CASE REVIEW
HoopLab is Malta’s one stop shop for branded merchandise. The company approached us while they were still getting started and requested a logo design and branding.
Our starting point was understanding what their leading product was and their main target audience. Although HoopLab offers a variety of products including wristbands, lanyards, event passes and RFID technology, through our research we concluded that wristbands were their highest-selling product with the largest selections available to the public. We then broke down any misconceptions and looked to the local and European market to understand what was currently trending, with whom, and for what.
We concluded that our target audience mainly consisted of millennials – the group of people who are currently organising the biggest festivals, loudest parties, technology-driven conferences and mind-blowing events. Wristbands also tend to be more in demand during the summer months, especially with businesses offering outdoor activities, water sports or private pool access, so our target audience for HoopLab extended to marketing teams from the gaming and hospitality industries.
THE BRANDING
We took note of HoopLab’s competitors and made sure that we would lead the brand into a different direction to have it stand out in the market. It was also important for us to create a strong brand, apart from the logo, for use on social media, the website and possible merchandise.
Seeing that the company would be mainly targeting their content to millennials, we wanted to create a logo design and brand that was on-trend stylistically and colour-wise, while representing fun, freedom, energy, party colours and vacation vibes. We used bold, bright colours, both in the logo and for branding. The use of gradients had also been trending within the recent years and continues to grow in popularity, so we felt it was the right decision to add a gradient to the logo to give it that “current” millennial look we were opting for.
THE LOGO DESIGN
With the trend of verbicons (letter form embellishments which reveal or create a visual image related to the meaning of the word) trending across the internet, we were eager to get the opportunity to create one ourselves for the logo design of HoopLab. We took the word ‘Hoop’, associating it with the shape of wristbands, combining the two o’s for linked hoops. As part of the verbicon logo design, we created a custom-made logotype for the remainder of the company name.
THE MERCH
In addition to finalising the logo design for HoopLab, our team continued to develop the company’s branding with the requested bright colour palette and unique, playful patterns to be used on both digital media and their printed merchandise including any stationery, brochures, packaging and clothing.
PROMO VIDEO
As part of their launch, we got in touch with the RollerHostess company in Malta to produce HoopLab’s first promotional video. Our goal was to capture the girls from RollerHostess roller-skating while wearing HoopLab’s variety of wristbands and their branded t-shirts, which we also designed. We paid special attention to make sure that the company’s logo was clearly visible throughout the video, whilst using bright colour throughout; from the girls’ outfits and wristbands used, to the filming location and editing effects. Our videographer and digital marketing specialist were on location for this production and once done, we provided HoopLab with 40s variations of the promo video along with the full version for their perusal.
HoopLab now stands as a leading wristband provider in Malta with a unique, fun and quirky branding to boot.