POWER & ENERGY

Hired as the Brand’s Creative Director, I was tasked with creating clarity around a business to help bring the brand into a new era of growth and opportunity. The first challenge we faced was looking at how we talked about what we did. Internally, there was confusion because there wasn’t any core principles to help identify a clear direction and course of action for everyone on the team to follow (I.e. Purpose, Vision, Mission, etc.). Additionally, there were so many applications and opportunities for the brand that we needed to create a broad message similar to companies like GE and Phillips who create a broad range of products that apply to a wide array of clients. 

Messaging
Marketing Manager Gage Jenkins and I started by auditing the brand as it existed currently digging into what the products were, their applications, the way it's been presented on a sales side and looking into how its being presented on web and other forms of communication to find inconsistencies, gaps, and opportunities for common ground. 

Through that audit, we put together a timeline and roughly 70 questions that addressed SWOT, market analysis, internal alignment and messaging, positioning, to help create a brand strategy that would help Joule Case stand out in the market. 

From there, Gage and I put together our market research and pinpointed areas where we could  be more unique. Where everyone in the space was focused on the end result of their power and energy applications, leaning into language that was redundant across the industry, Gage and I found an opportunity to talk about a technology that's perceived as not as reliable, and not as supportive and leaned on customer feedback to highlight a point where the customer is top of mind versus the standard of utilizing power or energy in the messaging. Instead, we focused on people and their needs without the mention of the application itself.  

After crafting Round 1 of messaging, we presented it to a focus group, who gave us feedback and a better understanding of how to communicate the ideas better. What we ended up with was clarity on our direction and messaging, creating both internal and external messaging we could use as the foundation, then eventually get to reaching more specific markets as we dug in deeper (This was never completed). 

Visual Identity
With the messaging established, we then turned to our visual identity. The logo had been in existence since the brands' inception, but within that time frame, companies like “JUUL” came into the market and created confusion and was interfering with brand perception. Since the name is registered as “Joule Case” we decided to present new concepts that would encompass the name without moving too far away from the existing brand since there was still equity in the mark.  

Using our market research and understanding who the competition is, we went after trying to create a brand that wasn’t leaning super hard into the “tech space.” We wanted to create something minimal that felt timeless, and something that was responsive and trustworthy. What we ended up with is a minimal logo that is slightly more impactful and bold that feels like it could have existed 50+ years ago. Our inspiration was brands like SONY, who live in the tech space but have been around forever and haven’t needed to change their mark. The founders were also inspired by brands like Leatherman, Nike, Apple, Mont Blanc, Toyota, and more, giving us a good idea of their own personal aesthetics that would help represent them. This led to the brand you see here. 

Testing
Testing was a crucial part of this journey, as Gage and I set out to come at this problem objectively. Taking both the businesses internal team and outside feedback to coalesce a brand that is unique to the market, trustworthy, timeless, and feels authentic. Months were spent poking holes and challenging ideas to ensure we came at this with no subjective bias. 

Role:
Creative Direction
Marketing & Social strategy
Identity Systems
Graphic Design
Apparel Design
Messaging
Copywriting