case studies

Restaging a brand – A powerful brand design system that increased market share and retail dominance.

Challenge
Leverage iconic fashion status to redefine Orbit’s visual equities across packaging and retail communications.

Insight
Research benchmarks revealed that despite the brand’s category dominance and highly successful advertising, when it came to its retail packaging personality, it just wasn’t bridging the gap. We needed to help them make that all-important emotional connection with consumers on the retail landscape.

Solution
Kaleidoscope worked with Wrigley to investigate attitudinal fashion appeal and some very unique flavor offerings. By focusing on disruptive category thinking and strong brand blocking, we created a unique design language that dramatized their fun and funky equity. With inspiration coming from consumer fashion trends, rather than the more competitive appetite appeal arena, we successfully leveraged the space they play best in, and gave consumers an even greater reason to reach for Orbit.

Result
After launching the new identity, the brand experienced a considerable increase in sales. Orbit continues to improve market share and reinforce its retail dominance.

Brand revolution – Delivering award-winning design for one of the world’s leading beauty companies.

Challenge
To build the big buzz necessary to grab national retail placement for Alberto Culver’s new line of natural facial care products.

Insight
Alberto Culver knew they had to respond to consumer trends and a category shift towards natural and organic skincare. Based on consumer research, our response targeted the natural sensations associated with key product formulations, and the sensory benefits that created the kind of emotional response that demands trial and maintains brand loyalty. This culminated in impactful positioning around the concept of natural science.

Solution
Kaleidoscope knew that this line, under the St. Ives brand and with an elevated price point, needed a powerful name and a compelling package design to really win at shelf. Through collaborative interaction with the Alberto Culver team – we delivered.

It began with the name Elements. And from this initial inspiration we redeveloped a St. Ives-focused design strategy. The smart use of white space, in combination with organic visual cues, delivered a design that successfully communicated exactly what the product inside would deliver – skincare with naturally fresh and clean results. This gave Elements a unique retail presence, with the power to gain display and incent consumers to purchase.

Result
The Elements line and its design refreshed the St. Ives equity, without losing the personality of this long-standing brand. It also created media buzz which garnered the attention of the beauty press. Consumer response was extremely positive, sales projections were exceptional, and retailer reviews – excellent!

Category innovation – Repackaging the world’s leading Bluetooth headset brand.

Challenge
To create a compelling brand proposition and package design for the Jabra JX20 Pura, the newest cutting-edge Bluetooth Headset in the GN-Networks premier product line.

Insight
Jabra is a world-leading consumer electronics brand, known for its smart technology and sleek design. Kaleidoscope recognized that the brands’ European heritage and cool, Scandinavian aesthetic had to be the definitive starting point.

Solution
Allow the rich brand heritage to serve as the source of inspiration.

Kaleidoscope balanced the beauty of the product with bold geometric packaging and powerful Scandinavian imagery to properly communicate the quality, unique design aesthetic, and trend-setting brand personality. The juxtaposition of these key elements created a simple, bold, clearly differentiated brand statement. We also worked with the Jabra brand team to develop a verbal identity system for packaging collateral that ensured total brand alignment.

Results
Launched in May 2008, the Jabra JX20 Pura reestablishes Jabra as the Bluetooth technology innovator, and a favorite of the luxury consumer.

Cutting-edge design – Power, whenever and wherever you need it.

Challenge
To design a new battery charger that would revolutionize the traditional charger market – featuring proprietary brand styling attributes and product performance beyond all expectation.

Insight
Through ethnographic research and competitive analysis, Kaleidoscope found out exactly what professional and at-home users were looking for – innovation. Pre-charge current intelligence. Universal polarity. Automated voltage sensing. Key user requirements that just weren’t being offered in the current industry mix. Then, we created an equally innovative program for design that gave users exactly what they needed.

