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Brand Agency

PROJECTS

 

SHR Branding has been in business for more than 45 years. In that time, we have worked with many of the world's best-known and highly regarded brands and organizations. By linking strategy, brand and technology, our programs are comprehensive and effective. Every program is tailored to meet our clients' needs.   

Our Clients' Stories

Evolution of the Bug.

The Beetle transforms from the old to the new.

THE RESULTS:



THE BEETLE IS BACK — 

The introduction of the new Beetle stopped a steep sales slide that had lasted for years. The Bug brought Volkswagen back into the black. The Beetle brought in over $10 billion in added revenues in just a three-year period.

Branding Agency

The Volkswagen Beetle was a funky - almost ugly, but cute - little car that emerged in the 60's and 70's to become the best-selling car of its time. A few years later, Volkswagen discontinued production and began building cars that resembled everyone else. Consumer response was devastating. U.S. sales volume plummeted from a peak of 570,000 cars to a meager 49,000 units.

The initial assignment was to resurrect the Volkswagen brand — not to bring the Bug back to life. Our branding process, however, revealed the core perceptions that had once made the Beetle once so popular were still definitely intact: Simple. Reliable. Original. We went to work with VW's Audi design studio to embed these qualities in the new design. The rest as they say is history. America's love affair with the Bug was in full bloom once more.

Northern Arizona Healthcare.

We are one.

Branding Agency

THE RESULTS:



Developed a unified brand for multi-hospital organization.

 

As a part of the brand building process it was critical to emotionally connect with the patient community of NAH. SHR produced several films.  

"SHR has made significant strides in moving NAH, as a system, forward on its journey to a viable and sustainable 'Brand Promise' ... It has become crystal clear that Branding is much more than just a name change or a catchy jingle or phrase. This branding journey is touching every critical aspect of who NAH is, how NAH operates, who NAH touches, and how we touch our community and colleagues.”  

 

- Richard Cranmer, NAH Board Member.

 

THE RESULTS:



DESIGN STRATEGY — 

In 7 years Samsung's brand equity increased from $5.2 Billion to $16.9 Billion. 

Brand Aligned Product Design

Through product design, Samsung's image was transformed from a commodity electronics manufacturer to a global brand leader.

 

To differentiate in an increasingly cluttered marketplace it is not enough to have "world class" product design. The product must signal and be a primary vehicle of establishing the aspirational brand perceptions.

 

Tom Hardy, former director of IBM Global Design, a design management leadership guru asked SHR to help identify those brand perceptions Samsung Electronics Divisions want to own Globally. So SHR's process started with the identification of the desired brand perceptions that are true to the brand, powerfully connect with the target customer and create differentiation from the competition.

 

Once those perceptions were identified, SHR's Sensory Positioning research was used to translate the appropriate sensory cues through their customers eyes. Those sensory cues became the guardrails for both "what not to do" and "what to do" to align product design to Samsung's Electronic Division brand.

 

Today Samsung is thought of as a Global player in: mobile phones, televisions and electronic appliances of all kinds.

Fairmont Hotels retained SHR Branding to shift consumer perceptions in order to successfully move the Fairmont brand up market – a challenging assignment, indeed. Changing global demographics had meant a big boom in the number of affluent target consumers now in the marketplace. The opportunity for a hospitality brand to move up from the second tier level, dominated by Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott, to capture these new consumers was irresistible.

 

Fairmont Hotels takes its rightful place among hospitality's royalty.

THE RESULTS:



AFFLUENT TRAVELERS HAVE NO RESERVATIONS ABOUT FAIRMONT HOTELS — 

  • Unaided brand awareness increased from 17% to 26%

  • RevPar (revenues per room) increased by 18%

  • Fairmont sold for 28% over stock price

Branding Agency

Extensive research conducted by SHR led to long term, meaningful collaboration with Fairmont’s management.  Distinctive brand dimensions were identified differentiating the Fairmont Brand from all others. Fairmont’s Brand Promise, “Turning Moments Into Memories”, so resonated with the hotels and their guests, that the 100-year-old company adopted it as its new mission statement. It also became the aspirational goal woven into the training of the organization’s 25,000 employees. Perceptions began to fundamentally shift. Two years after launching the Fairmont brand, focus groups conducted coast to coast found Fairmont had moved all the way up to the highest tier -  where the Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons resided. The Fairmont Brand significantly outpaced the Hyatt, Hilton and Marriot. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts was no longer an intrusive, overnight guest, but had earned a permanent place among the ranks of hospitality’s royalty.

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Branding Agency

THE RESULTS:



BLACK SCORPION

SALES SOAR — 

MerCruiser sold every Black Scorpion engine it coud make in its first year of production. Sales volume actually doubled what had been projected – even though it sold at a premium price.

Brand Agency

Black Scorpion creates wave of excitement.

