From Ouiflash to OCUS : building a brand #R2Stories
Ouiflash: talented people, strong assets but a limited brand foundations
When we decided to invest in Ouiflash back in June 2018, we were pretty impressed by the tech platform and the global network of photographers the company has been building in only 2 years.
Ouiflash emerged in 2016 with a vision to develop a global community of Image Creators™ to deliver high quality and custom visuals that lead to impactful outcomes. Through sophisticated technology and intelligent analytics, their API for Imagery™ delivers optimized photos and videos which automate and streamline operations for leading enterprise brands in FoodTech, Tourism and Hospitality, Real Estate, and eCommerce Marketplaces.
The company is led by Thibaud Lemonnier, a purpose-driven founder and CEO who emerged from an unconventional background and has transformed the freelance photography market. Fueled by the combination of creativity and technology through his previous ventures, Thibaud quickly saw the need and impending opportunity to create powerful images at scale that reduce operation costs and improve revenue for enterprise brands.
If you take a closer look you, Ouiflash had some incredible assets but limited brand foundations.. An intense competition race for talents and art creators was also a serious challenge for the company standing as a new brand in the market. This was a perfect case for our Ring2Success Program.
Introducing Michel Gotlib, our expert in Positioning & branding
Michel Gotlib has 25 years of experience in Marketing both in France and internationally. He worked and collaborated with multiple fast growing startups from My Little Paris to Zenly and La Fourchette. Prior to that, he was the CMO of Coca-Cola Company for the Northwest Europe.
Since the beginning of our story, Michel has been key to structure the Marketing part of Ring2Success, our portfolio support program. Ring2Success relies on a community of mentors & top notch experts to combine a 360 vision and business expertise to support Ring’s investments in targeted topics (marketing, sales execution, HR, finance, …) with intervention methods and lengths adapted to their needs.
Michel and his team were the perfect fit for Ouiflash to help the company enters in the next chapter of their brand journey. The plan between Thibaud, Julien (the founders) and Michel was to recreate the verbal and visual universe to better fit who the company is, what they’re doing, and where they plan on going from here.
OCUS’ genesis: an eight-month process
Before becoming OCUS, the company had three main issues to solve:
Change the name (1 month)
Brief naming is one of the first step of the process. Michel & his team were notably involved in the choice criteria and helping the company to select the right name, with a true identity complying with a whole legal protection. After this one month operation, Ouiflash became OCUS.
Create solid brand foundations (3 months)
Changing your name doesn’t mean the work is over. There is still a long way to go before creating a brand behind it. After 7 workshops involving all the management and sales team and focusing on Design & Vocabulary, Michel & his team produced a full set of deliverables including: a 70-page Brand book, a mission, a tagline & a visual identity.
Create differentiation with the competition (4 months)
When you think about branding & corporate identity, it’s always important to know how your difference with your competitors and how you communicate about it. The 4 workshops conducted by the teams resulted in 4 key pillars for OCUS: a PR strategy, a PR agency, a tribune on who they are & a community charter.
