentiality agreement in which I learned that Marginalen were aiming to buy Citibank’s Swedish operation. If Marginalen succeed in taking over the Citibank private bank business Marginalen would have 6 month before every piece of communication going out from former Citibank should be re branded.

This was the challenge from a brand point of view

Ok, what had I just say yes to? We knew the deal with Citibank would be finalized sometime in April 2010. Before then we had to plan and create a strategy that could be executed in two ways depending on if the Citibank deal would go through or not, so back to the question: “Can you work out a brand strategy for Marginalen that tells us how to handle the old brands vs implementing the customer base of Citibank into our business, then create a new brand platform with accompanied visual brand guidelines, implement that platform both off and online and finally develop an advertising strategy and execute that?

One of the biggest challenges was to develop a new design that were to replace the 4 existing brand sites and implement that in only 3.5 months.

In 12 month our task was:

• 4 brands to be brought together as one.
• 4 brand and bank sites to be rebuilt into one.
• Create a new brand and brand platform.
• Implement the new graphical guidelines on everything that communicates the brand.
• Create an advertising platform.
• Launch the god damn thing!

April 2010 / The solution – Let’s build one bank and let’s make sure people get we’re not like other banks.

Following several interviews, meeting with the board, taking the international aspect into play and also the history of Marginalen we decided to build the brand – Marginalen Bank. This meant we’d scrap the two existing brands Bank2 and LånEtt. The main reason for going with one brand instead of three or two for was quite simple. We felt that building three separate brands would require far to much money and an even bigger problem was that it would require a very complex restructuring of the product portfolio and the organization that kept that portfolio intact.

On our way to the final solution we opened a lot of doors in order to get a feel for the brands. These are just some of them

Sometime in June this year the project was getting ready to explode. Until then me and Caroline had handled both the strategic and the conceptual part of the project. This is how I usually work. Go in, work out a strategy using the NEW process that I’ve developed over the years with among others good friend Per Robert Öhlin.

The three main stages of the N.E.W brand model

Prototyping carried us forward

As the strategy unfolds I tend to visualize it. And the aim with the visualization is to bring it close to final design and usually even a little bit further. I call this prototyping and I usually do that in the emotionalize phase. Prototyping means we can visualize the new or changed brand without taking realism into account. It’s better for me, but It’s even better for the client as their organization easier can let ideas through knowing it’s only a prototype. This technique has been used by the car industry for ages, but also brands like Apple has together with IDEO used prototyping to push things forward.

Once the conceptual design and the prototype has been developed it’s time to choose what and how to implement it. When we got to this stage in this project me and Caroline started to build a virtual communication house. Basically we established a virtual production house that could do what most large Swedish agencies could do…and a little bit more.

A virtual communication house

We had since some time back met with potential agencies and production houses. After bringing Marginalen Bank into the decision process we finally brought the following freelancers and agencies in to work with us: Per Robert Öhlin – Lead Copywriter, Visual ID led by Steve McDonald – graphical design, Nansen – web, Per Torberger – web copy, Hey People – print and banner production, Bizkit – media agency, Anders Freij - 3D/TVC production house and Andreas Westin – Illustrations. Once the virtual organization was set up me and Caroline led the team from both a creative and management perspective.

Very few of the logos we created during the free brainstorming process in order to find the future logo of Marginalen Bank

July 2010 / We’ve got a name and it’s Marginalen Bank

Stop. It’s a new logo!

Following many hours of bouncing logos back and fourth we finally had a first choice. This clean beauty (screen shot straight from the graphical guidelines showcasing how to place it) was a mix of the fonts Dessau Pro and Chalet from my favorite font maker House Industries with a lot of small adjustments. After I’d set this one on paper Steve from Visual ID fine tuned it and we had a winner.

No. The blue stripes are not supposed to be there

The result is a great logo that can stand the test of time. It also draws your eyes to the fact that this is a bank. Something that we believe is extremely good since bank safe and safe means people get ready to listen.

Creating and implementing the new graphical guidelines

Early in the process we introduced a gradient that became a clear brand marker. Something that we could dress different things in and thereby create strong recognition while keeping it flexible, timeless and modern.

My goal has been to give every piece of communication a unique touch. Among other things we decided to go for white credit cards. It took some investigation before we finally ended up with a pigment that actually withstands dirt. But the final classic credit card is a beauty!

We’ve so far launched a traveller and a gold card as a complement to the white classic card.

