Grom is an excellent artisanal Italian gelateria. Its mission is to produce and sell through its own POS (points of sale) in Italy and abroad, the best icecream in the world.
The highest quality raw materials are used in the production process in order to reach its ambitious goal. Grom’s obsession to reach absolute excellence enabled the company to make one of its dreams come true: in 2007 Grom bought a 11 ha land and started cultivating its own organic fruits in order to bring its customers the best sorbetti in the world.
Grom has its own POS in Italy, the US (New York and Los Angeles), France (Paris) and Japan (Tokyo).
WHAT IS IT ?
In this step you will find information about the Brand Builder, who is asking you to propose a Solution for the challenge. He introduces himself (as a Brand of course :) The more you understand about the Brand, the more chances you have to create what is wanted.
IMPORTANT: There is a possibility that the Brand Builder prefers not to disclose who he is, usually for confidentiality reasons. Such Briefs will be published in an anonymous way. In this case the Brand Builder will say as much as he feels comfortable saying.
Here are two EXAMPLES
In case there is no problem with disclosing the identity (VISIBLE):
“NMN -No More Nicotine- is a Brand that promises to counteract the damages to the skin that can be caused by smoking. NMN is distributed in pharmacies and drugstores and its price positioning is middle-high; it is mainly promoted through professional endorsement and is not massively advertised.”
In case the Brand doesn’t want to disclose his identity (ANONYMOUS):
“Brand counteracting the damages to skin caused by smoking. Its products are distributed in pharmacies and drugstores with a middle-high price positioning; they are mainly promoted through professional endorsement and are not massively advertised.”
In summary: Who is your client (in a visible or “anonymous” way :)
Grom asks Creators to design its icon, one that immediately identifies and distinguishes the brand through its printed materials and points of sale. Grom intends to create new shop signs/flags to be disposed perpendicularly with respect to the shop in order to be highly visible even at distance.
To better understand the objective of our Pitch, when designing the icon have in mind two world-wide known examples: Apples (the apple itself) and Starbucks (the mermaid).
!!! Update as of April 20th, 2010 !!!
Apart from being in total harmony with the current Grom logo, the new one must be very simple and stylized, minimalist and discreet rather than complex and well articulated.
The graphics of the ice-cream cone/cornet should not be extremely obvious – we would rather have it associated with some other element so that it turns out more interesting from a conceptual point of view.
Many of you have chosen G (from Gelato = icecream) – we must say we find it a very general symbol unless differently assembled/associated. We are actually looking for a brilliant logo association rather than a common one.
We would highly appreciate a Grom symbol/icon that leaves room for different conceptual interpretations and possibilities, one that brings together some of the following elements to induce optical illusions:
∞ Mura Mura land (the lake and the fruit/icecream)
∞ Grom’s bio (organic) nature as ice -cream producer (fruit/milk/natural ingredients/icecream)
∞ Grom’s ecologic approach reflected in all ice-cream sale accessories – no plastic but recyclable packaging.
!!! End of the update !!!
WHAT IS IT ?
This is the task the Brand Builder asks you to accomplish. If you don’t understand it, you are completely out of luck !
EXAMPLE
“We ask the Creators to develop a print advertising campaign in order to increase Brand’s visibility. It will be used in national magazines this spring.”
In summary: It’s the objective of the client, therefore your objective too !
Diversity is one of Grom’s most valued principles. Its clients are homogeneous in terms of age and the female customers are the predominant decision makers when buying family and children desserts.
Grom’s target customers pay special attention to product quality; they look for natural ingredients and care a great deal about the environment. They have medium/high income and they appreciate the excellence of our ice-cream – a healthy and pure product with no chemical additives. Our elegant while welcoming POS environment and our well trained and smiling staff are important to them as well.
WHAT IS IT?
People that the Brand Builder wants you to entertain and persuade to think, feel or do something using your creation. Usually you will read about their age, sex, social level and behaviors. You should always keep that information in mind while creating, as the target audience is the final recipient of what you create.
EXAMPLE
“Smoking girls and women who would like to quit smoking but can’t. Usually health-conscious adults who care about their looks. They feel guilty about smoking because they know it is harmful. They read books about it. This is a real problem for them: it’s like “My brain wants something, but my body acts of its own accord”. They don’t relate to my brand, they are just waiting for a trustworthy “helping hand”.
In summary: Get under their skin !
Grom wants its icon to express: high quality Italian product, excellent ice-cream, affordable luxury, natural taste, pureness and elegance.
The logo should immediately identify Grom and it should be highly visible and recognizable even at distance.
WHAT IS IT?
The thing that the Brand Builder wants to make the target audience think/feel/do because of your creation.
Here are some very concrete examples:
∞ Some things people can think/feel:
- There is a new Brand (or product or idea or...) out there
- This Brand is better than the alternatives or than it used to be
- This Brand is worth paying more for
∞ Some things people can do:
- Start buying the Brand’s products
- Buy the Brand more often
- Stock more products of the Brand in their outlets
The above written examples are very concrete whilst often the proposition of the Brief is emotional. That’s even better as it can be more inspiring!
EXAMPLE
“We’d like to encourage smokers to use NMN in order to minimize the damage to their health while they are keeping giving up smoking (especially if they’ve already tried and failed before).”
In summary: Get inside their brain !
There are many reasons why Grom’s claim is a credible one:
∞ the quality of our raw material is unquestionable;
∞ the fruits we use are natural – we have our own crop at Mura Mura;
∞ under no circumstance we use chemical additives, artificial colors or flavors
WHAT IS IT?
This is the key to achieving the objective. It is what supports the proposition and makes it believable. Usually it is a rational statement.
EXAMPLE
“Every cigarette you smoke is causing damage to your appearance. A recent study took several pairs of identical twins where one twin was a lifelong smoker and the other had never smoked. The smokers’ skin was a quarter thinner than that of non-smokers, and in some cases there were differences of up to 40%. NMN contains thinning-blocking anti-oxidants which counteract the effect of nicotine on the skin.”
In summary: You are looking for arguments? You’ll find them here!
Obsessed with quality
WHAT IS IT?
It’s who the Brand is. Yes... who!
Treat the Brand as a human being, as it has its own personality. To know the personality of the “client” is fundamental in order to provide a tailor-made job. So, read carefully the listed adjectives...
EXAMPLE
“Scientific, trustworthy, result-oriented, ‘a party’ to achieve your goals.”
In summary: Imagine the live person !
The icon will be primarily used for POS signs. Afterwards, will be used for all our printed material, shoppers, staff’s costumes. The budget/POS is approximately 10 000 euro. Considering our 2010 plan – to have 50 POS around the world, the aggregated budget sums up 500 000 euro.
WHAT IS IT?
A list of places (or media, or things) where the target audience will see the outcome of your creation. In this step sometimes the Brand will also acknowledge you how much he plans to invest into production. This information will give you an insight whether to create a BIG project or make it small... :)
EXAMPLE
“This campaign is going to appear in lifestyle- and health-focused women magazines of New Zealand, during the spring of 2009. We plan to invest 500,000 USD, which means approximately buying 100 single pages.”
In summary: Consider the medium !
If the Brand has preferences or technical requirements that your Solution has to match, you will find them here.
Here are some items that you may find in this section:
∞ Guidelines or mandatory inclusions (do’s and/or don’ts)
∞ Business objectives
∞ Market and competitors overview
∞ Good and bad samples
Depending on the Brief, you may also find some files attached with a logo, pictures of product(s), a template that you should use in order to submit your ideas, or any other file that the Brand wants to share with you. So, study the attachments before starting creating.
In summary: Anything else you need to know (not written in the 7 steps before) !
