SilverStripe News

Vamoose Products

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Case Study - Vamoose Products

Vamoose Products is a revolutionary product that exclusively utilizes the patented Novexium technology to completely and permanently eliminate the constituents of all tobacco odors. 2007 was the first full year of selling the Vamoose product line on the Internet. During that summer it became apparent to Stephen Parkhust, President of Vammose Products, that even with an excellent product, Vamoose, Inc. needed to revamp the Vamoose brand and website in order to have an opportunity to increase their market share. In the early fall of 2007 they engaged Envision Creative Group as their agency of record.

During the discovery phase, we learned that the Vamoose product is highly superior to it’s more widely known competitors in it’s ability to completely break down and remove smoke odor permanently. We also learned that used car dealerships and hotels had been using the product with great success but that the consumer market was not catching on. It was determined that the overall brand was not meeting the needs of the consumer to instill confidence and compete against the market leaders.

The next step was to perform informal market research by visiting competitive websites, supermarkets, drugstores and other areas where similar products are sold. We then took some of those products and determined which products had the greatest design appeal for effective positioning.

Based on all of the information and data we gathered, Envision designed an entirely new logo and label that provided the appropriate perception of value to the consumer, represented the product clearly, and stood out on the shelves next to competing products. We then took this new look and applied it to additional product lines within the Vamoose family.

Once the logo and brand were established, Envision designed and built an e-commerce website for Vamoose. This site had several goals that all needed to be accomplished from the home page. 1. Sell product, 2. Appeal to consumer and commercial buyers, 3. Provide an easy to navigate shopping cart, 4. Generate a high level of trust and familiarity with the product, 5. Clearly and quickly explain what the product does and how it’s better than anything else on the market.

The website and new look accomplished all of the goals set forward and acted as a catalyst for growth in 2008. When asked about the role Envision had played in that growth, Stephen Parkhurst stated "We believe the work accomplished by Envision Creative Group was critical in successfully establishing distributors and resellers in the retail market sector (i.e. HBI, CEFCO, AutoSport, Auto Parts International, ACE Hardware International, Amazon.com and Overstock.com) and was also instrumental in opening the door for our products to be seen through the national media including Forbes.com, the Matthew Bronson Show, and The Shopping Channel. We have also signed agreements giving permission for our products to be seen in an upcoming comedy called "Glee" that is suppose to air April 2009 on Fox. In addition, we have completed the approval process for the Vamoose Carpet & Fabric Spot Remover to be sold on QVC sometime in the very near future."

Zilker Labs

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Case Study - Zilker Labs

Zilker Labs was founded in 2003 by semiconductor industry veterans who applied unique mixed-signal techniques to resolve the issues with implementing board-level power. As a young startup entering a challenging market with Fortune 500 companies as its target customers, Zilker was faced with the daunting task of creating a "larger than life" impression in a very dynamic industry. Envision quickly understood this challenge and was able to produce high-impact designs that effectively conveyed the message that Zilker Labs was providing a truly bold and unique technology but was a stable, reliable company.

Envision Creative Group was hired to work with Zilker Labs after a previous design agency was unable to deliver on expectations. Envision was tasked with picking up the pieces of several incomplete design projects and creating a new unified look that will translate over to marketing collateral, product packaging and web interface design. With an escalated deadline, Envision performed a preliminary review of current materials and researched the industry for acceptable trends and areas for product differentiation. Envision determined that contrary to the previous agency’s recommendation, the current corporate logo for Zilker Labs was deemed fully satisfactory for use and did not need to be recreated just for the sake of creating something new.

A new product package was created along with new collateral sheets and a web interfce design in a fourth of the time that the previous agency spent for half of the fee that had already been charged for incomplete work. The designs created were approved on the first round and put into print production within two weeks. The overall graphics package created became very recognizable as belonging to Zilker Labs, and made them appear to be a much bigger company than they really were. Within six months of deploying the website created by Envision, Zilker began hearing from customers, prospective employees and media around the world who were surprised to learn that they were actually a small startup company (at the time, with fewer than 20 employees). Within one year of establishing the new brand brand, Zilker was projected to have 4% market share…before they even announced a product. Envision has been nationally recognized by Graphic Design USA as an award winner for the Zilker Labs product package design.