Signage was of course part of the job. This is one of many different versions.

Business cards coming to life

Examples of how to treat photography

Several potential versions of the future website was developed before we finally decided on the design below

When the final designs were approved. We met with several web agencies and finally brought in Nansen as our production house. Right now we’ve focused on getting the site up. Next is changing how it works and why.

Some examples from the first photo shoot we did for Marginalen Bank this summer together with Bsmart.

August 2010 / The advertising strategy

Ok. How do you advertise a brand new bank? Try it yourselves. Say bank and await the reaction. Making people understand that Marginalen Bank is not like any other bank would require quite a lot of money and especially tons of guts. Luckily this was something that this company had. The owners of the company and the board early understood that we had to focus on building the brand. Marginalen Bank was in it for the long run so our advertising had to support that!

October 2010 The TV commercials

When this blog post goes live there’s only one TVC that can be seen on television. However it’s one of many to come and I believe we’ve really found a format that breaks through the noise. We’ve created a concept that rely on artful executions. This first TVC, written by me and Per Robert Öhlin has been produced by Anders Freij and illustrated by Andreas Westin. Andreas has hand drawn each and every scene in ink and then colored it with watercolors.

One of the first colorings of the family by Andreas Westin

It’s then been cut out and brought into 3D where Anders and his crew has hand-animated each and every frame to give the commercial a hand crafted touch to it. It’s been a time consuming process that never could have been executed with a regular production company as it would have cost way to much. Finally we’ve worked out the music together with Erik Häusler who has done a tremendous job composing a unique piece that will be used over time to create recognition and identification with the format and Marginalen Bank.

An early rough drawing from the storyboard compared to one of the final frames

When combining hand drawn illustrations with 3D you end up with a time consuming process. However, the results is a format that stands out from regular hand animated short films and 3D renderings as well. The advantages is that we’re able to set light and movements in 3D and speed up the production process. The 35 second short film we’ve created for this first TVC was written, illustrated, painted and produced in 3D just under 5 weeks. Hand animating a piece like this would take up to 3 months. This enabled us to stick to this artistic format while working against the ‘sick’ time frame.

Building a brand with commercials like this leads to a much stronger brand over time, compared to if we would go straight for tactical advertising. However, we have to do just that, build it over time, which means we’ll follow up with new commercials, made in new artful techniques in order to broaden the scope and earn a sweet little spot inside the hearts of people. Personally I’m very pleased with the results. This TVC will do the job and start building the attention we want for the new Marginalen Brand. But it’s when we’ve broadcasted many more that the brand position will truly be established.

The print advertising

For this first campaign we’re kicking of with extremely simple print ads. We have maximum focus on establishing the tone of voice while slowly getting people used to how our brand look. We’ve kicked of with a manifesto. This one will only run two times and it’s targeted both internally and externally. We need to get that position out there.

Making people understand where we’re heading

As you will see in the papers we seem to be running quite tactical ads. This however is a strategy where I felt it was extremely important to show parts of our product portfolio to make people see that Marginalen Bank is not just any small bank. Marginalen Bank already has a great deal of products and services. This is important to communicate. And that’s why the ads look the way the do. Over time we’ll integrate them tighter with the TVCs.

3 examples of ads showcasing savings accounts, bank cards and loans.

So there we are. It feels pretty darn nice to have gotten this baby elephant out of the zoo. And I’m looking forward to keep you updated on the progress. We’re right now finalizing the implementation of the brand in house. We’ve also started do create TVC nr 2 and a print and outdoor campaign that will be more closely connected to the TVC.

This is the start. But now, when we’ve managed to get this brand kickstarted it’s time to expand on all levels. But that’s another story.

Now / Moving on from here

This is how I work. Strategy, concepts, creativity and helping my clients to establish virtual organizations so that I can move on to the next brand that want’s to solve problems. I wish that I could finish this post of with a twist but…it’s just to much and I really wanna push publish on this one cause it’s time to build some brands.

Gotta run!

Time is precious. Don’t you agree? For example if I spend to much time here going on about this and that you’re gonna start to think ‘what the heck, get to the point you #%*#’er. So, I’m not gonna spend to much of your time.

Instead. Have a look at these 5 demo videos and think about your own products and services. Are you doing your best to make sure people learn about your product in seconds, not minutes? (Also – one of the guys below is sort of a superstar of demo videos. When will we have some of that in Sweden?)

First up – The tour of music service SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a platform that takes the hassle out of receiving, sending & distributing music for artists, record labels & other music professionals.

