Unfold 2017 — Year In Review
Now that the new year has arrived, we took some time to reflect on a super exciting 2017, with a lot of ups — and a few downs.
Let’s start where it hurts. Every now and then, projects get pulled back for reasons beyond the contractor’s control. We always plan for this risk — but even so, it strikes like lightning (and burns just as much) when it does happen. Unfortunately, one of our biggest projects was pulled right at the start of 2017 — which left us starting the year a bit pissed off.
But the best thing about situations like this is the team spirit it creates. We burned through a few calories being angry together. When we were done, we stepped up our game in a big way — and landed some of the greatest and most exciting projects in the history of Unfold.
Working hard
At Unfold, we work side by side with businesses to help them stay relevant and competitive. For years we’ve worked with lots of major brands — and through hard work and the brilliant skills of our team, we’ve pushed Unfold to new heights. During 2017, despite (or maybe even because of) its unpleasant beginnings, we realized some incredible visions — both for the businesses we work with and for ourselves.
SNØ
We waded through blood, sweat and tears to secure a major partnership with SNØ (“SNOW” in Norwegian), which in 2019 will be the world’s largest indoor experience center for snow sports. Our job is to oversee the whole customer experience — from developing concepts for activities at this destination, to all the digital services that visitors and employees will use. Needless to say, our winter sports-loving product development team is thrilled to be aboard.
OBOS
Another major client we landed in 2017 was OBOS, the leading cooperative building association in the Nordics. Together with OBOS, we are using design methodology to create a democratic interaction system for twenty-five thousand board members — all managing properties for hundreds of thousands of homeowners. With automated routines and digitized general assembly, we built this system so that the board members will be able to operate more efficiently and transparently — which will increase the engagement and security for homeowners.
The Importance of Variation
Although we love tweaking every detail in our long-term projects, we also do tons of smaller fun projects. One of the best ways for us to stay motivated is making sure we have a good variation in the projects we manage. Here’s a few we delivered this year:
Alpha
We worked with the top notch finance folks at Alpha Corporate to reinvigorate their brand and develop a new product that makes speaking with their clients about mergers and acquisitions more interesting — not to mention more efficient.
Meet
UBC, Norway’s largest conference center located in the national football stadium in Oslo, needed a plan to step up their business game and stay competitive. We helped them develop a new name, brand strategy and visual identity in the form of “Meet Ullevaal”.
Hyre
A brilliant new startup to look out for in 2018 is Hyre. This fantastic new car sharing service backed by Møller Mobility Group (VW/Audi) is currently “invitation only” and will launch publicly very soon. We developed the brand strategy and visual identity for Hyre, and we’re looking forward to working with them on their digital products this year.
Anton Sport
Our long-time friends at Anton Sport are continuously developing their business with passion for new technology. We have done all the digital services together with the well-known sport retailer over the last few years, and every year we build something new.
This year, we developed an exciting new setup to save on floor space used for bikes in their physical shops. By providing a large interactive screen in the shop, we were able to attract greater interest from shoppers, reduce the number of bikes in the shops, and provide the employees with an easy-to-use and efficient sales tool — through the construction of a truly dynamic digital platform.
Harvest
We revisited the skillful people at Harvest and helped them iterate on the digital product we built with them a while ago. Congrats to Harvest for getting Schibsted on board — great times are ahead!
Nortek
Nortek is a solid engineering company doing really geeky underwater stuff like subsea measurements. Last year they got themselves a new brand strategy and visual identity to back their ambitious growth plans. At this point we must know more about ocean currents and the doppler effect than most designers…
Xeneta
Xeneta is a Norwegian startup offering a crowdsourced price comparison service for ocean freight. Last year they got heavily funded and we helped them preparing their strategy, brand and digital presence for the amazing international breakthrough they experienced throughout the year.
Also…
We did a few innovation projects with various management teams — one of them with the top management of Falck, who have already started piloting some of the ideas that have proven to save significant amounts of money in operating costs.
Playing hard…
To get all this done — and done well — we need the best people on board. We spend lots of time together to get the details right — but we also spend a lot of time having fun, developing new skills, and relaxing.
- First of all, this year we’re happy to see Morten and Martin — who joined us in early 2017 — in our office every day. You guys are the best!
- In 2017 we learned a lot at Kikk in Belgium and React Europe in Paris — and we got the chance to unwind during a great mountain escape to Hafjell and an adventure trip to beautiful Røros.
- Simen and Martin became dads for the first time — we’re happy for you, and we love seeing Timo and Helene in our office!
- We had a great time playing shuffleboard deep underground in Anniken’s father’s concrete bunker.
- We had a chill summer party, flipping burgers and sipping drinks on Egil’s rooftop, ending with a night swim in the ocean.
- We carried out weekly training boot camps, because we want everyone to stay fit. We also introduced individual activity programs — including a NOK10.000 fitness expense account that each of us can spend on whatever we think will help us get (and stay!) in shape.
- Our long time financial advisor, Martin, guided each of us through a private financial due diligence, helping us choose only the best financial deals for ourselves and our families.
Thinking big….
We are proud to always be on the forefront of new technology, to always be pushing the borders for what can be done, and always be delivering great value for our clients — all while still remaining independent, curious and hungry.
The hard work we did this past year has left us stronger and better prepared than ever. The projects we are working on — and the ones we have coming up — have given us the security and confidence we need to grow steadily over next few years. This train has just started moving — and we here at Unfold are looking forward to evolve our company, finding a new home (because we’re growing) and welcoming lots of new friends to our team and as clients — in 2018.
One more thing…We are looking for talented people to join our team! Take it from us, it really is a great place to work! Have a look at our career page.
About Unfold
With a strong entrepreneurial mindset we partner with businesses and new ventures to help them become relevant, efficient and more profitable. Through strategic planning, design thinking and suited technology we create immersive brand experiences and digital products with a clear purpose — to make every day better for its audience.
If you want to get to know us better visit unfold.no or follow us on Instagram!
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