belfast branding Archives - Kaizen Brand Evolution

The Skinny Sauce Company

Posted on December 6, 2017 by YBmMqGwLx0

The Skinny Sauce Company approached Kaizen Brand Evolution to create an engaging brand identity and packaging strategy for the launch of their exciting new Skinny Sauce product range. The brand story begins with the owner and entrepreneur Maria Doran. Maria’s passion for sauce has been long standing; from ketchup to curry she has always loved adding flavour to her meals to enhance the eating experience. Maria also embraces the healthy lifestyle, going to the gym, eating right and taking care of herself. She soon realised that despite eating healthy she craved the added flavour that the sauces and dips brought to her meals and the sauces available on the market were full of sugars, additives and unhealthy ingredients in general. Maria’s mission is to revolutionise the sauce market and make healthy dips and sauces for the health conscious consumer.

With this in mind be researched the industry and developed a strategy for the business with the tagline ‘skinny dip more often.’ This strapline acted as the foundation for the creation of her brand identity and packaging. Keeping the target audience (health conscious shoppers who crave sauce) in mind we designed a bold, eye-catching brand that highlights the good ingredients that go into Skinny Sauces. In a world of Heinz and other well-known sauce brands we aimed to reach Maria’s ambition of becoming a household name and compete and stand out on the shelves in major retailers.

The first point of call was the brand mark. We crafted a ‘handmade’ type based logo with a bright, youthful colour palette, which immediately stands out from the competitors. The logo is a reaction to modern brand styles and trends utilising hand drawn type and illustration to reflect the fun skinny sauce experience. The brand mark leads nicely into how we visualise the brand narrative ‘skinny dip more often’ – using the hand drawn script and bold palette to emphasise the text. The language plays an important role in communication the values and vibrancy of the product. Aimed at an audience of 25-35 we have tailored the brand to fit in with that demographics lifestyle. As well as the language and the brand mark we proposed a photographic and typographic direction that would spark an emotional and aspirational connection with the target audience, using young, happy, healthy models to communicate this rings true in the Skinny Sauce marketing strategy and in their brand collateral.

Following the identity, strategy and narrative and artistic direction we began work on the packaging for the Skinny Sauces themselves. Each bottle and flavour introduces a fresh colour palette creating an engaging, eye-catching suite of products. One ambition for the packaging was to make it look suited alongside the likes of high-end sauces within M&S or Waitrose. This ambition was easily realised following the identity and artistic direction for the brand. We were able to utilise the type direction and layout to suit such retailers and realise the ambition for future growth and perhaps buyer in such retail environments. As well as the colour palette for each flavour of Skinny Sauce we introduced hand-drawn illustrations to reflect the core ingredients inside the bottle – beautiful hand-drawn chilli’s, peppers, tomatoes were included to create an all round flavour focussed packaging piece.

In preparation for the Skinny Sauce Company brand launch we worked alongside Maria to ensure that the values set out from the beginning would be strengthened and represented fully in the collateral and packaging. Working as brand guardians for Skinny Sauces we continue to develop and evolve this unique, beautiful brand to ensure the businesses ambitions are realised. We thoroughly enjoyed working on this project and look forward to working more with the Skinny Sauce Company in the future.

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.

Watch Tech

Posted on September 26, 2017 by YBmMqGwLx0

Watch Portfolio Management is a well-established business specialising in financial guidance with many clients reaching from the UK to Australia. Watch Portfolio Management is based in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, and is known for their financial advice that leads businesses that have gone into insolvency to find solutions. This, however, is no longer the case! Watch Portfolio Management decided they would approach Kaizen Brand Evolution to create an identity for their cutting edge software, that they primarily would use for daily tasks, as going forward they would like to be seen as a financial software business. This software is to be called Watch Tech. The interface is easy to use and finds information fast making it the best financial insolvency software on the market.

To creating the brands identity we needed to first fully understand the industry landscape that Watch Tech would be positioning itself alongside. We researched and developed clear directions to take our brand ideas based on Watch Tech’s potential competitors in the financial, security and tech sectors. Learning from our research we found what was working and what wasn’t necessarily relevant moving forward with the creation of Watch Tech’s identity. It became clear that a simple, modern identity would be best to represent this brand effectively.

Now that our styling has been determined from our research the identity soon followed. A potential branding direction that we explored was revitalising Watch Portfolio Managements shield to link Watch Tech to it’s heritage, as well as to show the software’s strength and durability when it comes to protecting your financial well being. However, the brand chosen to represent Watch Tech was our identity representing “financial growth”. This mark, illustrating a positive outlook, is a meaningful graphic that lends itself to the company’s primary objective for its clients. The brand mark uses three primary bars linked by two diagonal bars in the background giving a ribboning effect to shape into a “W” ultimately representing Watch Tech. Looking back on our research we decided to use a corporate typeface in a variety of weights to blend with our modern brand mark. This typeface joined with our brand mark comes together to create our Watch Tech Logo.

