ROAR – the talk of the town

A cockerel, a goat, other timid animal friends, a bearded and tattooed professional model and a quirky film and website provided the originality needed to launch a new business telecoms company.

So how do you achieve the credibility at start-up to pitch against BT or other established suppliers for multi-million pound contracts in a crowded marketplace where it’s almost impossible to achieve differentiation?

The client issued ORB with that challenge – and proved bold enough to trust the answers that came back and see them through.

The process began, as ever, with ORB getting under the skin of the brief in a Drawing Board session that revealed seemingly polar opposites existing in perfect harmony.

This apparent schizophrenia and absolute originality became the hallmark of the brand.  ORB explored initial names and visual identities before sounding out one of the client contacts for instant response, which confirmed we had begun to tease out the uniqueness in their brand.

But when we presented first concepts back to the client, the goat quite literally caused people’s jaws to drop. It prompted fierce debate and differences of opinion, which fed into the Twitter-sphere as cryptic and perplexing commentary – totally in keeping with the brand.

And as the fog cleared and the genius of the ROAR concept dawned on the client, everyone came to ‘love the goat’.

It was all about the determination to be original.  The imagination, artistry and invention that refused to be pigeonholed.  And the boldness to get business talking – and even to be shot at. The mouse that roared, indeed!

But it’s one thing for a client who’s been through the whole process to ‘get the goat’, but another thing all together to expect customers, staff or the main board!

So ORB took the time selling the idea to each audience in turn and to bringing the brand to life in a compelling, memorable and authentic way.

Central to this was the film, with ORB organising the location, animals and handler, logo lightbox, model, stylist, make-up artist as well as script, filming, sound, editing and music.

All of the animals themselves were ‘originals’ who, like ROAR, were defying convention to stamp their mark on this earth, regardless of challenges and critics.

ORB captured the journey of the brand from concept to ‘go live’ for a launch party where the film was first shown, amid framed pictures and four-foot high cardboard cut-outs of chickens and ducks.

Fifty of Birmingham’s top business leaders gathered to hear NEC Group Chief Executive Paul Thandi introduce ROAR to the world.

The website www.weroar.co.uk, gift cards, corporate stationery, press article and advertising were all co-ordinated to hit on the same day.

And judging by initial reactions, ROAR has certainly fulfilled its goal of getting business talking.  In fact, you might even say it is the talk of the town.