Envision Creative Group became an outsourced partner for design and marketing support to Zilker Labs from that point on in 2003 and continued that prosperous relationship until December 2008 when they were recently acquired Intersil Inc.

"I have worked with numerous agencies, freelance artists, in-house teams and designers in my 20-year career and I have found Envision to be more talented, reliable and cost-effective than any other, stated Christie Stout, Marketing Director for Zilker Labs."

Stellar Energy Solutions

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Case Study - Stellar Energy Solutions

Stellar Energy Solutions is a specialist in the Residential and Commercial Window Film Marketplace. They focus on providing ‘Best-of-Breed’ products coupled with the finest professional installation and service. In 2005, Stellar Energy Solutions engaged Envision Creative Group to design a new logo, identity system, website and marketing materials. Envision met with Rick Starr, owner of Stellar Energy Solutions, for the "discovery meeting" to gather the details of their product, goals, and the target market/customer as well as other pertinent business and marketing information.

The discovery meeting as well as market research and informal interviews revealed the following: Stellar Energy Solutions was a sole proprietorship utilizing subcontractors on an as needed basis. The target market consisted of property managers, business owners, and high-end homeowners who wished to reduce the amount of heat or glare that was produced by large windows. The reason for the new brand and marketing pieces was to increase the perception of value of the Stellar brand in order to ease the selling process and open up new and larger revenue markets.

Based on the information gleaned during the discovery process, Envision researched other competitors within the same industry space to determine acceptable standards and areas for differentiation. Envision designed the logo mark and extended that look as well as the supportive elements into the identity items, a corporate website, and print advertisements. Because there are two distinct target markets for Stellar Energy, Envision designed the home page of the website to serve as a portal that would quickly drive the user though the site to gather the information needed and convert them into a prospect or customer.

After the launch of the newly designed website and marketing materials Stellar Energy experienced a 30% increase in sales over the previous year and has continued to benefit from increased sales and partnerships. As of January 2009, Stellar Energy Solutuions has merged with Standard Renewable Energy, the nations largest distributed energy services company. Rick Starr stated that "the professionalism of my website and brand helped to create that partnership and has been an integral part of the growth of my business."

Innocentive

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Case Study - Innocentive

Founded in 2001, InnoCentive built the first global web community using the crowd sourcing model for open innovation, enabling scientists, engineers, professionals and entrepreneurs to collaborate to deliver breakthrough solutions for innovative R&D-driven organizations. InnoCentive has worked with many corporations and non-profit organizations in helping to find solutions to some of the world’s most pressing Challenges.

Envision Creative Group was contracted in 2007 to help Innocentive with their fragmented approach to marketing collateral and messaging. Up until that point, Innocentive had relied on several different agencies and internal staff members to create the primary marketing message that was being presented. This approach had several shortcomings which were clearly recognized. Most of which focused on the varying message points, value propositions, benefit areas and overall tone to what was being presented to their prospects. There was inconsistency across all collateral materials and none of the pieces spoke to the true nature of benefits derived for partnering with Innocentive.

Innocentive determined that they would require a new PowerPoint sales presentation as the foundation for their new messagin platform. Envision Creative Group conducting a discovery phase meeting for the new PowerPoint sales presentation and determined that the message required for the C-Level target audience and the Director-Level target audience needed to differ greatly. Envision proceeded to research all of the current marketing collateral currently in place and read a book that was recently published regarding the crowd sourcing model Innocentive had adopted. Envision proceeded to create new sales presentations with a new messaging direction tailored specifically to the target audience with custom animated illustrations to assist in conveying the Innocentive difference and benefit to those in need of their services. A different deck was created for the Director-Level target and for the C-Level target. Each with it’s own varying level of granular detail, recognition of pain points and solutions geared to the interests of that particular target.

This presentation has been widely accepted by the national sales staff for Innocentive and is still in use today.