I love how the speaker voice starts up by clearly letting you know that you’ll spend 3 minutes learning about their service. And while she does so you also get visual guidance what it’s all about. On top of that it’s graphically beautiful with a creative twist.

Second example – Square

The idea behind Square is simple. Accept payments by credit cards everywhere by only using a mobile device and a card reader.

This is my personal favorite right now when it comes to demo videos. Clean, smooth, creative yet extremely rational. Watch closely as Adam Lisagor aka @lonelysandwich, the superstar of demo videos show you once again in slow motion how to swipe that card of yours.

Third – Things for the Ipad

Things is according to some people the ultimate To-Do list tool. Available for the iPhone, the iPad and your Mac.

This little beauty isn’t even a minute long. As a matter of fact it’s only a teaser for the iPad app. However I think it’s worth showing here cause it actually makes you get the whole idea in 34 seconds. Impressive.

Fourth example – Flipboard

Flipboard is a social magazine for your iPad. It’s definitely one of the apps that have changed my behaviour in terms of how I read information fed from my Twitter and Facebook account. If you’ve got an iPad and haven’t got this app yet. Go go go!

And yes. You got that right. It’s Adam Lisagor who’s back again. This time even more laid back. I do like the Square video better but isn’t it pretty cool how he actually makes you listen better once you’ve seen him before. As I said before – when do we get our first demo-superstar of Sweden?

Last but not least, the fifth example – Google Gmail Priority Mail

As fresh as they come. Google launched this video yesterday showcasing a new service called priority mail. Priority Inbox is a new view of your inbox that automatically helps you focus on your most important messages

The music combined with simple animations and certain keywords really pull you through this + 6 minute video. The case with the Google demo videos is that they a often little bit tooo long. But I thing this one did the job anyway and definitely worth having in this line up.

Ok, so there we have it. I hope you’ve stop thinking about press releases measured it words and letters. Go simple. And remember – on brand!

I love the Internet. When I least expect it someone somewhere has spent the last weeks writing thousands lines of code that turns something we’ve all seen into something none of us has seen.

Today when I visited JoshSpear I ran into this open-sourced project called Graffiti Analysis by Evan Roth. This is exactly what I’m talking about. By tracking graffiti artists when they put their pen to the paper and make their mark Evan and his team can unveil unseen motion involved in the creation of a tag.

Suddenly things that seem flat get a whole new meaning. Just like when you get an idea composed out of two old ones. You bring new light to things people thought were explored to the max. People love that shit just like I love this shit!

Read more about the Grafitti Analysis 2.0 project here.

State your problems first. Then it might turn out social media is not what you need. And if it is. The do something unique made to work. Don’t just treat it like another channel where you can dump your offline activities.

A sloppy little drawing I did this morning inspired by the works of Al Baik.

Oh…like when you do traditional advertising you actually need money. It’s not free to reach success. And oh nr 2 – online communication is about creating equity over time. Campaigns might work every now and then but overall you should strive to build a socially distributed content driven platform over time. Then you might get fans. Might…

People over here in Europe are getting ready to change their light bulbs at home due to a decision taken in the European Union a couple of years ago. This has triggered an earthquake of ideas on how to repackaging this old product that haven’t really seen inside of a designers room the last 50 years (or at least it feels that way).

This is more or less what the industry has offered us the last 50 years

Sometime last year I noticed that this business is on the move. As I was shopping bulbs it struck me that good shit is happening inside the hardware store on the light bulb shelf. What the light bulb industry is going through is a great inspiration for any business lost in history and it shows that once you get that ball rolling things will happen fast.

Here are 10 light bulb packaging concepts that leads this industry forward

Sweet and Informative from Greenlite found on Aaron Skippers blog.

I just love this one by Mongkol Praneenit found on Definite Touch

Lindey Cull does summer and autumn packaging

A wonderful packaging concept by Sasha Grishin

Kevin Kwok wraps up some bulbs in this concept found on Kitsune Noir

Yet another concept that shows the business is on a move. By Elbert Miller.

Embody3D posted this one. Simple yet inspiring.

Not all of them are square! Lemnis found on Meldel stands on solid ground

Emotional yet simple design from Anke Weiss found on Treehugger

Finally this packaging from Sprout found on Flickr serves as my last example

So there you are. These guys are from the stone age and they did it. What’s stopping you to revamp your brand?

