GBH wins a Design Week award for Mar Mostro

We're really pleased to announce that we've added another Design Week award to our already hugely bowed shelf! This time it's for the Mar Mostro boat livery and brand which we created for PUMA and its entry into the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean race. Taking first prize in the 'Brand Campaigns' category, the judges describe it as "Surprising and unabashed madness" adding that "PUMA does it yet again, but this time even more so".

The project itself represents 18 months worth of work beginning with the design of the boat livery which is based on it's namesake 'Mar Mostro' meaning sea monster. The design illustrates a giant red sea squid wrapping itself around the boat, while the huge PUMA cat depicted on the sail is transformed into a raging sea beast, the two monsters battling with each other on the waves becoming a metaphor for the gruelling nine month race itself. 

The distinctive theme and graphics have been carried through and applied to a brain-aching array of applications from the huge to the small, including in port and in store graphics (one of which sees a giant 3D squid springing out from behind the PUMA store) to on-line, advertising and marketing materials.

But even more ambitious brand enhancing concepts saw GBH work with product designers to create a range of Mar Mostro inspired shoes, apparel and accessories. In addition is the children's range based around an original character named Marmo. As well as creating a number of cute products for Marmo, GBH were lucky enough to create a story book intended to educate kids about environmental issues, a theme now very much at the heart of the PUMA mission.

All in all a huge undertaking and a wonderful example of an how an integrated brand campaign can make a big idea even bigger. Congratulations to all involved, not least our good friends at PUMA and the PUMA Ocean Racing team. 

Further Lnks

Read more about GBH’s collaboration with Tapestry ‘here’.

You can follow Puma’s progress in the race LIVE ‘here’.

Learn more about the Volvo Ocean Race ‘here’.

Follow Puma Mar Mostro from its on-board updates ‘here’.

Time to put your closet on a diet?

If like us your closets are stuffed full of things you never wear, you might be interested in checking out The PUMA Bring Back Bin, our latest effort in PUMA's ever growing list of sustainable initiatives. 

 The bin, which is soon to roll out to all PUMA stores, is a collaborative venture with I:CO, an organisation which facilitates a recycling process known as 'Cradle to Cradle' (C2C). Quite simply, the bin let's you drop off any unwanted items that you have and passes them on to I:CO (you can even leave non-PUMA gear!) Using the C2C process, the items are then recycled in one of two ways; either broken down into their basic raw materials ready to be re-used in the manufacture of other products, or where possible, composted down to into valuable soil nutrients.

Tasked with branding and naming the bin, we aimed at creating something that is simple to understand, easy to use and makes you smile - after all, doing good doesn't have to look serious! So before you go out on your next spending spree, have a good rummage through your closet first and then stop by your local PUMA store.

 For more information, go to www.puma.com/bringmeback

Capsules land in midtown Manhattan!

 If you happen to be traveling to Manhattan and need a place to stay, we can recommend the fabulous Yotel that's just opened on 10th Avenue, west 42nd Street Manhattan. GBH have been working with the famous 'capsule' hotel brand for the last 12 months, helping redefine its proposition, identity and environmental graphics ready for its expansion outside of Europe.

Yotel was originally the brain child of Simon Woodruff, founder of Yo-Sushi and was positioned as part of the 'Yo' brand. As such, it's original identity reflected the futuristic, Japanese influence of the sushi restaurants, but featured a cube icon to represent the compactness of the hotel rooms. The hotels were located only at airports and offered a mix of innovation and utility wrapped in a futuristic style.

With plans to expand the brand into a 650 room building in New York, situated between the 4th and 22 floors, offering much larger and more luxurious rooms, a stylish roof terrace, bar, restaurant, lounge and gym, there was a requirement to rethink the way the concept communicated, which of its elements to to build upon and which to leave behind! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 From the start we saw the opportunity to build on the original values and personality. It was time for the capsule story to evolve to accommodate the upgrade in the offer without losing the core concept of innovative use of space with a futuristic, Japanese aesthetic.

 The first step was to rationalise the existing identity and create a full set of guides for use by marketing teams as well as hotel staff. The cube was removed from the logo to move focus away from 'capsules' but importantly the phrase 'Smartspace' was introduced into the Yotel vocabulary as a way of communicating the innovative functions and features that each room comes with, such as space saving fold-away beds and clever storage areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Working closely with London based interior design agency Softroom, of particular excitement was the exterior entrance at ground level, which now takes on the look of an illuminated building from the future and sets up the customer expectation. Once inside the lobby though, it's the Yobot, a fully working robot which takes, handles and stores luggage, that steals the show. With such a large space to be filled, there was a wonderful opportunity for drama and the Yobot makes no mistake in communicating the modernity, innovation and style of the brand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the hotel itself we identified the areas and touch points of the environment that we felt could best communicate the brand personality and allow us to treat mandatory information in a fresh way. Design work included signage (over 1200 in all!), in-room items, staff uniforms and communal area graphics. Many services which are normally staffed in a hotel are self-service at Yotel; automated check-in/out, a galley kitchen and 'take-out' restaurant and provided perfect opportunities to marry a futuristic form with operational functionality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The cube icon from the original logo was re-instated within 3D signage (a subtle reminder of the room aesthetic) while graphics were kept to a minimum and echo the clean, futuristic lines and modern materials of the interiors. Meanwhile this influence even extended to language, with the naming of the 24 hour concierge desk as "Mission Control" and the rooms as "Cabins".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Now successfully launched, Yotel Manahattan has been described in the press as "the iPod of hotels" A place of exquisite order and ingeniously used space in the heart of a chaotic metropolis. And we really do recommend it!