Client
VMLY&R
Role
Art Director
Tools
Adobe CC
Timeframe
6 Weeks
Surprisingly WOW-erful campaign 🌈 SoftSoap Brand Style Guide & Templates
It was my immense joy to be working on this prime American household brand at Y&R (VMLY&R now). Softsoap has been around since 1980, it was the first liquid hand soap brand in the US. The brand identity was re-designed twice before, every 15 years or so and the third brand new one was just launched (The blue petal). I was assigned to create the design campaign and brand style guide. The objective was to attract younger adults while reinventing its image to the existing traditional consumers. Inspired by the main brand logo, Wowerful campaign idea and identity sparked. Worked along side copy writers, account executives, and the client, I began the overhaul of Softsoap new premium image, fresh and modern brand campaign with brand voice/language tone, templates and design guidelines for teams to use across 360 campaigns (TVC, print, web, social).
The idea
Well, it's a delightful mash-up of a few key thoughts that burst together into an idea. As a brand, Softsoap should always try to surprise and delight. Softsoap formulas should be wonderful, the sensorial impression of the brand should be powerful, from the colors to the scents to the benefits, Softsoap should always give you a hit of feel-good emotion. WOW, that's a pretty flower!
Wowerful is the power to WOW, the power to surprise. 🌸 It's intense emotion. Exuberance joy. It's that spark that makes your senses light up.
How the identity was made
The Wowerful Wheel is constructed from a series of Softsoap logo petals. The lead petal is the Softsoap logo. The color palette is designed to break the brand out of its navy blue box and surround it with freshness and vitality. It's eye-candy on a mission to spark positive emotions whenever and wherever you see it.
🔻 I also created Wowerful confetti, they complement the sense of joy to the Wowerful world. They can be used across mediums, both static or dynamic in web animation or motion graphics.
Personas
Collaborated with cross-functional teams to define the target consumers and used the research data to inform my design decisions on the brand's visual expression.
Building the template foundation
After the identity, design metrics/usages and rules were defined, in the next step I created template foundation. By cropping Softsoap petal then deconstructing them, Wowerful templates were born and on brand! This system allows flexibility for the templates to be customized in a variety of touchpoint, from single/spread print ads, POS, coupons to web banner and social media units.
🔺 I also defined "how to" on the ingredient photography vs. background, whether on white, on color-washed gradient to add warmth or using it on the lighter complimentary colored background.
My Role
Art Director
Tools
Duration