No related posts.

Business veterans, Chris and Aldo Calleja understood that creating an image to communicate with their customers by proxy no longer works in our web enabled, transparent society. Experience has taught them that consumers are more empowered than ever before to probe for their own truth about brands, rather than the one presented to them.

They hired Bulldog to help define relevant meaning for their startup ‘resource optimisation company‘,  to minimise the possibility of contradiction between their image and culture.

This is important because people no longer consume products for purely functional satisfaction but also, to define and maintain their identity. Proof of this meaning-based consumption is all around us. Why else are consumers willing to pay more for skin care products that are not tested on animals, cars that are more environmentally sound and wines that attest to social standing?

However, it’s not just about how the outside world will see this new company. If there isn’t a clearly identified set of core values dictating behaviour, employees tend to feel aimless and lost.

With this in mind, we defined and recorded a Roadmap that will provide the following advantages as the brand develops:

Effective planning and management. The roadmap will allow Sparkbow to chart their progress towards clearly defined business objectives, rather than just concentrating on the task of the day.

Evaluation based on objectives. Review processes for products, communication and actions will all be grounded by the same objectives and criteria – rather than individuals’ subjective tastes and personal preferences.

Communications informed by better insight. All communications to be created by Sparkbow’s advertising/design/communications agencies will be able to leverage a compelling point of difference in the minds of their audience, their unique strengths and the vulnerability of their competitors.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

To learn more about how to introduce long term effects as criteria for evaluating short term decisions, contact Bulldog at info(at)virtualbulldog.com

No related posts.

No related posts.

Our solution was to create an image immediately associated with hairdressing; that is also visual shorthand for Cheri’s nationality.

No related posts.

In 2006, Europlay was awarded Class A and C licenses allowing it to operate a fully integrated gambling system. Bulldog was hired to develop a strategic brand platform that would align with the company’s business strategy, ensure differentiation in a highly competitive market and inspire investors to recognise the potential value of Europlay’s offering by becoming stakeholders.

Our first objective was to define what makes Europlay special and different in the competitive context of the igaming industry. We found that a key issue which prevents more people from participating in gambling as a pastime is that it is still seen as an activity that is a socially unacceptable. Much of this is down to the well publicised consequences of problem gambling.

Paradoxically, a common thread amongst a diverse demographic of people that strenuously claimed NOT to gamble is that many of them, regularly purchased lottery tickets or scratch cards. Inspired by this insight, we crafted a new brand aimed at people who like to play money games but who don’t consider themselves gamblers.

If this does not sound very original, given the gaming industry’s current obsession with appearing socially responsible, consider this; all major gaming websites, under the guise of social responsibility, allow players to set their own limit in respect of how much they can lose. Isn’t that like asking an alcoholic to decide when he/she has had enough to drink?

We saw this as a case of reach outstripping grasp and with low stakes, high involvement games, strict measures to ensure responsible participation and game themes that reflect emerging consumer attitudes to everyday life situations affected by politics, fashion, popular culture etc – the Mowjow brand was born.

In order to explain Mowjow’s intent, spirit and expression to potential investors, the brand kernel was outlined in a manual that included: audience insight, industry niche, competitors, vision, business objectives and key offerings. The manual also contained a comprehensive identity – defining: key messages, symbolic expressions, architecture and standards to ensure consistent application.

Bulldog also designed Mowjow’s first mobile phone game: “Seduction Lottery”. This is a downloadable Java application that works on the majority of current mobile phones. Built around a dating theme, Seduction Lottery adds role play, escapism and greater involvement to the traditional lottery game experience. This is important because experiencing a lottery game on a mobile phone is not the same as physically participating. The main difference being, the length of time between the stake and the outcome. On a mobile phone, this is instant, making a more involved user experience imperative – especially when the player loses (even though the stake is very low). Seduction Lottery rewards players with a simple but highly enjoyable experience whether they win or lose.

That said, because of the risqué nature of the game theme, not everyone will like Seduction Lottery. It is designed to appeal to an 18 25 age group and reflects a world which they will recognise as what is around them. This is not to say that all 18-25 year olds should be stereotyped as belonging to a homogeneous ‘sex obsessed’ subculture. What it does say is that there are attitudes and feelings which this age group are likely recognise, and these have been used to develop a game theme that celebrates both commonalities and differences.

In any case, the technical architecture behind the game was designed in such a way as to allow the skinning of new themes on to the existing back end. This allows the creation of multiple games that target very different groups of people with relatively low development costs.

In order to inspire, inform and ultimately move potential investors to become stakeholders in the project, we also developed a short brand film about Mowjow and the Seduction Lottery game.

‘Cocaine Charlie’ is a character that did not make the final selection. As you can see, the early development visuals contained much more detail than the final versions. Along the way, we realised that the screen size on some phones (and resolution) was so small that this would be impossible to retain.

For more information, feel free to get in touch at info(at)virtualbulldog.com

No related posts.

For years, the jams were stored in glass, Kilner-style jars, adorned with hand printed labels and sold at farm produce markets in districts surrounding Trondheim. However, demand for Bakke jams reached a scale that necessitated more sophisticated production, marketing and distribution methods and today, these jams compete with hardier (but less authentic and tasty), mass produced jams on the shelves of Trøndelag supermarkets.

Bulldog was commissioned to develop an identity and packaging for this range of jams. The result is a set of utterly simple but chic label designs, colour coded in distinct shades that help consumers easily distinguish between the fruit flavors.

.

.

Related works:

1. New environmental graphics for Calleja’s lighting store entrance
2. Commemorative launch materials for the opening of the Calleja stores
3. Personal work influenced by survivors of the Haiti disaster