(Also – one could post yet another solely on the actuall bulbs. But no time for that right now

Last summer I got on a train leaving Stockholm for Gothenburg. Together with freelancing project manager, planner and colleague Caroline Karlström I had a meeting set up with diving brand Poseidon. This was the start of a project where I truly had the opportunity to work with all aspects of branding and creative communication.

A dream project.

Ingvar Elfström, the founder of Poseidon back in 1958.

The Background

Back in 1958 this brand was founded by a young Swedish diver, Ingvar Elfström. Since then the brand has become famous for unique, different and great products. However over the last couple of years they’ve lost speed when it comes to innovation and marketing initiatives.

But then something happened. The company was bought by a small group of investors three years back. Headed by visionaire Kurt Sjöblom they set out on a journey – to develop the first ever automated rebreather for recreational divers.

This was why we were there. About a year from launch Kurt and his team felt they needed to do something about the brand. And after a successful meeting that actually started with me diving with this new product we had ourselves a new client. The mission. To re-brand Poseidon and bring their marketing strategies into the 22 century. The full guacamole!

The Problem:
Poseidon has since long been loved by advanced divers. People who know how to dive love Poseidon. As a result of this the brand has slowly been turned into a brand by extreme divers for extreme divers. How copy was written, photos were styled and packaging looked was all steered towards a small part of the diving world that in the long run wouldn’t build a broad user base for Poseidon.

A typical photo before we started evaluating how Poseidon should be communicated

As Poseidon now develop new and groundbreaking products and target the recreational divers, the tourist that may bring his own gear on his vacation but might just as well rent the stuff, a new position is essential.

The old start page of Poseidon.com before we started the re-branding journey

Finally Poseidon is a global brand. With a presence on 28 different markets we also, from a visual and tone of voice point of view had to turn the brand into a global one that not only matched it’s competitors but beat the hell out of them.

So there we were. Now it was time to rebuild this brand.

The Solution – What was our mission and what was the result?

Our task was to create a cross-functional and multi-dimensional definition of the Poseidon brand. Once that was done we set out to design and dramatize a differentiated brand experiences across the entire value chain and customer journey.

My parts in the project included working with the overall strategy together with Caroline and then develop a fully integrated creative direction that I later art directed. Once I had designed most parts of the project we brought in designers Kristian Packalen and Esa Tanttu whom I had been working with before to finalize my visions. Early in the process we also brought in copywriter Judy Olsen to clean parts of my conceptual copy but above all write all the copy for the new Poseidon website.

The re-branding of Poseidon Diving has included:

• Create an over all brand strategy that would steer all communication initiatives.
• Develop an integrated visual platform for a marketing components
• Typography
• Point of sale
• Packaging concepts
• Photography
• Website design and strategy
• Offline advertising
• Online advertising
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Event concepts
• Copy platform

After about 6 month of strategy, creative and art direction, design, photography, copy writing, 3D modeling, website design and production we’re now closer than ever to accomplish our mission -  ‘create a cross-functional and multi-dimensional definition of the brand’. This is parts of the visual result:

A selection of the units I’ve created for Poseidon, The visual system is clearly visible.

The Poseidon Brand Manifesto

Once we settled on a strategy (not to be communicated here) one of the first thing I did was writing the Poseidon manifesto. When I’m hired to create a new positioning for a brand I think it’s essential to put words to my thinking. This way both me and everyone else involved, both on the consulting side as well as the client side, will stand on a common ground. Once this manifesto was approved we brought in copywriter Judy Olsen to clean it up. This resulted in the following:

The Perfect Photographer For The Poseidon Brand Campaign – Wayne Levin

What we needed from day one was something that made people understand Poseidon is a new brand. Traditionally Poseidon has been all about hard core diving. Basically the military look above has been spot on. But now Poseidon is to be positioned towards a broader audience. We needed photography that clearly communicates the Poseidon brand.

We searched all over for something that could differentiate Poseidon from it’s competitors. Something that inspired people and engaged them emotionally. Something that made people dream about diving. On top of that I also thought it was of great importance to find a photographer who also cared for the ocean and represented sustainability. Basically something that expressed the heart of Poseidon’s philosophy.

I found Wayne Levin. Some of you might recognize the black and white style from the photos I took myself last year on Hawaii. Now you understand that those were of course inspired from the master himself. Wayne Levin is interested not only in seascapes and animals, but in the ocean itself: the texture, movement and volume of the water. It is this visceral sense of power– of how it feels to be right there within the vastness of the ocean – that accords perfectly with Poseidon’s dedication to a pure, unrestricted diving experience.

