The anatomy of our Vancouver startup marketing agency. - Developing the brand for the inaugural Startup Week Vancouver event was an interesting challenge presented to us by Boris Mann. Startups (and the plethora of events that appeal to them) are in an interesting space with its own distinct culture…
Not another rocket
Developing the brand for the inaugural Startup Week Vancouver event was an interesting challenge presented to us by Boris Mann (FullStack). Startups (and the plethora of events that appeal to them) are in an interesting space with its own distinct culture. Sadly, we see some of the most interesting aspects of startup culture often watered down into cliched verbiage and overused visual tropes.
On the other end of the spectrum is the very serious startup space, well beyond the lean canvas, where it's all about funding rounds, burn rates and user acquisition.
We wanted to create an identity that would cut through some of the noise, and speak to the values and experiences of the talented people involved with startups in Vancouver – the city, as beautiful as it is, provided another minefield of cliched sentiments to be avoided (think: water, mountains, idyllic scenes of nature balanced with urbanity). As people who live and work in Vancouver we are SO sick of being beautiful. Yes, this is one of the most visually arresting and livable cities in the world... we get it already.
So, our first few concepts left the scenery behind and played with notions of aspiration and progress. Whether that was the rising bars that – admittedly, a little Adidas-esque – served to create some energy and literally give rise to the words "Startup Week Vancouver", another direction explored the idea of progress with an incomplete circle, perpetually approaching completion.
Everyone loves ice-cream
Ultimately, we wanted to create a sense of delight without taking ourselves too seriously – arriving at ice-cream for it’s amazing similarities to the startup realm:
There are many flavours promising a variety of experiences.
The value proposition is simple, direct and universally understood (yum).
And there is an implied urgency – ice-cream requires action. You better be nimble or the opportunity (and pleasure) will melt away.
What’s Your Flavour?
Startup Week Vancouver kicked off last Friday, with a series of events aimed at celebrating our tech community and startup ecosystem. We’ve picked out a handful of events that we’re going to be donning our ice-cream t-shirts for: Wearable Wednesday, Revolver for coffee tasting (any excuse), Open Angel Canada, Highline Drinks and the Cascadia Summit – see you there!
The fun continues through to November 21st. Check out the site for details, yes we designed it!
