FORCATS.COM – brand identity
Overview
The ForCats team came to Formerle with the purr-fect branding ask, one that required some playful colors, fuzzy textures and cat-like motion. This startup knew they needed a fresh visual identity to break into the game and one that spoke to their audience. So in addition to the usual deliverables like logos, colors and typography, we also brought these assets into animation with the intention of scaling this identity into a broader motion identity in the future to meet their video needs. It was one of many project inquiries that left us exclaiming, “meow you’re talking!” but this time that response felt more appropriate than ever.
Services
Branding & Identity
Design
Motion Graphics
3D Animation
Building a (Startup) Brand.
Startups live and breathe innovation, and when launching a new product or service, the product or service being developed shapes everything about the business. As Tony Fadell says in Build, “Your product isn’t only your product. It’s the whole customer experience.” Simply put, the product becomes the brand. But here’s an interesting takeaway from Tony’s book. The product experience morphs into something tangible, and meaningful, long before it is ever completed. It influences the branding, the culture of the business and the customer experience pretty early on. In fact, the experience begins to personify long before product completion because it’s the driver of the business’s story.
But stories are meaningless unless we know who we’re telling the story to and why it should matter to a particular audience. That’s why it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of your target audience and end customers, and what matters to them. Knowing who they are and their customer journeys are key to building a well-represented brand. So before a startup’s product or service is ever completed, and whether it’s aware of it or not, the branding is being developed simultaneously.
Brand New Brand Equity.
The ForCats team is a startup that understands the importance of a well constructed brand. When they approached us with their initial visual identity ask they were the first to share their vision for the future of the company’s brand presence, and it was a vision that included animation, motion design and video. We were so excited that they were already thinking about these elements! But the foundation of all branding starts with clear messaging.
A brand’s story, personality, messaging and visuals must all work together to garner awareness, build trust and engage an audience. It must be communicated effectively through copy, tone and design. With the help of our good friend Scott Biersack over at Youbringfire, we built out the foundations of the ForCats brand identity for use in traditional mediums, as well as the team’s future motion identity to compliment any long-term video needs. And our discussion with the ForCats team about the need for motion design this early on in the process was a big win for everyone involved. It allowed each party to be part of visual development of the branding, and truly understand the visual storytelling behind the brand’s message as well.
Anything Is Paw-sible.
The end outcome was a beautiful visual identity that has the flexibility to scale with the business. With their new identity checked off of the list, the ForCats team truly has the world at their paw finger tips. As the startup continues to grow so too can their brand, including the expansion into a full motion identity and beyond. They can take their marketing strategy in several different directions with this in mind, but one thing is for certain. By planning this far ahead for video to be part of their marketing strategy, they are able to take this package of brand and motion elements, and use them across a variety of platforms to increase awareness, engagement, lead generation and conversions, and ultimately measure changes in customer perception to control future sales.
From our perspective, we can already see this visual identity shining on social platforms like YouTube, on packaging in pet stores of every kind, and part of the team’s internal needs as well. It’s always a good indicator when the branding has the flexibility to grow as the company scales, and the ForCats branding surely accomplishes that.
And thus concludes our cat puns…for meow.
