A Brand New Self for Mimi Hearing Technologies
A new office demands an office warming party. At least that’s how things work around here. About two hundred people from around the world, a popcorn machine, some free drinks — beers — and a german band playing folk american music. Some lazy dancing. This whole show was put up by a few startups that share this super cool space in Berlin-Mitte. One on these young companies is called Mimi Hearing Technologies. And we were working with them.
Mimi was created about 2 years ago. To be short, one of the most important seed investors in Germany — with some degree of responsibility in projects like SoundCloud, EyeEm or Monoqui — developed a deep interest in the “hearing technologies” market, spotted an opportunity and hired a really smart guy to take on the challenge of going on with his idea. That smart guy searched, met and gathered a few more incredible intelligent people — engineers, designers, doctors — with a certain level of skills and…pufff. There was Mimi — great name btw.
Well, they were smart but…all different. With an incredible complex product to develop, a home to build, a company to construct, a vision to be defined, a story to…well make it quick please cause we don’t have to much time. We all know that’s how it is in the startup world.
We had two versions of the new identity and two new taglines being projected and on the remaining walls we had the whole “brand self” process
One of the rooms on the lower floor was not for dancing but it was a good place for any brand designer to chitchat a copywriter while submitting some experts opinions. That room was actually a space where the Mimi’s new brand was being submitted to a stress test. We had two versions of the new identity and two new taglines being projected and on the remaining walls we had the whole “brand self” process for the observers to understand why and how we got to that beautiful peace of branding.
We took the first three weeks to do user research and to deeply understand motivations behind the usage of their product and understanding of the business
And how did we get to that?
Well, being honest, it helped the fact that a few people from the client side knew our way of working — “with” actually means that we work “with” people and not for them. It also helped the fact that we took the first three weeks to do user research and to deeply understand motivations behind the usage of their product and understanding of the business. Also crucial was the fact that Mimi was admitting that there was something missing. There was a gap between what they were feeling and telling people about and what they were designing. There was missing a link on how they were being perceived. A connection. A “brand self”.
And why does creating a “brand self” is so important for a Startup?Maybe that “something’s missing” feeling, it’s the first sign that something is not right. Maybe this is the trigger that make founders think on why it is important to brand a startup in the first place. And maybe — if they decide to move or not — will also depend on how they perceive the importance, purpose and intention of branding.
Sometimes most of the people working at startups have recently met and don’t even know each other. This immersive process helps them discuss, discover and align their ideas and motivations
For us creating a “brand self” it is the best way to set up a common understanding among partners and team. Sometimes most of the people working at startups have recently met and don’t even know each other. This immersive process helps them discuss, discover and align their ideas and motivations.
- designing a “brand self” helps teams realize where they are at a precise moment, create and imagine an projection of themselves in the future and let go of anxiety
- creating a “brand self” it’s a way of understanding how will the product of a startup affect others — team, users, partners, stakeholders, people — and the other way around. Like Douglas Hofstadter said. We are a strange loop
- it’s a way of looking from a different POV and observe the relationships with what surrounds us — market, conditions, competitors — in the process of discovering a unique “self”
- it is a way of getting to know where to go next
- It’s a way of creating a — r e c o g n i s a b l e — brand voice that people can listen and relate to
- It’s a way to search and find an “object” of property, of identity. Something to hold. To keep. The way of proudness
- a “brand self” lives in the real world and allows for unpredictability. Startups change — a lot, we know — so brands have to be able to adapt to the new “real”
Letting other people to get to know about yourself — your new startup — is getting to know yourself. Mimi decided to create an exhibition for their new brand, but in the end they were not showing off a new logo, they were exposing themselves. That brand new self that was Mimi. Those new and confident guiding principles. And what a hell of a show it was.
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