Elax — New innovative flexible foam brand

Elax — new innovative flexible foam brand

Context

Egida+ is the leading producer of flexible foam and accessory parts for soft furniture with two production sites in both Russia and Kazakhstan and a wide dealership network. The company mostly works with B2B clients. By 2017, flexible foam production was operating at its full capacity, and the executives decided to raise the share of high-margin products in the structure of sales.

Task

The company commissioned our agency to find a way to raise sales of tech-savvy materials. Before briefing, the client had a few hypotheses about how to tackle the task: rebrand the company, create a new logo or refresh the website.

Solution

We carried out an extensive research for all participants of the sales chain: company staff, dealers, furniture manufacturers, stores and soft furniture consumers; and found out that low demand for foam mattresses and soft furniture could be explained by the consumers’ lack of knowledge about the material.

Most interviewees responded that, in their opinion, foam is a cheap and nondurable material. Thus, when buying furniture they choose more common spring mechanisms that have long been promoted by key retailers. While in the countries, where there is no such barrier, sales of flexible foam based goods are much higher.

We realized that raising the share of tech-savvy materials on soft furniture market is only possible by creating a consumer brand, investing in the growth of the whole category of “non-spring” materials and developing a sales pull-mechanism that would work on all the levels of the value chain.

Result

Together with the client, we chose one of Egida’s new products – material based on innovative polymer matrix. Its comfortability index was high and it could adjust to the body without pressuring it.

Consumer research showed that modern city dwellers rarely have time for a good night sleep. However, it is important for them to be on time with everything and feel rested.

We brought an acute need and a relevant technology together, and created brand positioning and platform for Elax brand, a tech-savvy material that allows to quickly recharge under any circumstances.

The name of the brand “Elax” is built on the wordplay of “elastic” and “relax”. It is tech-savvy and easily perceptible at the same time, and emphasizes the main characteristic of the material – its elasticity.

Brand symbol resembles a couch pillow or a mattress in isometric projection inscribed in a solid plate shaped like a benzene ring. The logo with rhymed “e” and “a” underlines elasticity of the material.

We wanted to pack the visual identity into a simple and logical system that would allow to maintain the uniformity of elements’ design. An average person spends 1/3 of his/her life resting, so we came up with a visual metaphor for the brand: 1/3 of each key visual would be covered with a brand-colored plate. The visual solution we came up with shows the importance of sufficient and comfortable rest.

We chose an intense bright-blue color as a color layout for the brand as it reflects the serenity of relaxation and the technological excellence of “Elax”, which makes every minute of it even better.

Typeface and typography also underline the technological advancement of “Elax”.

We developed several options for how the material itself would look like. After extensive laboratory testing, the client chose a two-color scheme. Grey for the basic range, blue for the range with improved consumer characteristics.

The next step included working on the touchpoints and developing advertising materials, uniform, souvenirs and product packaging.

All communications materials were tested at the International furniture fair in November 2017. Especially for the fair, we designed a uniquely shaped exhibition booth and created memorable souvenirs. Detailed information about “Elax” brand could be found on the website or from the presentational movie clip.

After designing the visual system, we developed communication strategy and creative concept for promotion of “Elax” material – key visuals, visuals for print, video scripts and storyboards, points of sales design. To support the brand launch we also created handouts for dealers and furniture stores.