Monetise your material with an ingredient brand
Sprint is our five-week brand strategy and design service for early-stage start-ups selling an innovative material.
Have you developed a new material which could enhance a product’s performance?
If so, you have the opportunity to create an ingredient brand - a high-value component which improves products, and also acts as a key selling point.
Think of GORE-TEX in your hiking boots, Primaloft in your jacket or MIPS in your cycling helmet.
Creating an ingredient brand requires a two-pronged approach. You need to build awareness with the end consumer, as well as your paying customers - the manufacturers who’ll put your brand in their products. You’ll also need to ensure your brand is consistent across many touchpoints, some of which may be outside of your control.
Our Sprint package is designed for new businesses that need a ‘minimum viable brand’ - a simple yet powerful identity and story for your material, at an affordable price.
If you’re ready for a more in-depth brand strategy and design process, take a look at our ACCELERATE package.
During the five-week Sprint process, we’ll work with you to craft a brand that you and your future customers will love.
We’ll use a blend of strategic thinking, creative flair, commercial nous and our in-depth knowledge of materials, innovation and ingredient branding to put you on the path to success.
By the end of the Sprint, you’ll have a beautiful visual identity that elevates your material and increases its perceived value and a strategy that will define how you bring it to life.
Your brand will help you:
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Convince manufacturers to use your material in their products
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Create awareness of your material among consumers
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Build consumer trust in your material
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Stand out from your competitors
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Win backing from investors
We’re Richard and Ruth Palmer, and we built our own ingredient brand, D3O, from the ground up. We used the power of brand to transform this smart material, first discovered in a university lab, into a market leader in the impact protection space.
We share this winning formula with our clients, guiding you through the very specific requirements needed to create and build an ingredient brand in the sports and outdoor industry. We’ll help you to maximise the value of your innovation and avoid the pitfalls we encountered during our own journey.
After you complete Sprint, our goal is that you’ll want to continue to work with us to grow your brand. As entrepreneurs, we understand the immense pressures you face and can support you through the challenges of securing funding, growing revenue, increasing profitability, building a fanbase and partnering with manufacturers.
Read more about our story here.
Why choose us?
What's included in Sprint?
01 Research
Analysis of your competitors, the market landscape and trends in your niche.
02 Strategy workshop
A two-hour online workshop where we’ll work with you to create a framework that defines your purpose, values and a brand promise that differentiates your product from competitors.
01 Brand personality
We'll create a personality for your brand using the values and behaviours identified in phase 1. We'll look at brand archetypes to help guide how we define your brand's personality.
To explore and agree the visual direction that matches your personality.
02 Mood board
We’ll create three different versions for you to choose from, with one revision of your chosen logo included with the package.
03 Logo design (or redesign)
04 Brand assets
We’ll create three different versions for you to choose from, with one revision of your chosen logo included with the package.
For use on your website, packaging, social media etc. to give your visual identity depth and flexibility.
05 Colour palette
That represents your unique personality.
Created in Canva including your brand colours, logo, typefaces, assets and some social media templates to get you started.
06 Simple brand guidelines
01 Brand activation workshop
A one-hour online brand activation workshop where we’ll help you figure out the steps to launch or promote your product.
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Should we partner with other brands to build awareness?
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Do we need to do a photoshoot?
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Where should we focus our marketing efforts?
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Which media channels should we use?
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What events / trade shows should we go to?
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What marketing assets do we need to create before we can start selling our products?
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Should we sell directly to consumers or via retailers?
After the session, we’ll send you a brand activation plan. This is a high-level roadmap outlining how you can bring your brand to life and start raising awareness of your product among your customers.
02 Brand activation plan
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Phase 1: Research & strategy
01
Research
Analysis of your competitors, the market landscape and trends in your niche.
02
Strategy workshop
A two-hour online workshop where we’ll work with you to create a framework that defines your purpose, vision and a only-ness that differentiates your product from competitors and sets your brand on the right course.
A unique and authentic personality for your brand, designed to help you attract your ideal customers and build an emotional connection.
01
Brand personality archetype
We'll create a personality for your brand using the values and behaviours identified in phase 1. We'll look at brand archetypes to help guide how we define your brand's personality.
02
Mood board
To define the visual direction that matches your personality.
03
Logo design (or redesign)
We’ll create three different versions for you to choose from, with one revision of your chosen logo included with the package.
04
Brand assets
For use on your website, packaging, social media etc. to give your visual identity depth and flexibility.
05
Colour palette & typefaces
That represents your unique personality.
06
Simple brand guidelines
Created in Canva including your brand colours, logo, typefaces, assets and some social media templates to get you started.
Phase 2: Creating your brand
A one-hour online brand activation workshop where we’ll help you figure out the steps to launch or promote your product. We can help you answer questions such as:
01
Brand activation workshop
A one-hour online brand activation workshop where we’ll help you figure out the steps to launch or promote your product.
-
Should we partner with other brands to build awareness?
-
Do we need to do a photoshoot?
-
Where should we focus our marketing efforts?
-
Which media channels should we use?
-
What events / trade shows should we go to?
-
What marketing assets do we need to create before we can start selling our products?
-
Should we sell directly to consumers or via retailers?
02
Brand activation plan
After the session, we’ll send you a brand activation plan. This is a high-level roadmap outlining how you can bring your brand to life and start raising awareness of your product among your customers.
Phase 3: Activating your brand
We can help you activate your brand.
Building a brand happens in the doing, not just in the designing.
We can act as fractional team members inside your company, providing a full range of marketing and design services to help you activate your brand.
Over the years we’ve assembled a wonderful team of associates whose work we respect, including designers, copywriters, website developers and marketing specialists.
We act as your project manager to ensure everything aligns with your brand and meets the highest standards. You can either hire us on a project basis (with each job priced separately) or pay a monthly retainer for access to our services.
Need something more?
We also offer an Accelerate branding package for businesses that are ready to scale up, which includes in-depth research, customer interviews, messaging strategy and more.
Tim Brown
Director and COO Rheon Labs
"Ruth was wholey responsible for creating D3O's brand strategy and executing the formation, communication and embodiment of the brand. It is difficult to find the most appropriate level of praise for her work and attitude; "Utter brilliance" is the closest I can get."
Phil Shettig
VP Product + Marketing, Vertical Supply Group
"Richard's mastery of product and communication drove a wave of publicity that we could never have dreamed possible. Richard's technical ability is only surpassed by his understanding of marketing. I have never seen anyone possess such acumen in both realms before. This is a potent combination. As an entrepreneur, it is lethal (to the competition)!"
Simon Devonshire
OBE, Entrepreneur, Investor, Non-Exec Director, Chair
“Richard is an inspiration to anyone with a dream, and the drive to realise it.”
Janinie Boyer,
Director, Beancount
"By the end of the workshop I had a clear vision about what my business brand statement is, what values and processes underlie it and how I can make it work for me. It was great to have such a creative and supportive space in which to really focus on my own branding as it's all too easy to overlook its strategic importance when you're busy!"