Following the design of the brands elements we were able to focus more on what our brands message would be. Watch Tech is really the first financial insolvency software to come onto the market and we decided “Pioneering financial insolvency software” would be a good direction for their brand language. Our taglines to follow this direction are “faster, stronger.” and “better, smarter.” to illustrate how superior this software is in comparison to other financial insolvency software’s and its main selling points the software can provide. Leading from this language our imagery shows the idea of exploration and moving forward to illustrate Watch Techs brand message.

With our logo and language already decided the next step in our process is to show our strategy in regards to how the logo would be implemented. The new Watch Tech logo is a strong shape with distinguishing features making it recognisable individually. It’s because of this that we decided to use the outlined shape of the brand mark as a device to house imagery. Imagery on print, signage and online would follow this strategy or be full bleed with the brand mark positioned accordingly alongside our brand messages. We didn’t just create a new brand identity for a piece of software we created a new platform and style for a new business to follow going forward.

Join us for our next Brand Masterclass

Posted on September 5, 2017 by YBmMqGwLx0

A few months ago we hosted our first ever brand masterclass in association with Women in Business NI.

It was so successful that we’ve decided to host a few more masterclass sessions, starting with our “3 Steps to a Successful Brand” workshop on 29th September. Our masterclass will take place at the Thinking Cup on Lisburn Road from 9am to 10.30am, and tickets are free! Tickets are available to book now, just visit our event page here to book your place.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or a long established business, having a strong brand presence and strategy will set you apart from the competition and help you grow your business. Our workshop will take you though the key elements of a successful brand, from logo and language through to longevity across all channels.

This session will cover:

What a brand is and why it’s so important
The key difference between a logo and a brand
The importance of a brand strategy for business growth
How language can impact and shape your brand perception
Key tools for building your brand online

This masterclass is perfect for those with a new business who need guidance to build their brand from the ground up. It is also helpful for businesses who have been established for a few years but who would like to evolve their brand and take their business to the next level.

We’ll be providing tea, coffee and refreshments from 8.30am if you’d like to come along early for a bit of breakfast and networking. We hope to see you there!

Jane McClenaghan

Posted on August 4, 2017 by YBmMqGwLx0

Jane McClenaghan owner of Vital Nutrition – Northern Irelands leading nutrition and healthy lifestyle brand approached Kaizen Brand Evolution to create an identity for herself in preparation for Jane’s evolution as a leading, national healthy lifestyle consultant. Jane has featured as part of Centra’s most recent influencer campaign and has appeared on BBC and numerous Food events across the province. Jane’s ambition is to be the figurehead for healthy living and nutrition, increasing her media coverage and crafting her ‘influencer’ brand presence.

The first step in the creative process was to fully understand the industry landscape that Jane aims to position herself as a stand-alone influencer. We researched and developed clear brand narratives based on Jane’s ambition and potential competitors in the healthy living/eating arena. Learning what is working and not necessarily working for some of the top brands was extremely important in the creation of Jane’s brand. As well as retaining the brand name ‘Jane McClenaghan’ we wanted to explore further options for her as a business, much like the way some influencers use nick names or brand names to trade under. Names such as Zoella, I Quit Sugar and Little Green Spoon have achieved major success from this approach. As one branding option we renamed Jane and presented her with “Nutrijane” as a potential brand direction – using this naming we seen potential for a clever brand strategy which would position her brand alongside the ‘quirky’ engaging names out there. In the end we stuck with Jane McClenaghan and plan to use Nutrijane throughout the brand emails and possible URL for her new website – so no idea un-used.

We designed a contemporary brand system for Jane McClenaghan to use across all of her marketing material both on and offline. We introduced a leaf to the word mark using negative space in the A to achieve instant brand recognition – summing up Jane’s offering and business objectives. Simplicity is the best policy here and when applied to type the negative space really speaks volumes for the entire brand identity. The logo itself positions the brand on the higher end of online influencers such as HEMSLEY + HEMSLEY, and Deliciously Ella which immediately resonates with Jane’s target audience. The unique blend of classic typography and clever brand language pulls the brand together in an engaging, visual fashion. We introduced a bold colour palette that reflects Jane’s colourful personality as well as the visually attractive meal plans she creates at events and on her online webinars. Taking influence from the bright palette of some of the key ingredients she like to use mirrors throughout the brand not just in her logo but in her very own, custom brand iconography set which will feature as a way finding system throughout her cookbook design and her website.

We created Jane’s brand language and tone of voice to reflect her offering in a clever concise way. Statements like “Health to thrive” and “I’m here for the good of your health” have spawned from the creative writing process for the brand. When married together the brand language and logo mark successfully tell her brand story.

