October 2017 - Kaizen Brand Evolution

KBE Upcoming Events

Posted on October 31, 2017 by YBmMqGwLx0

We’ve got a busy few weeks ahead of us, so here’s the full run down on what we’re up to in November.

/ Belfast Design Week / Helvetica Screening / 08.11.17

First up, we have a few events at Belfast Design Week Our first event is a screening of ‘Helvetica’ in our studio on 8th November. Tickets are free, and if you fancy coming along, heres the link to book: http://bit.ly/KBEHelvetica

/ Belfast Design Week / Design Startup / 09.11.17

Ryan is also hosting a workshop on Nov 9th as part of the Design Startup: Build Your Own series.

He’ll be talking about the commercial application of design, and the tools designers need to have in order to successfully apply their design knowledge to a commercial market. Should be a great workshop for any aspiring designers, so make sure to apply if you’re thinking of starting your own design agency!

/ Digital Tourism DNA / How to Build a Successful Hospitality Brand / 20.11.17

On Nov 20th, we’ll be heading to Digital Tourism to host a special Studio Session with a focus on branding for the Hospitality and Tourism industries. We cant wait for this, especially since it’s an industry that we’re extremely passionate about promoting.

We’re showcasing alongside some of the biggest brands in the digital industry, as well as some massive names in hospitality and tourism. It’s a big honour to be asked to showcase alongside these brands, and we hope to bring something valuable to the delegates.

We’ll be showcasing some of our branding projects, and discussing the essential tools for hospitality brands to evolve their business and outsmart the competition. We’ll also be exploring the importance of a strong brand in a digital world, and the impact it can have on customer perceptions online. We’ve got a lot of ideas, and we can’t wait to share them with everyone.

If you’d like to come along and attend our session, we have a special discount for our customers and followers; use the code KAI30 at the checkout for 30% off full day tickets to the event, and come along to see us! http://bit.ly/Digitaldnatourism

/#ImWithTheBrand / NIce Design / 23.11.17

We’re hosting the third event in our #ImWithTheBrand series on Nov 23rd; this time around we’ve got something special for all the design lovers in Belfast. Our event is called ‘NIce Design’ and we’ll be hosting a panel of designers from around Northern Ireland to share their experience and knowledge about their specialist area of design.

We’ve got a great mix of design experts, from lifestyle branding to illustration, animation and graphic design. We’re really excited about this one, so if you’d like to come along you can get tickets here.

Tickets are £5 until Nov 10th (£8 after) and 25% of all the proceeds will be donated to Alzheimer’s Society.

/ Networking Brunch / With Panacea / 26.11.17

Lastly, Ryan will be joining our client Panacea Drinks for a networking brunch on Nov 26th at the Merchant Hotel.

If you work in the health and wellness industry this is an event not to be missed. Appealing to health food producers, personal trainers, instructors, gym owners, coaches, competitors, athletes, influencers, bloggers, healthy cafe and restaurant owners and anyone else involved in this industry.

Come along to learn about building your brand, working with influencers and bloggers, gaining and keeping customers, what works and what doesn’t work and how to stand out. For tickets see https://ti.to/northstar/brunch

And that’s it for November! Well, aside from the most important thing we have going on…creating memorable and purposeful brands for businesses who want to take their business to the next level. Does that sound like you? If so, get in touch.

Phantom

Posted on October 23, 2017 by YBmMqGwLx0

Richie Lavery is an established photographer specialising in all aspects of high-end imaging, from portraiture and architectural to interior and exterior photography. Richie’s business has gained some major traction since working across Northern Ireland on high spec building projects and as part of this grown he approached kaizen Brand Evolution to develop a new brand positioning for him. The new brand would be a stand-alone, luxury property marketing business with scope to work further a field in the UK, Ireland and beyond. In preparation for the new venture Richie required a full name generation for the new business as well as a brand strategy. Following a business profiling exercise and extensive research project on the industry landscape we named the new business ‘PHANTOM’. Phantom sets a visual narrative for the business and made way for a ream of engaging brand language. With the name in place we set out on the brand identity, narrative and strategy focussing on the target audience and types of houses and assets that Richie aspired to work on. The ambition setting at the very start of the process allowed for a clear path to a successful branding project. Richie’s ambition was to be at the cutting edge of property marketing, utilising new technologies and modern methods of capturing the unique selling points of a property to entice potential ‘big spend’ buyers.