So far Wayne has shot a limited series of photos for Poseidon. The purpose is to continue the collaboration with Wayne and shoot a series of videos too. Nothing can be more inspiring than to follow Wayne diving with the Poseidon Discovery taking pictures of some of the most inspiring animals on earth.

This photograph was taken at Ho’okena Beach in South Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. The Spinner Dolphins often come into Ho’okena, and many other Kona Beaches and Bays in order to rest in shallow waters during the day after a night of hunting in the deep waters several miles off the coast. Ho’okena is a beautiful bay with very interesting sand formations caused by the waves and currents in the bay.

This photograph was taken off Mahukona in North Kohala on the Island of Hawaii. Wayne scuba dove at this location with a friend, and was very surprised to find this young female Monk Seal. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is extremely endangered so he felt very fortunate to have this encounter. Actually she was anything but shy constantly approaching Wayne very close.

The photo of the Spinner Dolphins used in a full spread print ad.

Creating posters from a photo taken about three miles off the Kohala Coast near the North tip of the Island of Hawaii. The Mellon Head Whales are quite rare to find in Hawaii, and this was Waynes only encounter with them. He was on a boat, looking to photograph Humpback Whales when he spotted what he thought were dolphins near the Humpbacks. When Wayne approached them he realized that these were either Melon Heads or False Killer Whales. There were at least 200 individuals but when he entered the water he could see that the large pod was broken up into groups of about 20 individuals.

Turning packaging into something emotionally engaging

Already from the start my point of view was to develop a visual system that engaged people in every part of the customer journey. The of course included the packaging of the products. As a result of this we planned to use Wayne Levin’s wonderful photography on the packaging too. Along with the Brand Manifesto and the new product photography we’ve created a strong link from the advertising, the website, the point of sale material all the way to the actual product that you bring home.

On top of serving as packaging this concept also works as point of sale displays when used empty.

Wayne Levin’s photos along with the Poseidon brand manifesto creates a great platform for the packaging too.

Making sure the Poseidon brand stays strong in point of sale environments.

Having worked with advertising for quite many years now my belief is that no matter how strong your advertising is, how smart your website communicates your brand and how great your products are it’s all about the physical environments. Once you enter the store actual sale is about in-store presence. Even though Poseidon is a small brand compared to some of it’s competitors we’ve strived to dress it up like a market leader. Strong visual appearance. On brand. Emotionally engaging. This is what shop owners want from a brand and we’ve tried to deliver just that.

Making good use of Wayne Levin’s underwater photography

Product display concepts that builds the Poseidon brand story while serving as a demo platform for the new Poseidon discovery.

The New Poseidon Website Design

One of the core components in the new brand platform is of course the digital presence. As we set out to revamp the brand online we first developed a series of different designs. All in all we designed twelve different layouts before deciding on the final design. It was key for us to find a designed that appealed both to the client as well as the target group. Once the site designs was approved and copywriter Judy was well on her way to revamp the tone of voice we brought in open source developers Devcore to help Poseidon bring the site to life.

Designing our way to a ‘on brand’ website

The finalized start page

Explore diving is a content driven section that will be filled with relevant brand content over time.

It was important for us to develop a design that felt dynamic.

Increase the overall look and feel

Overall one of our objectives was to increase the level of quality on all kinds of communication material. Among other things I developed photo briefs for both products as well as corporate information such as press photography and portraits. Once we’ve shot the photos together with Poseidons ‘house photographer’ Anders Kämpe I worked together with my homie retoucher and photographer Andreas Lübeck to bring out the best in the photos.

Making the product photography more engaging

An extremely short depth of field to ad a more personal look and feel to portrait shots.

Making product catalogs more engaging.

Finally I think this 4 page product catalog serve as a good example what happens when all this great brand material comes together into one simple yet important point of sale piece.

Poseidon Diving -A dream assignment

To work with Poseidon has been fantastic. To be part of a journey like this is great. To be able to control every component from strategy to tactical execution is even greater. The result is there to see but it’s just the beginning. As we speak we’re getting ready to initiate social media strategies including presence on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr and much more. We’re only just starting.

I‘ve spent some time this evening browsing my favorite packaging site The Dieline. That’s when I suddenly realized I should blog about packaging today.

