When the (now called) Swivelfly team first approached Hotwire's Digital Brand Lab they had a vision and business model to forever change the workplace furnishing industry. From naming and messaging to visual brand development and launch, Hotwire helped transform their vision into a dynamic full-fledged brand.
Role: Lead Designer
Agency: Hotwire
Year: 2016
Bruce Paul, Swivelfly’s CEO, recognized the office furnishing industry was as stodgy of an industry as one could ever imagine – this had profound negative effects on the fast-paced start-up community. After years of experience in this industry he knew he could do better… and so furniture-as-a-service was born. Our task? Assist in baptizing the project with a memorable name, craft messaging that concisely conveyed its value, and develop a visual identity that would resonate with the serial entrepreneur community.
Our research phase focused on diving deep into the market and audience Swivelfly was out to get. Our insights told us we were onto something special: a product that would open the door to a new market category and an opportunity to speak directly to the hearts of entrepreneurs. With this in mind, we set out to build a brand that was bold and ambitious yet simple and approachable enough to overcome the negative feeling this audience currently had with workplace furnishing.
Our “aha” moment came in the form of Swivelbot: a design-intelligence bot that would turn the traditionally painful workplace furnishing experience into a 1-2-3 process, with cheeky commentary along the way. Immediately, we knew he wasn’t just a mascot, he would become an integral part of the team. Through the personification of Swivelfly’s design app, Swivelbot added a whole new layer of smart, helpful, and efficient interactivity.
Swivelfly’s final brand made sure entrepreneur’s knew furniture-as-a-service was here to solve one of their biggest pains. From a series of educational videos, to a branded campaign with Mashable, and a powerful digital advertising push, we made sure the Swivelfly brand made entrepreneurs believe workplace furnishing could in fact finally be a breeze. Our launch yielded Swivelfly a 107.2% rate in overall brand awareness among all audiences, per Google’s Brand Lift study.
Awards:
• PR News Agency Elite Awards – Branding
• In2 SABRE Awards – Branding
• In2 SABRE Awards – Illustration
Related reading:
Introducing one of the biggest small-business assets since cloud computing – Mashable
2016 Agency Elite Awards Winner Profile: Meet Swivelfly – PR News