Client / Profile Group

Background
The Profile Group, a British property developer, was developing a $110 million dollar Thai-inspired luxury island resort. It was to be on one of 300 man-made islands that make up Nakheel’s World Island project in the Arabian Gulf. The island aimed to combine the richness of traditional orient splendor, with the luxury and convenience of a world class contemporary destination, boasting 6 star luxury serviced beachfront homes and apartments centered around a health and wellness spa.

Challenge
The focus of this project was to create a brand that would distinguish it self from the surrounding islands, bring an authentic story to what essentially is a man-made pile of sand and capture Profile’s vision for the project. The story had to be told to potential buyers far before the resort would come into fruition.

Solution
After a thorough competitive audit and numerous interviews with the innovators of this island concept the island was named Baarámee, coming from a Thai word route meaning ‘virtue’. In the Creative Brand Strategy developed, the brand was positioned as a spiritual oasis. Baarámee promises to provide an atmosphere that fosters mental, emotional, and physical introspection.

“She will provide you with everything you need and ask for nothing in return but for you to find comfort and true happiness in her offering. Although she may not reveal herself she is omnipresent. You may hear her whispers in the wind, feel her nourish your soul or find she has given you answers to questions you weren’t even aware you had. She is Baarámee. A being that welcomes you to a place of tranquility, where your privacy is protected and the personal journey to the awakening of one self encouraged.” – Excerpt from the Brand Story

Inspired by the Creative Brand Strategy and the legendary Thai folklore story of the Himmapan forest (a mythical place filled with half-beings, thought to be the closest place to Buddha’s heaven) the creative took shape. You will notice there are 5 peaks in the brand mark, representing the 5 mountaintops thought to mark the Himmapan forest in the Himalayas.

In developing the customer journey, a set of rituals were created to bring a sense of authenticity to the brand, as well as attract visitors from neighboring islands. Most notably each year on Baarámee’s birthday there would be a lotus release ceremony and each night one of her people would light 10 stone carved lanterns through out the island representing the virtues of Buddha.

Results
Following the Creative Brand Strategy presentation the client declared his love for me. Joking aside the entire Nakheel World Island project is currently on hold. Only time will tell of its success.

Services: Brand Discovery, Creative Brand Strategy, Naming, Brand Experience Mapping, Visual Identity Design, Brand Collateral Design, Digital Engagement

Industry: Tourism, Luxury Destination, Real-Estate

Creative Credits: Creative Director Sahar Wahbeh / Design Director Christine Mercier / 3D Renders Hai Vo of 3D Solutions LLC

How-to Define the Who, What and Why of your Organization

Sounds simple right? You would be surprised how many companies struggle with defining who they are, what they actually do and why it matters in a concise and compelling manner. Below is an exercise that I sometimes use with my clients to help them get the juices flowing. Give it a go and let me know how it works out for you. All you need is a piece of paper, pencil and a clock. Now get cracking.

For the best results:

• Avoid clichés. Basically forget all the marketing jargon that has been beaten into you.
• You can do this alone but for a deeper perspective, round up a couple of your colleagues to help you out.
• Have fun with this. It’s meant to be an exercise in creative thinking.

Question #1 / Who are you as an organization?
You are limited to 10 minutes to review and complete the following series of questions.

1. Where do you have the most credibility?
2. What makes you authentic?
3. Where does your passion lie?
4. Based on the above, formulate a short statement answering the question ‘Who are you?’ avoiding ‘and’ and commas.

Question #2 / What do you do as an organization?
You are limited to 10 minutes to review and complete the following series of questions.

1. What business are you in?
2. What is your purpose?
3. What is your philosophy/approach?
4. Based on the above, formulate a short statement answering the question ‘What do you do?’ avoiding ‘and’ and commas.

Question #3 / Why does what you do matter?
You are limited to 10 minutes to review and complete the following series of questions.

1. How do you help your clients succeed?
2. How do you shape the industry?
3. If your organization ‘died’ tomorrow what would people say in your obituary?
4. Based on the above, formulate a short statement answering the question ‘Why does what you do matter?’ avoiding ‘and’ and commas.

