Case Study

Unlock / The sense behind the nonsense

Visual identity Brand imagery Stationery materials

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Context
Adina Vlad, formerly Client Service Director at an international market research company, created her own
company early in 2008 – Unlock Research. Being used to grow up the clients’ brands, she couldn’t ignore this
aspect for her own business. Therefore, for her new company, she chose BrandTailors as brand consultants.

Challenge
The market audit revealed that most competitors had a cold and very serious approach that reflected also at
the visual identity level, thus, reinforcing the perception that market research is a very important business, but
a scientific and sterile one.

Contrary to this perception, Unlock’s philosophy is that brands are build by people, not by consumers; however,
people often seem irrational and incapable of directly expressing their motivations – a fact which requires a
more human approach towards research. Moreover, unlike other competitors, Unlock doesn’t flood the client
with data; most importantly, it shows them the best and simplest way to the hearts of the product’ users.

Solution
At visual identity level, the solution was very simple and very flexible. Starting from the idea that Unlock
Research has the talent of materializing a sense and a direction for a brand from the seemingly existent chaos at
the declarative and behavioral level that people express – the visual identity was materialized in a row of letters,
extracted from a random set of characters and then, separated visually by contrasting colors. This identity
allows a very good flexibility, which is useful for this brand because it is a visual reflection of Unlock’s
philosophy: the human approach.

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This visual identity was completed by the slogan “Now you know”, which is meant to inspire to action (to know
something and not to act is like you don’t know anything) and to underline also Unlock’s point of
differentiation: its strategic implication in developing brands. The slogan was developed in English, in
accordance with the company name and also with its main target: multinational companies.

Contribution
Brand strategy and rhetoric - Monica Dumitriu
Graphic concept and development - Adrian Stănculeţ
Project management - Alina Crangă
Image retouching and printing pre-production - Mihai Părpălea

Project implementation started in June 2008.

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