“Once and runs!”: development of branding for the Invest Office

Tasks (and some challenges)

The creative studio faced the task of creating a branding concept for the Invest Office: from the positioning of the organization to defining its visual style.

From the very beginning, our team faced the challenge: “Guys, we have 2–3 weeks for this”, although usually we spend several months on such projects. Bambuk also took on this project pro bono, because we see it as a certain social responsibility of ours – to help such initiatives start, live and bring benefits. Therefore, we accepted the requirement of a tight time frame, and lack of resources and dive into the process.

We started with research and interviewed stakeholders & entrepreneurs who could use the services of the Invest Office. After that, we proceed with branding development, including the formation of the concept, mission, strategy, and visual identity.

Branding process

Branding development for the Invest Office is a project with many parties, tight deadlines, and various communication tasks. It was important to create a brand that would convey an effective structure, a strong team, and a clear vision of what it does and what it aims for. In particular, during our joint work, the client’s team went through the process of self-identification. We made it for a better understanding of the final goal and what they are working for.

At the beginning of the work, we derived several hypotheses based on the client’s brief. To confirm or refute them, we conducted a brand sprint, drew up a road map, formed the essence of the brand, and interviewed several potential customers and stakeholders (all this was done in 2-3 weeks).

Usually, the process of creating branding is a process of self-definition of the company and the people who work in it. And for this, you need time, which is almost not available. Therefore, it was unknown until the end what would be the result from the project.

 Insight

During communication and interviews, we derived several insights:

1. Entrepreneurs have two terms – “it worked” and “it didn’t work”. When something does not work, it means that there are difficulties. And people need a lot of resources to overcome them. Everyone wants to do business, but the obstacles prevent it very much. Bureaucracy, problems with papers, and a million rounds of approvals take away time from entrepreneurs because many other problems have to be solved. And that’s why a person wants to speed up processes. We want everything to go easily, and quickly, and the challenges that arise are related only to business development.
2. An easy way and a green light. A green light is the result of acceleration. People want to be able to speed up decision-making, obtain permits, and find resources. And the task of the Invest Office is to provide clear tools for this and to help overcome bureaucratic aspects. This is how the organization assesses the client’s need, searches for the optimal investment program or object by it, and helps to obtain or attract them.
3. People want to connect with people, and they also want to feel a sense of community. It’s difficult for everyone right now. So it’s important to communicate with those who have the same problems and speak the same language as you.

During the interview, we heard a lot of good things, and everything went well. In the visual style, Bambuk sought to convey the message that with the Invest Office, you will feel like the one with whom everything will “go”. For this, we chose the green light, which, in particular, symbolizes trust, availability and confidence. This formed the basis of the visual principle, and the idea of acceleration became its concept. In the design, we decided to stretch the visuals to show the accelerated movement as a push for the investor, which helps to gain momentum, accelerate and work. We were looking for simple solutions, because the company did not have significant media budgets, in particular for production and content creation. Therefore, the green color and stretching of the visuals were the basis.

We set ourselves the goal of making a quick and simple solution in a short time. The green color is reminiscent of the Rozetka marketplace, and the arrow logo is similar to the Citroën automobile company. These two brands form a positive associative series, and Citroën can even be associated with speed. So we settled on a kind of symbiosis of “images” for the Invest Office.

We wanted to portray the brand as simple and clear but at the same time expert. Invest Office is dedicated to make complex things simple. Therefore, for this, we combined the archetypes of the sage and the simple guy. On the one hand, the brand strives to help the world and make people wiser, on the other hand, it prefers simple and clear things and is close to its consumers.

The accelerated pace of work taught us an important thing – effective things can be done in a critically short period when you know the process, understand a clear result, and do not have time to hesitate. We managed to work through the main stages and conveyed the essence of the brand. In addition, we received an express strategy template, so now we are ready for everything!

In particular, the Invest Office needed a developed platform (website) and strategic communication. To solve these problems, the IT company SoftServe and the communication agency Perfect PR joined the project. SoftServe developed a platform for the Invest Office with investment opportunities in the region for entrepreneurs, a map of investment objects, and current news and events in the industry. Perfect PR focused on the development of strategic communication vectors (fact sheet, press material) and developed an information support project.

The results of branding process

We managed to create a branding concept for an organization that helps entrepreneurs and promotes investment in the Lviv region. As a result, we developed a branding, concept, positioning, logo, and templates for visual identification, which the Invest Office team is now implementing in-house. Everything to make it easier for businesses to move forward and know who to turn to for help!

For Bambuk, this project is proof that it is necessary to support important initiatives for free. We should always be close to each other and diversify our help. This is especially important when you help those who help others. This creates a win-win situation and develops our country. During a full-scale invasion, the Invest Office inspired us with its idea. And when you do something pro bono, you become even more inspired and begin to inspire others.