Rebel with a Cause
Case Study
The year is 2016 and Angelbird is still small. Really small. While industry giant Samsung employs half a million people worldwide, the Vorarlberg-based SSD manufacturer employs just 6 people. Production does not take place on an assembly line, but in a kind of high-tech back room: an Angelbird product can take up to half an hour to manufacture, assemble and laser by hand. This complex process costs time and money – and thus has an impact on delivery times and prices.
The test reviews of Angelbird’s products are excellent. But speed, size and longevity are subject to constant technological progress, which makes it impossible for a small company to stay ahead for long. To the layman, the minimal performance differences between SSDs from different manufacturers are barely noticeable and therefore not relevant to the purchase decision.
When shopping for products, the mainstream consumer chooses brands he knows and trusts. And these happen to be the ones with the high marketing budgets. He is totally unaware that for that company, he is just a number among many.
The rational decision is an illusion
In their conviction, developers of technical products are often subject to a fallacy: that the responsible buyer makes rational decisions, carefully weighs up the pros and cons and thus comes to the logical conclusion that there can only be one right purchase decision. The prevailing view is that the consumer can somehow be convinced with the right arguments. Product advertising is dominated by long lists of features, technical abbreviations that are difficult to understand and abstract performance data intended to emphasise the highlights of a product.
Arguing via hard facts only makes products comparable, not unique. In brand management, this is a complete failure.
But the rational decision is an illusion. Abraham Maslow knew this when he explored how our innermost motives decisively influence our behaviour. He was addressing the basic orientation that unconsciously shapes our decisions and accompanies us throughout our lives. Carol Pearson and Margaret Mark’s model combines his findings with C.G. Jung’s archetypes – patterns of behaviour that emerge from these motives.
iPhone 10 becomes iPhone 11 becomes iPhone 12. What they call innovation is pure marketing.
Source: sPy, Street Artist
The natural enemy of the hard drive: the cloud.
Source: sPy, Street Artist
Breaking rules is a basic principle – on a technical level, but also on a human level.
Source: Unknown
David against Goliath or: the triumph of intelligence over strength.
Source: Wikimedia
Brands promise us individuality by buying mass products.
Source: Shutterstock
Archetypal branding uses these archetypes to define a company’s identity and core motivations, and to communicate them to the outside world. This creates opportunities for identification with an idea and trust on the part of the consumer. What’s more, it can be used to tell the story of a brand.
In the branding process with Angelbird, all interviews and surveys lead to a similar result: Angelbird’s desire to think outside the box and to question the habits its competitors, as well as the strong will to go its own, unconditionally free way away from genre standards. The company’s methods are quite unconventional.
Angelbird tests the durability of its external SSD by dropping it from big heights, hitting it with a hammer and running it over by car. In the model above, this behaviour corresponds to the outlaw archetype.
While Samsung appeals to the creative side of us with its SSD T1, Intel flirts with our rationality as “experts” and Sandisk plays the adventurer with G-Star, Angelbird consciously embraces its role as an outsider. The company is in illustrious company: inspiration comes from pop culture icons such as James Dean or Vivienne Westwood, revolutionaries such as Che Guevara or Galileo Galilei, whistleblowers like Edward Snowden or Julien Assange; previous campaigns by Benetton, Sixt, Harley Davidson, Diesel or Apple’s Think Different all live by the same principle: questioning conventions, bending norms, breaking rules and thus standing out from the crowd.
The new messages emphasise the company's attitude.
Design: Haemmerle & Luger
They shout loud slogans that resonate (or not).
Design: Haemmerle & Luger
In the worst case, the brand simply stands out.
Design: Haemmerle & Luger
As a tiny David, Angelbird battles an overpowering Goliath. In mythology, intelligence triumphs over sheer size. And in numerous reviews, Angelbird’s products consistently outperform those of the competition. True innovation is more important to Angelbird than empty marketing blah blah blah, and the small company even offers a solution to the megatrend of individualisation:
Mass-produced products cannot promote our individuality, even though this is exactly what big brands suggest.
Angelbird’s products can do this, however, as there are only a few. They are also available in individual colours and can even be personalised on request.
Of course there are also rules in Angelbird's design. Because how else could we break them?
Design: Haemmerle & Luger
The Angelbird Creed is reminiscent of the manifesto of a (technological) revolution.
Design: Haemmerle & Luger
The brand book explains the brand essence in just 6 images.
Design: Haemmerle & Luger
How to break rules. A rulebook.
Design: Haemmerle & Luger
Weaknesses become principles
In this way, the brand turns its perceived weaknesses into principles. Its messages are loud, provocative and always work according to the same, actually banal, yet effective pattern: they simply shift the frame and thus the focus of a message:
Of course it costs more, it’s not a mass product. And of course it takes longer to deliver, it’s handmade. And of course external hard drives are a bit old-fashioned, but the cloud is quite insecure. The rebel is visible at all levels of communication – both in the messages and in the new and provocative brand design.
Angelbird denounces the behaviour of large companies and becomes an uncomfortable activist with its slogans. The framework is simple: every employee knows exactly how a rebel should communicate – even without marketing knowledge.
Success proves the right direction: this is not only reflected in Angelbird’s strong identification with its own brand, but is also recognised in 2016 with the Red Dot: Product Design Award for the SSD2GO PKT. The media response has also been positive, giving the brand additional visibility. The branding project has resulted in increased sales and turnover figures. Its economic added value for the company is honoured with a “Merit a Mention” in the competition for the best creative industry stories by the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO).
Made by Hämmerle & Luger
Art Direction: Vinzenz Luger
Strategy / Storytelling: Florian Hämmerle
Graphic Design: Vinzenz Luger, Jakob Brix, Christof Nardin, Daniel Kalkhofer, Daryna Eder, Andrea Holzner, Florian Hämmerle. Brand Strategy, Storytelling & Copywriting: Florian Hämmerle. Programming: polymorph, perfany. Renderings: helloweare, Angelbird. Project Management: Marlene Leichtfried, Cornelia Neuwirth.
Client: Angelbird Technologies. Industry: Hardware. Geography: Lustenau, Österreich. Target Markets: international. Cathegory: Corporate Branding, Product Brandin. Project Scope: Workshops, Brand Strategy, Brand Design, Logo Development, Font Design, Claim, Slogans, Corporate Vision, Web Design, Packaging, Stationary, Ads, Brand Book.
