From idea to release - the birth of brand SmartBee Club in 10 steps
From idea to release – the birth of brand SmartBee Club in 10 steps
Sometimes, it so happens that what we’re doing gives us a great deal of joy. Not because the task is easy, but precisely because it is not.
Looking at the sheer number of tasks related to brand creation, it’s fair to say that we, as a team, did a jolly good show!
The idea was: new educational brand for children. To be more specific: launch of a subscription product with STEM experiments for little ones and their parents that can be conducted at home. And we, as a creative agency, were responsible for coordination and realization of all marketing actions of SmartBee Club.
First and foremost, we crystallized the vision, as the founders’ mission was clear cut: they wanted to change how children perceive science — from difficult to awesome. The offer includes experiment kits designed by scientists from the Polish Academy of Sciences that the little ones can conduct at home with their parents. The role of a parent is crucial here, as it allows for nurturing a fine habit of conversation and teamwork. And it all happens during great fun that is also a lesson for both the child and the parent.
ClientSmartBee ClubAgencyOMI Media HouseYear2019ServicesStrategy, branding, creation, production, postproduction, packaging design, printed materials
That’s not all. Besides its main tasks – education – SmartBee Club meets new technologies in order to communicate in a space familiar to children – the digital world.
When the process of SmartBee Club brand creation started, a communication strategy and an original key visual development were in the field of our actions.
Two children’s characters are in the centre of a child’s attention. The animated Fizzy and her friend Beezy the bee are full of beans and side-splitting jokes on laptop and smartphone screens. We designed not only their physical appearance but also their relations.
Meanwhile, we were working on the graphic design of the brand, 3D animations, and storytelling. In this case, the product was supposed to deliver an experience that the users won’t be able to find anywhere else. In the end, experience gained all by yourself is the best lesson, especially when we have fun. We were building engagement.
Dynamic colours and childish doodles dominated in print. This let us classify the image as a chipper, confident brand, driven by children’s energy.
We took a closer look at human motility for the sake of the animation. For this, we analyzed the actors’ facial expressions and the whole range of emotions influencing their body language.
On the base of references, complete animated characters ready for everything were born: talking, flying, jumping, with programmed hair and clothing animation. Commercial animation with characters took us 3 months, from modeling, through animation, to postproduction.
We paired up voices with the personalities of our characters. Brilliant Polish voice actors, who worked in such productions as ‘Pokemon: Detective Pikachu’, lend their voices.
To the experiment kit, we added a spot for subscribers and short animations that act as a breather during the fun. Such pit-stop for refuelling the attention, together with tidbits supplementing the knowledge was embed in a video edit so that users could experience the synthesis of real and digital world even stronger.
It’s widely known that it’s exactly these details and nuances that are instrumental to the integrity of the brand image. That’s why we supplied the brand with a brand book, which includes visual identification and communication principles.
We laid down the rules of style for future communication. We developed new slogans and the way of speaking suitable to a demanding age group, children. The finishing touch was converting it to a graphic language that resulted in digital formats for SmartBee Club.