When I speak about creativity and innovation and how it must be a part of every interaction (especially packaging) you have with your customers one of the most common replies I get is: “How can I make use of what you say in my business. We don’t have a sexy product”. Wrong question!

Today no one, no matter what kind of product you market, can overlook the fact that your customers lead a stressed life. People want to be entertained. We want drama. We want smiles. We want to feel. Everything is about entertainment and drama! Brand owners – inject emotion into your products or eject yourselves from your position!

The one question you should ask yourselves when it comes to packaging is: “Does my packaging make people smile”

Here are 10 brands that obviously have understood that you can make something out of anything.

1. Rellana Wool – Making Yarn Come Alive

This wonderful wool packaging concept called Wolly Heads was made by Ogilvy Frankfurt- It’s one of my absolute favorites. They’ve turned something very ordinary into something not so ordinary. This stuff makes me wanna learn how to knit stuff.

2. Clarence Court – I’d Rather Have Some Eggs

When you think of egg you think of…ehh…eggs. That’s until someone comes along and makes you think different. That’s exactly what UK based design agency Simmer makes you do with this wonderful concept for Clarence Court. One Goose, two Duck, two Pheasant and three Quail eggs. Makes you wanna make an omelette faster than you can say cheese huh?

3. Dumpling Dynasty Sewing Kit – I Can’t Resist It

You probably have a set stuffed away in a drawer somewhere at home – a sewing kit. Doesn’t ring any emotional bells in your belly huh? Well, then imagine when you walk around in the shop and then suddenly feast your eyes on this little beauty. Sewing Kit reinvented huh! Illustrator Fiona Hewitt knows how to kick ass obviously! ps. If you like it a lot. Then you can shop it here.

4. Pregnadel – I Wish I Was Pregnant!

Here’s a packaging concept by a design student named Sergii Llin that clearly shows you what it’s about. “The goal was to develop packaging that will be noticeable on the pharmacy shelf, self-illustrative, and have a bit of social message, kind of ‘Think before you do”

Extremely smart – a packaging that even acts socially responsible. To bad it’s not made for a real drug.

5. Prism London – I Can’t Believe My Eyes

There’s a design agency called Sabotage. It’s obvious why they’re called that cause when they get their hands on something they obviously destroy the competition with excellent pieces of packaging. This crystal-like eye case is no exception. It’ll crack the competition and make customers spend money they don’t have.

6. Bolt Barbers Shaving Cream – Getting A Shave Have Never Been Cooler Than This

Shaving cream. The pure sound of those two words make you wanna go to sleep. The section in which you find these products have looked the same the last 15 years. And then something happens. Perspective Branding decided to bring the cool to the cooling products. Simple yet smart and differentiated from the rest.

7. Perricone MD – The Kind Of Medication I Need

In the United States there’s a doctor called Perricone. He’s sort of guru dermatologist to the stars and his brand Perricone MD have enjoyed extensive media coverage on Oprah, PBS, Larry King and in Vanity Fair, Vogue and The New York Times. Well, when you see the packaging made by California based design agency Concrete you suddenly understand why.

8. Lemon Powder – It’s Not As Sour As It Sounds

Estudio Clara Ezcurra. You can almost hear that this agency create stuff that makes you go wow. Lemon Powder – Most design agencies wouldn’t touch that stuff. But these guys from Argentina turned makes it poke your eyes when you pass the product.

9. Ecolean Lightweight Packaging – Proud To Be A Swede

Wonderful! This new packaging concept called ‘Ecolean’ really blows my mind. It’s super thin. Minimum waste. Yet it’s stunningly beautiful. It makes people think environment. When you’ve consumed what’s inside you can throw away what left with a clear conscience. On top of all this it’s also a Swedish product. And since I’m from Sweden it makes me all warm inside. Here’s a video telling you more about the concept.

10. Bar Codes – It’s All In The Details

Last but not least. When you’re done revamping your packaging. Don’t stop there! There’s still room for more innovation. The bar codes for example – what can you do with them? If you lack imagination – give D-Barcode, the designers behinds these sweet set of japanese bar codes, a call.

Today I’m browsing for mood images. My search has led me to tons of newspaper blogs. Then suddenly as I noticed this comic strip below my heart stop for a brief second.

This piece of communication is so simple yet so strong. If this would have a been an ad that ended with ‘Send Money to The Earthquake Victims in China’ I’d have my wallet turned upside down.

I can’t think of a better, stronger and more emotional way to portrait this story. Thank you Visual Journalism for bringing it too me!