OZO is a new alternative transport company specialising in small electric vehicles for business and recreational activities. No one knows what the future of transport will look like, but it everyone knows it will look different than what it is today. In response, the design team at Brandinstinct created a future-oriented emblem with a rich mix of modern forms in the graphic identity that can change with the times.

Ewan Fernandes, president of OZO appreciates ‘the sleek nature of the brand and feels that it stands in stark contrast to the over-used and possibly insincere organic lines of the category.’ Christophe Stolberg, designer at Brandinstinct says that ‘he’s proud of the balanced approach to design. The result is a brand that can keep pace with market and morph freely into new generations of vehicles – whatever they may look like.’

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Our teams helped pharmaceutical manufacturer, Veropharm, create a new category of super premium plasters for the design conscious (and injured) consumer. As major brands compete for market share using price promotion or product innovation, Veropharm realised that a sensitive design aesthetic was missing from the market. The premium designs enabled Veropharm to maintain a 40% premium over international
brands while not canibalising on their standard private label products.

‘When we listened to customers, they said they wanted a product that would use the best of today’s technology to help heal their skin quickly, but that they also wanted a design that would be sensitive to their high-street fashion sense as well’ reports Herman Inozemtsev, Veropharm’s Vice President of marketing.

The plasters are now on sale and customer reaction has been outstanding. The package designs won a Silver Award at the Pentawards 2007. Pentawards is a global competition bringing the biggest names in design to compete over new package design concepts.

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By: Gillian Garner & Aaron Shields

As consultants, our mandate is to help clients better understand their cultures and the behavioural patterns that are helping and hindering their progress. Our clients want to hold on to the best of their culture during times of growth and evolve the culture when setting a new vision or strategic direction. Different agencies have different ways of beginning this process. Since we straddle brand development and organisational development, we often look for ways to extend learning from one field to the other. This short paper explains our view on how cultures are formed and how we can use narratives to help develop cultures and brands.

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We were appointed by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) to design a series of book covers for its clinical guidelines. Quickly, this simple design project evolved into strategic identity redevelopment to visually unify NCCMH’s various customer channels and publications.

Established by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), NCCMH, a partnership between the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Psychological Society’s Centre for Outcomes Research and Effectiveness, is the leading national organisation responsible for developing evidence-based guidelines on mental health care within the NHS. The NCCMH team are passionate about their work because of the direct impact their guidelines can have on health care delivery in England and Wales. Brandinstinct worked to identify a relevant positioning arena that would inform the design process and effectively communicate what NCCMH stands for to its stakeholders in England and Wales and the larger international community.

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This article featured in Brand Strategy Magazine in February 2007

Growing up in Canada gave me the impression that Russians are all cold, stoic beings that walk around in non-descript, uncomfortable clothes having very serious conversations in dimly lit cafes. Of course nothing can be further from the truth. If you need a reference, the Italian culture is probably more useful than any other. In fact, the Russian people have had a close relationship with both the Italians and the French for hundreds of years.

Italian architects designed the Kremlin and most Russian cities are littered with Baroque and Beau Arts influenced buildings. It’s not just the buildings that are glitzy. Russians themselves have a flamboyant style in everything from the way they dress to the way they hold-court in conversations with friends.

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Premium ambient juice? Not such an Oxymoron as Morison’s and Asda have proved. Brandinstinct was hired by Cracker Juices to create the brand strategy, identity and package design for their new range of premium ambient fruit juices.

Cracker spotted a major opportunity in an often scorned category. Ambient juices don’t need to be less healthy than chilled juices as both go through the same pasteurisation process. However, traditionally, big players in the ambient category have been selling commodity priced, heavily diluted products, with little natural juice, adding preservatives, artificial colours and other “nasties”. Cracker Juices decided to create a new category of premium ambient juices. This category provides a much needed solution for families who are becoming increasingly health conscious but still need to stock up on juice for practicality
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We’ve revamped the new brand for Russia’s largest mobile telecom provider. MTS has over 70 million subscribers in Russia and neighbouring countries. Aaron Shields, one of the partners here at Brandinstinct says ‘Together, we have created an image that mirrors Russia itself. The brand is full of paradoxes that push together traditional ideas against modern ones. It’s about all the details in life and also taking in the unity of the big picture. It’s about life and living, with the edge of realism. We’re looking forward to re-introducing this brand to the country over time. There is a lot of detail to get out in communications over the next six months or so.’
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We were appointed by Daniel Swarovski Corporation to create a name for a new range of crystal animal figurines. The project has been successfully kept under wraps by the team at Swarovski until it’s launch in May.

‘There’s been much naming work over the past year which indicates increasing investment in new brands by global companies. Our experience includes FMCGs, credit cards, financial and professional services & fashion, so we were pleased to add Swarovski to our portfolio. The Swarovski team had a very clear vision for the new range which helped make our collaboration a great success,’ said Daniel Gomez at Brandinstinct‘

The Lovlots project was really a lot of fun for us. It’s rare to become involved in a product range that is so irreverent and cheeky. It’s definitely targeted more at the Avril Lavignes than Bridget Jones of this world. I do think the range will help Swarovski target a new customer profile and facilitate further growth in the Asia Pacific region.’

We designed a new co-branded credit card for Russia’s MBRD bank. The corporate bank recognised the tremendous opportunity in the retail banking sector so MBRD needed a card that appealed to retail customers without annihilating their strong corporate banking base.

‘MBRD came to us because of our deep experience in the Russian Market and our brand redevelopment for Russia’s leading mobile operator MTS, the card partner. Once the positioning of the card was identified, we jumped into designing a card that would immediately get noticed,’ says Andrew Morris, a key member of the design team.

‘The card was designed for the premium market. While it needed to convey security and convenience, we also wanted it to celebrate life and the joys a little retail therapy can bring to those suffering Jet Set Fatigue.’We then embarked on creating advertising and promotions concepts for the March 2006 launch. The national campaign saw a marriage of two distinct brand positionings that celebrated a rediscovered optimism in the Russian psyche.

Brandinstinct has been working with Pharmacy Chain 36,6 over the past 4 years. 36,6 embarked on an ambitious expansion programme and introduced a wide range of own-label product brands in its shops.‘While private label is often rightly derided as cheap imitation, 36,6 is a horse of a different colour altogether. 36,6 appeal across customer segments with their wide stable of brands and therefore needed design solutions to that allows them to continue winning market share while maintaining a slightly premium positioning.

Rather than opting for copying the market leaders, our focus was to really build the 36,6 brand overall the long term, eschewing quick wins for sustainability,’ says Andrew Morris a key member of the Brandinstinct team.‘The main challenge for us was to develop a packaging system that would help build the growing brand and one that would be flexible enough to incorporate other brand signals and a myriad of copycat products. The chain is planning to release over 100 products this year,’ continues Andrew. Brandinstinct has worked as the agency of record for the retail chemist and designed and launched over 30 brands for 36,6 to date.

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