Solution
The Bonaire Power Center. Designed specifically for power, 'whenever, wherever you need it,' and offering the user new features such as universal polarity, state of the art voltage sensing and on-clamp lighting for night use, the cutting-edge Power Centre delivers a ground-breaking product experience inspired by innovative functionality.

Results
Bonaire Power Center received design accolades for innovation, and industry patents for unique technology features.

Power of communication – A compelling brand identity system for a global technology company.

Challenge
To deliver a brand makeover for Insors, a leading global videoconferencing company, and make the more industry-established WebEx feel the heat.

Insight
Insors had experienced rapid growth and expansion of its operations over a 5-year period. With service offerings across the world, and a global client base, it was time to grab an even higher level of visibility.

Through interviews with key stakeholders and established clients, Kaleidoscope discovered that the Insors name was really working against them. It didn’t quickly communicate the services being offered, and in fact, evoked negative connotations. To give them the positive brand experience that was clearly their due, Kaleidoscope partnered with Insors to completely rethink its image.

Solution
It started with answering the question ‘what is their product benefit’ in the simplest terms possible: exceptional ‘input and output communication’. By combining these ideals, Kaleidoscope landed on a more meaningful brand expression that balances emotive function and product benefit within a simple, easily pronounced name - IOCOM. Supported by a compelling and hi-tech visual identity system that runs across all brand touch points – including user interface, media and marketing collateral – this renaming and repositioning overhaul gave Insors the edge they were looking for.

Results
A brand transformation from an entry-level player to a world-class leader in communications. Since a mid-2006 launch, IOCOM has been well received by clients worldwide.

New vision – Integrated marketing campaign for the world’s leading financial transaction brand.

Challenge
To give Travelex, the world leader of foreign exchange and global business payments, a visual identity system that communicates customer accessibility and an entrepreneurial attitude, all within an expansive international reach.

Insight
Travelex operates in 35 countries and has corporate relationships in over 100 countries spanning the globe, serving millions of customers each year. Through a deep dive into their operation strategy, Kaleidoscope helped Travelex to identify a unique value proposition that ultimately led to a 360° holistic reinvention of the brand experience.

Solution
By balancing their entrepreneurial attitude with their trusted global expertise, Kaleidoscope verbally and visually communicated Travelex as a brand of integrity, change and transformation. This newly created brand expression, designed for their consumer retail and business solutions divisions, brought them from international bureau de change operator, to innovative pioneer of the diversified worldwide money business. Both internally and externally, Travelex continues to evolve from a corporate institution to a customer-centric brand experience.

Results
Travelex now heralds a new definition of customer intimacy. Launched in spring of 2008, the new identity has been well received by both internal stakeholders and Travelex business customers worldwide.

Groundbreaking identity – A unique branding program for Arizona’s premier business park development.

Challenge
To develop an identity for a forward-thinking, new contemporary urban business development.

Insight
Traditional malls. The development area was saturated with them. Our client, Meridian West, a real estate development company specializing in property acquisition and turnkey development solutions, took notice. They recognized a unique opportunity—to create a one-of-a-kind city living experience for local people seeking a more urbanized lifestyle. This mixed-use community, replete with all of the required retail amenities, and including ALOFT, a high-end hotel complex spanning 4 acres, needed an identity as smart as their inspired idea was. Kaleidoscope went to work.

Solution
AZ202 – an entirely new concept that brings indulgent living to business communities. The newly created identity system balances business sensibilities with urban lifestyle attitudes, communicating an edgy attitude fit for this true "urban oasis."

Results
Designed for business and entertainment, the powerful and unique AZ202 identity and supporting materials truly sets the standard for premier real estate development in Arizona.

An innovative line of high-end kitchen work centers – Through design innovation, the space saving Ascend sink revolutionizes the kitchen workspace.

Challenge
To create a unique line of high-end sinks that would place Swanstone, a world-leader in the kitchen and bath industry, top-of-mind with resellers, contractors and end-users.

