Emerge Modern Salon
Brand Refresh / Integrated Marketing Campaign
Research, brand strategy, logo design, marketing materials and website redesign
After handling all the salon’s marketing herself for the first 10 years of its existence, the owner of Emerge Modern Salon turned to Bianca e Nero to help elevate their brand image. Ivy, salon owner and a master stylist, was the first to admit the logo, website and marketing didn’t reflect the current image of the salon, “We just didn’t have any money to hire a designer to help back then.” Also driving the refresh was their plan to open a second location. The timing was right to update the salon’s brand.
To start, we embarked on a number of fact-finding and strategy sessions with the owner, current and past clients, and staff. We also sized up the competition. We paid a few secret shoppers to visit their salon, as well as those of their competitors to see how Emerge stacked up.
What became clear from our research was that Emerge does a fantastic job styling hair and has a really laid back and inviting vibe that is very attractive to their clients and to those looking for a new salon to call home. Their brand just didn’t reflect this.
Based on this, we knew it would be important to strike a balance between upscale and approachable, while cutting through the clutter usually found in the salon world. We designed a new logo that captured this balance. A clean, modern typeface brings a more refined, elegant and sophisticated look, yet still has character. Adding a stylized “E” as a logomark expresses the salon’s uniqueness and creativity. A simple grey and gold color palette adds to the balance between upscale and approachability.
This new brand look was applied to Emerge’s existing marketing materials, which include their business cards and a series of service menus they use at their front desk and in their welcome gift bags for new clients. These pieces were all redesigned to incorporate the new logo and create a modern, consistent brand look and feel across every element. Again, clean, simple and approachable was our mission.
We also redesigned the salon’s website to make it reflect the new brand image and to inject a unique brand voice. Bold, poetic lines atop each page plant the seeds of Emerge’s uniqueness and artistry. The site is designed to be clean and easy to use, which shows existing and potential customers that Emerge Modern Salon is a welcoming place to get a great new look.
RESULTS
The response to the new brand look and feel has been overwhelmingly positive. Emerge Modern Salon definitely stands out from the cluttered, cookie-cutter sea of competitors out there, and the work is driving traffic through the doors of both locations.