MerCruiser sub-brand connects with young consumers.
Branding Agency

MerCruiser was an established name in family boating that was eager to break into the water ski market dominated by younger consumers. SHR was asked to develop a sub-brand that emotionally connected with these energetic and intense, water skiing enthusiast in their teens and twenties. 

It didn't take long before MerCruiser broke out of its conventional mold in a big way. SHR's research-based brand dimensions unleashed the spirit of the innovative inboard-outboard engine. Powerful, Unconventional & Lethal became the building blocks of the Black Scorpion! These perceptions guided and aligned all customer touch points: The product name, logo, product design and all marketing communications, including brochures, advertising and even public relations. Significantly, the company had attempted to launch the new product line once before, but the effort capsized because the branding effort hadn't gone far enough or big enough. This time, however, the Black Scorpion raised the bar for power and excitement in recreational boating once and for all.

THE RESULTS:



A BIG DOSE OF GOOD

NEWS FOR HEALTH NET — 

SHR helped HealthNet switch its business strategy from affordable health care to tailored customer solutions. Greatly improved customer care pushed Health Net to the number two position in the annual Harris Equitrend Poll, eclipsing such giants as United Health Care, Humana, Aetna and Cigna – no small feat in two years.

Brand Agency

Health Net overcomes growing pains. 

Publicly traded company puts caring for customers first.
Branding Agency

HealthNet provides health insurance plans to groups, individuals and governmental agencies. Altogether, the publicly traded company serves over 5 million people. Following a period of rapid growth, Health Net learned, first hand, that success could sometimes be a bitter pill to swallow. Growth had clouded the organization’s reason for being; it was hurting the consistency of its delivery of services and creating a loss of any compassionate connection with its customers.

SHR’s branding process helped management refocus the organization as to what moved the business forward. Health Net gained a renewed sense of purpose which drove transformational change throughout the organization. Fundamental shifts found their way into the firm’s hiring policies, procedures and personnel reviews. The company’s call center went from handling as many customers as quickly as possible – a transactional encounter at best - to resolving the customer’s problems the first time around. Collectively, these internal changes in behavior led to major changes in consumer perceptions. For Health Net, SHR proved branding is more than the development of a logo; its branding process, which touched every department in the company, was the very best medicine, indeed.

Cultural Documentary

A Glimpse of the Dine'

THE RESULTS:



CAPTURED THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL TRADITIONS AMONG NATIVE AMERICANS.

 

THE RESULTS:



MORE SKIERS STAY

LONGER ON THE SLOPES — 

Telluride’s new branding effort delivered a $500,000 lift in season ticket sales from the previous year’s record high, despite the worst snow conditions in 7 years. One reason for the jump in revenues: People extended their stay on the slopes to take in everything the “new Telluride” had to offer. 

Branding Agency

Transforming brand perceptions gives Telluride Ski Resort a big lift.

Soon after Telluride and SHR joined forces to rebrand the famous Colorado ski resort, it became evident that a massive reshaping of consumer perceptions was the ticket needed to carry it to new, economic heights. SHR discovered through research that skiers saw Telluride as difficult to get to; not at all convenient. But strength can come out of weakness, and SHR set out to counter these perceptions. Every skier appreciates shorter lift lines, and a quick ski in, ski out opportunity. These were part of the everyday Telluride experience, even on holidays.

Working with Telluride’s management, a new brand promise was developed Extraordinary Freedom from the Ordinary. Advertising pointed out the distinctive attributes of the Telluride adventure. The staff also embraced the Brand’s new direction. Ski Instructors became Vacation Experience Guides. They took ownership of their client’s experiences on and off the slopes, suggesting shops and restaurants to visit at night, and sometimes joining them for dinner. 

Branding Agency

A GPS armband tracking device was created so skiers could capture their runs, vertical feet skied, and speed on a four-color printout at the end of their trip. If ever there was a classic case study on how branding can impact a business, Telluride and SHR had it down cold. This is why the resort’s owners claimed that they now “had the best branding program in the industry.”

Silverleaf adds value to nature's perfection.

Nation's elite attracted to elegant golf Scottsdale golf community.

THE RESULTS:



SILVERLEAF TURNS 

TO PURE GOLD — 

Silverleaf exceeded its sales goal of $50 million by 30% in its first full year of operation.

Branding Agency

Silverleaf, quietly tucked away in the Sonoran desert foothills of north Scottsdale, Arizona, is one of the most elegant, residential golf communities in the country. It is certainly one of the most successful, thanks to seasoned developers, DMB Associates, who brought in SHR Branding to ensure its rightful destiny. The company’s visionary goal was to create land values equal to the most upscale developments in the world.


Silverleaf turned into pure gold for its founders and distinguished residents. SHR, in the process, proved to be a major catalyst for their remarkable return on investment.

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Brand Agency
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