BRAND STRATEGY & CREATIVE
Capturing the soul of British cold water surf brand Finisterre in a brand strategy and tone of voice
Finisterre is a founder-led B-Corp that has been well-loved in the UK since its founding 20 years ago. Culturally, it still has the spirit of a startup, but as a business, it’s poised for international growth. Over time, the team had developed an instinct for the brand, but they’d never been able to tangibly define it – a need that became increasingly important as they grew. I worked with the leadership team to define their brand idea, develop their brand strategy and tone of voice, supported the definition of the visual identity, and designed it into a full set of brand guidelines.
OVER THE COURSE OF 9 MONTHS
I worked closely with the leadership team in various stages, beginning with a discovery stage including research, team interviews, a competitor audit and a customer survey. The CMO led a project to define the target audience and together we used the collective insights to develop a brand idea. This was the foundation on which we defined the purpose, vision and mission, and on which we built a set of experience principles. I went on to define the tone of voice and built out a comprehensive set of guidelines, and worked with the creative team to codify the visual identity. All of this was brought together into a brand book, that I also designed.
CREATIVE DIRECTION
After the rollout of the brand strategy project, I returned to Finisterre as the interim Content Director for a sabbatical cover. During my time there I led the team to deliver multiple campaigns including Christmas and Early Spring, as well as BAU and ambassador content with their teams in the UK and North America.
SHOOT PRODUCTION
During my time working with Finisterre, both on their brand strategy and later as their interim Content Director, I also did the production for their seasonal photoshoots which we shot in the Algarve, Biarritz, and locally in Cornwall.