The mark itself is a typographic logo with a brand device ingrained in the letter ‘H.’ The type used is a timeless font family which translates effortlessly online and in print, always reflecting the high-end nature of the work of Phantom. We introduced a language set for the brand that plays on the meaning of phantom and that nicely ties in with the nature of the business. Statements such as ‘unreal estate marketing’ really emphasise the namesake and put a positive spin on how ‘UNREAL’ the skillset of the property marketing company are. Everything that Richie has to offer in Phantom does actually seem unreal- it’s so good. Elements such as drone fly-overs, full micro sites for a property, and virtual-reality tours of a home – all of this is absolutely unreal when you see it in action making way for the organic slogan. Once we developed the clear strategy for the new brand we began the implementation stage utilising the new brand device across Richie’s branded materials – website, vehicle, marketing brochures and business stationery. The device performs very well when used alone and is an instant recognisable mark for the brand without pulling focus from any of the other brand elements. It’s a sleek, contemporary mark that when broken down is justified – the logo build stems from the shimmer from a luxury jewel and the reflection in glass, creating the H effect. We introduced a deep stone colour palette for the brand, which echoes the nature of the work materials and textures. The brand colour palette is soft and subtle which allows the high-end photography, videography and work to really shine.

From the naming process, brand narrative and strategy to the design and implementation the Phantom brand now stands out amongst its competitors and successfully communicates the values, work, dedication and skillset of the team. With plans to first launch the new Phantom brand at the Belfast Telegraph Awards ceremony we look forward to working with Richie as his brand evolves. The Phantom branding was such an exciting project to be a part of from the very start, seeing the name generation flourish into a strong identifiable brand is something we’re very proud of here at Kaizen Brand Evolution and as the brand grows we will remain brand guardians keeping every brand touch point on power with the work done to date.

Giant serviced apartments

Posted on October 19, 2017 by YBmMqGwLx0

Giant Property approached Kaizen Brand Evolution to brand their Serviced Apartments business. Offering some of the best locations across Northern Ireland and Belfast Giant Serviced Apartments where established online running under the Giant Property brand identity. As the business evolved and reach increased they felt it needed its own brand presence and came into the studio to outline their ambitions for the company.

The first goal of Giant Serviced Apartments was to be instantly recognisable as a standalone serviced apartments brand, standing apart from their competitors and raising confidence in clients who book through the likes of Air bnb and Booking.com so that Giant Serviced Apartments website gives them the confidence that they will receive the same level of service booking directly rather than through a third party.

We created the narrative ‘stay happy’ for Giant Serviced Apartments positioning them as business that provides a positive, friendly, happy service when staying at any of their apartments across Northern Ireland. This narrative was the foundation that we utilised in creating the unique brand identity and logo device. The logo is a bold, contemporary yet soft typeface with the addition of a ‘Giant Smile’ on the loop of the G. The Smile justifies the positive reviews currently featured on trip advisor and Giant Serviced apartments social media channels. This seamless transition of type into simplistic iconography showcases the strength of the brand mark. As part of the marketing collateral and brand rollout we have adapted the smile icon to house messaging, frame imagery and business stationery. Simplistic and versatile branding is always a goal when creating an identity system for a business and we have achieved this through Giant Serviced Apartments new brand positioning. As well as the dynamic logo created for Giant Serviced Apartments we introduced a fresh, engaging colour palette removing the brand from the current industry landscape of Serviced Apartments in Northern Ireland – subdued in corporate tones.

Photography plays a large role in the branding for Giant Serviced Apartments. We collated an image bank of modern, seasonal and fun photographs, which set the scene for tourists and customers wishing to travel to Northern Ireland. The image bank is in keeping with the tourism in Northern Ireland as well as the buzz of our cities and town’s nightlife and hospitality offerings. To coincide with the dynamic imagery for Giant Serviced Apartments we brought together the brand pillars of the business and adapted the ‘Stay’ message to work with them. At Giant Serviced Apartments their goal is for each and every customer to stay happy, comfy and curious. These three pillars immediately connect with the target market and aim to sum up their reasoning for choosing a location like Northern Ireland to travel to and stay with Giant Serviced Apartments. Strategically we are able to introduce this language set into all brand marketing materials, ads, brochures and online collateral – without the hard sell. The language was introduced to connect and engage with travelling clients on their level without screaming from the rooftops about offers or seasonal pricing we have focussed on the offering with an emotional language connection.

From signage to water labelling the new brand purpose flexes its muscles across all collateral in a very visual and engaging way. The language provides the tone of voice that you would connect with when travelling on business or leisure – signing off with the line ‘leave with a Giant smile’ when you are checking out solidifies the brand strategy and showcases its strength and marriage of logo, language and longevity.

It was a pleasure to work on the Branding for Giant Serviced and as it is currently rolling out of the studio keep an eye out for the Giant smile across Northern Ireland.