Brave Branding

We have two weeks left until TCS is to make its first public appearance at a golfing event. The tent panels are almost ready, but the to-do list keeps growing, and growing. Oh, how I wish I could clone myself. An extra pair of hands would be a life saver right now. The owners now want banner flags, and pens, and what about a ballot box for the raffle? We will need that too! Luckily, we have very experienced people on the team who recommend me two suppliers. “Good Morning! We have an event coming up at the end of June. Can you help with some golfing related promo items? Yes, for end of the month!” Silence on the other end.

Brand Expression: The hero graphic is made up of core products from a variety of suppliers to help appeal to professionals and DIYers, our two audience groups.

One Brand, Two Voices

As a lead designer on the team, I collaborated closely with a VP of Marketing and Business Development to define the brand promise and values. With a tight launch timeline on the horizon, I also crafted visual identity concepts and aligned them with the brand narrative that was developed simultaneously. It was a constant push-and-pull that eventually landed on something cohesive. With the help of a pair of fonts called Owners XWide and Basic Sans, the brand’s relatable character could speak to both of our audience groups and used humour to make caulking fun and memorable. The professionals got the easily accessible TCS Pro-Services portal with great prices and high quality products that other professionals stood behind. And, the DIYers felt confident that they could find everything they needed in the e-commerce Shop section and complete their weekend project within budget.

Web Presence : Instead of showing products that are available for sale right away, our hybrid e-commerce landing page educates visitors about the new store and its offering first in order to build credibility.

Design and Copywriting

If I had to pick which one is more important, then I would pick copywriting over design because of how our team was able to demonstrate its effectiveness. I watched how a talented writer weaved words together to create something that got planted in the subconscious of our audience after just one glance. Powerful and brave advertising was critical for our nascent TCS brand, and we accomplished that with 75% writing and 25% design & layout. My direction resulted in clear visual hierarchy that emphasized key parts of the message and helped convey the brand’s cheeky character and double meanings.

OOH Advertising: Our brand awareness campaign generated a lot of buzz on various online channels and drove warm leads to the physical TCS store. (Creative copywriting by Nicole Hrinco)

Brand Touchpoints

Everyone knew that TCS was going to make a splash on the market. To turn that into reality, the team devised a strong marketing plan that was backed by a deep understanding of the industry. From sponsoring MIKA karting races to pro NASCAR drivers, the word about a new and exciting store that does things a little differently was starting to spread. To prepare for paid OOH advertising and other physical marketing materials, I used social media posts to stress-test and refine the brand’s visual language. After finalizing a tradeshow booth, tradeshow looping video, and an outdoor tent, the brand foundation had cured and the design process became a lot faster and easier to manage. We developed:

• Work van vinyl wrap
• MIKA karting race campaign (with video)
• Label design for work gloves
• B2B brochure
• Labels for oversized packaging
• Business cards and pens
• Exterior building graphics (seen below)

Environmental Design (Concept Art): Due to the TCS office and physical store being at a different level than the adjacent road, the solution was to position the logo as high as possible to provide maximum visibility.

Teamwork and Communication

Building positive relationships with people is paramount to me, and this is how the team was able to meet tight deadlines and produce high-quality marketing materials with various suppliers. I responded quickly, asked critical questions, and followed final art requirements for a smooth production process. I also got involved with e-commerce platform strategy where I researched and presented e-commerce integration solutions that fit the company budget. Shortly after launch, we welcomed new team members and I became a brand ambassador by educating them on best branding practices. To keep design concepts strong and maintain the fearless drive behind the brand, I scheduled daily meetings with our junior designer and provided creative direction for packaging design.

Event Branding: TCS sponsored a hole during a golfing tournament and a many marketing materials came together to create a delightful user experience.

Paving The Road Ahead

TCS is split between two audience groups and that polarity presented one of the biggest challenges to me during the design process. Each audience group requires different language, different visuals, and even a different e-commerce experience on a different online platform. To keep the visual language of the brand consistent for both groups, I created a shared graphic asset library that the team could use when developing art for social and other touchpoints. To compliment the asset library and to boost team productivity, I also put together a brand standards deck that helped quickly answer any brand related questions.

Brand Guidelines: The document was created in PowerPoint so that everyone can have access with full app functionality, share with ease across the company, and make updates when needed.

How Our Team Used AI

Generative AI was critical to our team’s ability to create effective content and publish it on schedule. We used generative AI in combination with stock photography to create custom imagery and refine captions for social media posts. Some of the construction related topics such as high-rise window installation were too specific and did not have any suitable stock photos available. To solve this problem, I looked for references on Google Images and took screenshots from related videos on YouTube, and then fed those images to Adobe Firefly. It would take time, but it was more cost efficient than hiring a photographer and going out on site. The end result were AI generated placeholder images that we used to get approval. Lastly, I leaned on Chat GPT to help me with wordsmithing. I still wrote drafts completely by myself in order to keep up my writing and creative thinking skills, but let Chat GPT vet my writing for clarity and length. Chat GPT also synthesized my bullet point form ideas into sentences helping get posts out sooner when timing was critical, and distilled headings into a few words that were just right for our ultra wide font.

Outcomes and Impact

TCS saw a successful launch. Our online channels aggregated good numbers and we received positive feedback directly from the audience. The OOH awareness campaign got noticed on the streets of Toronto and was called brilliant and hilarious on Reddit, Instagram, and Facebook. One comment read:

Absolute genius way to market your business. People will never forget it!

In addition to positive reception on the internet, the TCS t-shirts were very popular at The Buildings Show and helped us raise money for the Movember foundation while promoting the brand.