Congratulations – you did it. You will likely need to further synthesis your answers but this should give you a good starting point to defining your organization and ultimately your brand. Now tell me did you discover any surprising answers? Did the exercise help give you some perspective? Lay it on me.

Should Your Customers Come First?

I posed this question to a client recently and they answered with an excited ‘absolutely’. I am guessing you did the same. Who could blame you? ‘Customers come first’ has been a mantra engraved in every service-led business for as long as I can remember. But in reality the best way to take care of your customers is to look after your employees.

I know what your thinking. ‘But I don’t have a business without customers.’ That is true but let’s see if I can get you to see the bigger picture. I ran across an insightful piece of research on the Gruntled Employees blog. Two professors from Manchester (UK) Business School, Gary Davies and Rosa Chun conducted interviews with 4,700 customers and employees across 63 service companies. Their findings clearly reveal that the more satisfied the employee, the more satisfied the customer the more growth a business enjoys:

Our research shows two things: Employee and customer views strongly correlate, indicating that the former influences the latter; and year-on-year sales growth positively and significantly correlates with the size of the gaps between employee and customer views. The more the staff’s view outshines the customers’, the greater the sales growth, because, we believe, employee views tend to transfer to customers through the aptly termed process of emotional contagion.

In addition the professors found that employee satisfaction was most influenced “by the perceived quality of both training and management and by how much autonomy workers have.” Meaning: Are you investing in their professional growth? Do they respect the expertise of their superiors? And do they have the trust and freedom to make decisions?

Customer experiences are what matter most and your employees are tasked with delivering it. So if you want to put your customers first, prioritize your employees. It’s as simple as that.

Client / DABO + CO

Background
d’Events and d’PR were associated companies that serviced the Middle East in their respective disciplines. It all started with 2 sisters, proliferating about how they could do it better over a few drinks. Inspired by their surname d’Abo, the company was named d’Events. Over time d’Events started providing PR services and hence d’PR was born. Like many small businesses, time and resources were dedicated to fulfilling the fundamental needs of the company and improving upon the quality of its services. Their hard work was paying off with a prestiges roster of clients such as Anantara Hotel Resort and Spa, Armani/Casa, Bally, BMW, Cartier, Chanel, Jaguar, Mont Blanc, Rolls Royce, Tag Heuer, Vertu, and the list goes on.

Challenge
With 6 years of organic growth, a strong business foundation in place and a firm belief in the long-term success of the company, the time had come to clearly define the brand. The most pressing issue facing the d’Abo sisters was the confusion, internally and externally, as to the identity of the brand. This challenge was to find a visual and verbal resolution that aligned the brand with the caliber of clients it represented and reflected the evolution of the company into an integrated communications agency.

Solution
After a thorough brand review and a comprehensive workshop day with the d’Abo team a creative brand strategy was developed around the promise of ‘oneness’. First things first, a brand architecture was put in place and the 2 entities where joined together to become DABO + CO. The brand was further developed to include a new more sophisticated brand mark, inspiring visual language and charming brand collateral.

Results
The launch of  DABO + CO was met with rave reviews from their clients and today they stand as MEPRA’s Agency of the Year 2011.

Services: Discovery, Brand Workshop, Creative Brand Strategy, Naming, Brand Architecture, Visual Identity Design, Brand Collateral Design

Industry: Communication

Client / Boqin Group

Background
Jimmy Poon dreamed of winning the 100 meter gold at the Olympics at the tender age of 9. At 14 he began playing tennis and eventually went on to coach. When he was 21 he worked as a volunteer at the Legg Mason tennis tournament in Washington DC. It was there that he realized his destiny was in sport management.

Challenge
Jimmy Poon was embarking on a journey to create a global sports management business based out of Dubai, delivering boutique style services including talent management, sports marketing & events, sports tourism, and sports media. Jimmy Poon is one man, with one very big dream. And that dream needed a name, a face and a voice.

Solution
The success of this brand came from exposing the passionate and visceral nature of sport, while building credibility as a sports business. Following the creative brand strategy the name Boqin was developed, a Chinese word/name meaning ‘win respect’. The name pays tribute to Jimmy Poon’s heritage and it’s meaning signifies the soul of sport. The Boqin Group was now armed with a name and a clear vision to service those ‘chosen ones’ around the globe, to claim or re-claim their destiny in the complex world of sport. To merge passion with life, dreams with reality and integrity with business. From there the many visual elements of the brand were created.