Insight
Consumers are more invested in the environment than ever before. Kaleidoscope realized that, through truly inspired design, we could create a line of work center sinks that would appeal to this consumer passion, and make Swanstone the brand people would ask for by name.

Solution
Focus on addressing environmental concerns with an equal balance of functional design and emotional consumer insight.

Inspired by space saving benefits and water conservation, we created a brand centric product solution – Ascend – a single bowl kitchen work-center that supports dual sink functionality, and features unique food preparation areas, adaptable wash capacity, and most importantly – less water use.

Result
Ascend achieved record sales within the first year of introduction, in addition to numerous design patents and awards, including Woman’s Day magazine Best Product Award for 2007.

Challenge
To develop a marketing strategy for a wholly new tequila experience that would truly wow the urban luxury sect and nightclub-culture denizens.

Insight
Research revealed that vodka is perceived as played-out within many urban clubs and bars. In this vodka-saturated marketplace, tequila has remained relatively untapped in terms of brand differentiation and segmented consumer propositions. Kaleidoscope saw this as the perfect opportunity to create an alternative tequila experience certain to appeal to our client’s target – and render vodka passé.

Solution
By leveraging structural branding as the primary driver, we developed a marketing strategy to attract and engage the indulgent, luxury-seeking consumer. From that was born Canteen – an exclusive offering which we created and named – that balances authentic tequila heritage with uniquely urban attitudes. We stepped away from tradition by introducing it as a line of 3 hip flavors, then wrapped it in a striking design that truly delivered a wholly new experience and an exciting market space opportunity.

Results
Embracing both urban style and upscale sophistication, without the haughty attitude adopted by its competitors, Canteen achieved its mandate - giving high-end urban bars and nightclubs a delicious new alternative.

Smart design – Intelligent strategy reinvents the Thermos brand experience.

Challenge
To position Thermos, the worlds leading insulated products brand, at the forefront of innovation in the baby and toddler retail category.

Insight
Kaleidoscope’s research revealed that 9 in 10 baby bottles and sippy-cups on store shelves are polycarbonate, promoting unhealthily high levels of bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical that mimics estrogen. Research also proved that Thermos could, without a doubt, create exceptional consumer demand for a child-safe BPA-free product line.

Solution
The insight was clear – when it came to delivering a BPA-free food storage solution, the baby and toddler category was failing consumers. Kaleidoscope used a combination of trend research, brand positioning, name creation, and brand design to give Thermos the industry advantage. We envisioned and created an innovative line of food and beverage containers made of BPA-free stainless steel and polypropylene. With Foogo by Thermos, a break-through solution was born.

Results
Foogo firmly placed Thermos as the category leader, achieving full distribution nationwide, with a new level of category pricing. It was also awarded Most Innovative New Product at the International Housewares Show.

Leveraging brand heritage – Rethinking Radio Flyer’s iconic wagon through innovative design.

Challenge
To develop a wagon for Radio Flyer, America’s leading ride-on toy brand, that would offer a premium alternative to high-end strollers.

Insight
We all know that there’s something truly special about a Radio Flyer wagon. Through a child’s imagination it can transform from an excellent mode of transportation into a vehicle that holds magical and adventurous play. For parents, the traditional wagon offers more freedom and versatility than strollers. Kaleidoscope’s strategy focused on developing a wagon that leveraged this playful quality with user-friendly innovations for parents, and cool features for kids.

Solution
As Radio Flyer’s strategic brand design partner, our revolutionary concept took flight. The Cloud 9 incorporated cutting-edge technology and upscale components, with high-performance functionality…all in lightweight materials to make maneuvering virtually effortless. The result was a ride experience that redefined both visual aesthetic and ease of use, while retaining a strong link to the brand’s heritage.

Results
Unveiled at the 2007 International Toy Fair, The Cloud 9 received coverage by CNN and Reuters and a positive PR boost. It also received an honorable mention by ID Magazine for innovation.