Following the identity and language creation we implemented the branding on a number of deliverables that Jane has plans to release over the coming months as the brand is launched. From cookbook designs to event design and branded collateral for conferences we visualised how successful the identity can be across all of her needs with the colour palette and brand language constantly making an appearance, strengthening the identity as a whole.

It was a pleasure to work on the branding for Jane and we look forward to the roll out as she continues to evolve and increase her brand reach. Next phase is realising her new website and social media channels.

Wonderwall by Noblett’s

Posted on December 16, 2016 by YBmMqGwLx0

The owners of Wonderwall by Nobletts approached Kaizen Brand Evolution with the vision of re-branding their well-respected and established business in the heart of Belfast City Centre. Nobletts are a Long-standing family-run shop with 2 floors of paint, wallpaper, brushes and decorating supplies, they have been trading for several decades under the family name ‘Noblett’s’ and secured themselves as the finest purveyors of interior decoration at affordable prices. Following a boom in digital interior decoration sales online Nobletts decided to compete online adopting the secondary name ‘Wonderwall.’ Wonderwall became the digital face of Noblett’s and with small incremental additions to uniforms, and in-store promotions the brand link started to garner awareness with loyal customers and clients further afield. The new generation of Noblett’s recognised the need for online sales and brand communication across the business and tasked Kaizen Brand Evolution with reversing the naming of the business and placing Wonderwall as the Primary and Noblett’s as the Secondary name going forward.

Approaching our research and development we wanted the heritage of the brand to remain a strong part of the identity while bringing them into the 21^st century. With this in mind, we introduced Gill Sans as the key typeface for Noblett’s and body copy. Gill Sans provides a great balance between classic and contemporary, outlining the Wonderwall by Noblett’s brand values.

The primary type mark of Wonderwall represents each stroke of creativity and crafting that is involved in DIY around the house. The stripes in the type also visualise the movements in painting or decorating representing the core offering at Wonderwall by Noblett’s.

A key requirement of the new identity was to stand out. We achieved this by introducing a bright, bold colour palette alongside engaging copywriting. The new brand mark addresses the fact that Wonderwall are a full circle interior decorating company and not just wallpaper. The idea that you can really WOW your walls came naturally as a piece of language, which in tern developed the brand question ‘What if walls could talk.’ This tone of voice that we crafted for the Wonderwall brand aims to inspire customers to DIY, and along with the brand name give their walls an identity. The Wall’s become the real hero of the identity though the photographic style, typographic design and brand language.

As well as the new logo mark we created a series of way-finding graphics for the massive Wonderwall store on North Street Belfast. Utilising the bright yellow colour palette we created short & sweet way-finding circles across the store via hanging signage, floor vinyl and posters. The yellow is a clear indicator across the store of where you need to be, highlighting each section brightly and consistently.

One of the key brand deliverables was the new Wonderwall by Noblett’s website. Using a bank of contemporary imagery and interior imagery alongside the brand language we designed and developed a modern, minimal site, which directs customers to the products in a highly visual way. With the user in mind, we wanted to make the experience as straightforward and fluid as possible. Imagery played a big part in the framework of the site as did the new brand palette and Gill sans typeface. The balance of white space and photography provides an overall enjoyable online experience.

Online presence wouldn’t be complete without a full social media re-design and strategy to set Wonderwall by Noblett’s up for the future and utilising their already amazing social media following! We crafted their social media language, prepared post templates and posting schedules for them going forward. We also provided an easy to use social media guide with some initial brand guidelines to get them started.

We are extremely proud with the final brand identity and direction for Wonderwall by Noblett’s and look forward to evolving the brand as they continue to grow in store and online.

GHBranded Culture Night 2016

Posted on September 20, 2016 by YBmMqGwLx0

Thank you to everyone who came down to GHBranded for Culture Night 2016. Super fun night branding your Social Media accounts! Everyone’s photos can be found here:

bit.ly/GHBrandedPhotos

Please tag, link and share your images, and of course use them as your profile pics!

We hope that those who came down enjoyed a taste of the expertise in design and branding offered by Kaizen Brand Evolution at our pop-up studio. The event opened up the experience of branding by offering advice on Social Media, staging a professional profile image with a choice of backgrounds to suit your personality, as well as taglines to suit your aim online. From Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn to Tinder we catered for all. Our own Snapchat Geo Filter on the night received over 17k views, not too shabby!

Our experienced designers in our Lisburn Road studio are here to help on a more permanent basis, to raise companies online profiles with strategic planning and reporting. We hope you keep us in mind for your next brand update, or when you decide to start up your own business.

To learn more about us, or view our portfolio of brands that we have created, pop over to: kaizenbrandevolution.com/portfolio