Tone before elements
How guests are greeted, how drinks are served and how people are spoken to communicates more than the manifesto read from the stage. We start there before choosing equipment.
Brand Launches
Brand launches
A new brand only gets one first impression
We produce the experiential side of brand launches: themed set design, a central experience, a welcome with impact, a closing act and characterised staff holding the tone from the door onwards.
Launching a brand is different from launching a product. A product launch has a known company behind it and the goal is explaining something new; a brand launch has nothing before it, and the event has to convey at once who the brand is, how it behaves and who it wants to talk to. Everything that happens reads as a statement of intent, small details included.
So we work on tone first and elements second. A brand wanting to feel accessible cannot have an accreditation filter at the door and rigid staff; a premium brand cannot serve drinks in plastic cups however tight the budget. That coherence is what guests read without noticing, and it decides the impression they take away.
The elements that work best are those letting the audience experience the positioning rather than hear it. A set that builds the brand's world, an experience translating its core attribute into something done, a closing act that fixes the emotional tone. All of it communicates more than any manifesto read from a stage.
We produce set, experience and staff, and coordinate with the agency and production company running the event. At launches there are usually several teams working from one creative concept, and our part is translating it into something physical and operable that works across the three hours the event lasts.
- 1first impression available
- 3 hthat define brand perception
- 24 hquote turnaround
- 100%in-house production
Positioning, experienced
An experience translating the brand's core attribute into something done leaves far more trace than explaining it on a slide.
Coordinated with agency and production
Launches have several teams working from one creative. Our part is translating it into something physical that works across the three hours.
How we set it up
We start from the creative
Concept, tone, target audience and what the guest should think as they walk out.
We design the experience
Set, welcome, central activity and close, with capacity calculated for the expected attendance.
We produce and rehearse
Structures, content, lighting and characterised staff, with a full test before the day.
We deliver the launch
Build, operation throughout the event and an orderly takedown alongside the other suppliers.
Formats and ideas that work
- Full set design building the brand's world
- Characterised welcome setting the tone from the door
- Central experience translating the brand attribute into action
- Photo wall with the new identity and instant prints
- Short closing act fixing the emotional tone
- Product zone with guided demonstration
- Signature cocktails aligned with the positioning
- Departure gift coherent with the brand promise
What the guest says the next day
A brand launch is measured by one thing: how someone who was there describes the brand when asked the next day. If the answer is the name and little else, the event did not work. If the answer includes an adjective, a feeling or a specific anecdote, then it did, because that adjective is exactly what you were trying to position.
So when designing we work backwards from that sentence. We decide first what the guest should say the next day and then choose the elements that produce that impression. It is a less glamorous method than starting from an equipment list, and it gives considerably more consistent results.
Frequently asked questions
How much notice does a brand launch need?
Four to eight weeks with bespoke set and own content. It can be done with less, but it shapes the decisions: you work with modular elements rather than specific production.
Do you work from a brand manual?
Yes, and we prefer to. With the manual, the creative and visual references we can produce within the right world without proposing things that later get discarded for not fitting.
Can you handle the reception?
Yes: hosts, accreditation, cloakroom and floor staff, briefed on the event's tone. At launches with press we separate media access from guest access to avoid bottlenecks.
Can the production be reused?
Much of it, if designed for it. Modular set, digital content and the photo wall get reused at later events or on a multi-city tour, which makes the second activation much cheaper.
What attendance is reasonable?
One hundred to four hundred guests is where a brand launch works best. Above that the individual experience dilutes and you have to multiply points so everyone passes through what matters.