Results
The mark of this brands success is in the accomplishments of the business. Boqin now boasts an impressive list of clientele such as Puma, Alfred Dunhill, Range Rover and the #1 UAE karate athlete Khalifa Alabbar. In partnership with Lagardere, Boqin retains Middle East representation of the world #1 and #4 women tennis players, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka. Further to Boqin’s sports offering they have successfully branched into Arts and Entertainment by representing the pioneer of the UAE film industry, director and producer Ali Mustafa.

Services: Creative Brand Strategy, Naming, Brand Architecture, Visual Identity Design, Brand Collateral Design, Digital Engagement, Photo Library

Industry: Sport, Entertainment

Creative Credits: Creative Director Sahar Wahbeh / Design Director Christine Mercier

Client / Dubai 92

Background
More than 30 years ago the Arab Radio Network launched the first English radio station in the United Arab Emirates, now called Dubai 92. Over the years the brand has battled an identity crisis, changing it’s program format, look and feel and market positioning multiple times. With increasing competition Dubai 92 recognized without a clear way forward they might become obsolete.

Challenge
With no clear understanding of what the brand stood for and no parameters in place on how to apply it graphically, the visual elements of the brand were being abused, marketing initiatives were without strategy and each member of the sales team was positioning the station differently. Not only were listeners confused but also internally hours were being lost to debates about what was in the best interest of the brand. The challenge was to build a concise, strategically motivated brand that permeated through its visual and verbal representation.

Solution
After a thorough brand review and a comprehensive workshop day with the Dubai 92 team a creative brand strategy was developed, detailing the many intangible elements of Dubai 92. The over riding spirit of the brand came clear as rambunctious, invigorating, cheeky and always loyal. There was a desire to become an intrinsic part of the community by ‘bringing people together through music’ and promising listeners ‘never a dull moment – dull sucks so we keep it spicy’. But most of all listeners love Dubai 92 because they are ‘Livin’ the Music’. With these ideas in mind I developed a new more powerful corporate identity along with an extensive list of brand communication touch points.

Results
Following the re-launch of the brand listenership increased 17%, the largest increase of any English station in the UAE. Sales mulitplied and promoters began actively approaching Dubai 92 to be associated with their events instead of the competition.

Services: Discovery, Brand Workshop, Creative Brand Strategy, Visual Identity Design, Brand Collateral Design, Advertising, Digital Engagement

Industry: Radio, Entertainment

Creative Credits: Creative Director Sahar Wahbeh / Senior Designer Aimen Alwan / Copywriter Nathalie Carby

Client / HH Investment + Development

Background
In the absence of formal branding or any marketing efforts, Shahab Lutfi Hamoozi and Mohamed Al Hussaini had quietly established themselves as a quality contender within the world of investment and real estate development. In 2007 the duo established their company ‘HH’ and was in need of a strategic and creative brand direction.

Challenge
How do we differentiate a boutique developer in the over saturated United Arab Emirates market, where complacency and mediocrity have become synonymous with all things related to real estate?

Solution
Through the brand workshop, held with key stakeholders of the HH brand, it became clear that the sublime nature of creation was at the heart of this business. From there the HH brand philosophy took shape, ‘Know-how, fuelled by passion, guided by instinct, leads to creation’.  To clearly differentiate HH from the soulless brands of their competitors the program came to life under the tagline ‘Development is Creation’. Inspired by the highly philosophical tone of the HH brand an ultra-modern corporate identity was created.

Results
HH is now a distinctive brand and expanding business, even in a time where real estate is suffering greatly. HH now manages a portfolio of half a billion dollars worth of assets, translating into 2 million sq. ft. of leasable space, and can put their name to some of the most prestiges and iconic projects in the UAE.

Services: Brand Workshop, Creative Brand Strategy, Visual Identity Design, Brand Collateral Design, Advertising, Photo Library

Industry: Real Estate

Creative Credits: Creative Director Sahar Wahbeh / Design Director Christine Mercier/
Copywriter Nathalie Carby/ Photography Graham Tooby