Workshop at the table
We work through mission, values and brand attributes with your team, around one table. In the Toskani MED workshop, closeness, expertise and efficacy collected the most votes and set the direction for everything after.
The Dream · Brand strategy
Give your dream a spine.
Brand strategy at Cromatic Studios starts at a table in Bucharest, with two cups of coffee and a lot of hard questions. It ends with positioning, personas and the reason anyone should care.
Every brand starts as somebody's dream at a kitchen table. Strategy is how the dream grows a spine. Before we draw a single line, we sit down with you and work out who you are for, what you offer, how you sound and why anyone should pick you. Then we write it as one sentence we call the Core, and every logo, box, website and post that follows has to answer to it.
We have done this for an aesthetic medicine company in Barcelona, a B2B bakery, the largest electronics service network in Romania, a fintech festival in a medieval fortress, a pioneer coffee shop and a bank for entrepreneurs. The sentences came out very different. The method stayed the same. Listen, workshop, write the Core, then hand it to design. The questions are always hard, and there is always a coffee.
Strategy is The Dream, the first of our four chapters, and the one the other three lean on. A good workshop leaves you with more than a document. Toskani MED left with a line for every box, “Designed by the skin architects in Barcelona”. Patiline left with a manifesto, “Tomorrow's craft. Today's partnership.” ESD left with one X factor, to be as fast as possible, and a logo that shows it.
What it includes
The Core
One sentence for the value proposition. What you offer, to whom, in what culture, with which voice, what it gives them and how it makes them feel. Unchain Festival started from it, and Patiline worked through The Core 2.0.
Archetype mix
Two archetypes and a ratio, so design decisions have a referee. Hero and Ruler at 60/40 for ESD, Ruler and Sage at 70/30 for Longshield, Creator and Magician for Unchain Festival, Explorer and Ruler for Artisan Coffee Gear.
Customer research
We listen before we decide. For Steam we ran surveys and interviews with guests, and they pointed to what they value most, the feeling of belonging. That idea shaped the brand, the content, the merch and the website.
Customer profiles and personas
Real people, written down. Unchain's profiles came from real regulators, bankers, tech leaders and founders. Investimental's workshops defined three personas, the novice investor, the active trader and the institutional manager.
Positioning and naming
What makes you stand out, and the line that says it. ESD's positioning gave the largest service network in Romania a voice of its own after years of speaking through Samsung, Huawei, Philips and Sony. If you need a name, it starts here.
Brand architecture
When one company runs many brands, we map the family. ARCA Resort at the top with Lotca, Foliage, Tiny Houses and Play around it. Patiline with Urban Bun, Sandwich+ and Primo, one for each channel.
Creative directions
Strategy ends where design starts, with directions you can see. Unchain Festival got two, “Firul roșu” and “Unchained blocks”. Toskani MED got Layers of beauty and Body Lines, both drawn from its Core.
How we work
Listen
We start with you, your team and your customers. Stakeholder conversations, guest surveys and interviews, a look at the competition and at what the market already says about you.
Workshop at the table
A working session with coffee on the table. We vote on attributes, argue about values and look for the X factor, the one thing you can promise that the competition cannot.
Write the Core
We turn the workshop into one sentence, an archetype mix and customer profiles. Short enough to remember, specific enough to say no to the wrong ideas.
Hand it to design
The strategy becomes creative directions, a positioning line and a brief for The Voice, our identity chapter. Then we stay at the table while the identity is built on top of it.
Brand strategy · 10 case studies
The work
Brand strategy · Packaging · BarcelonaToskani MEDAesthetic non-invasive solutions for caring doctors, from Barcelona. Their core, their archetype, two visual concepts and packaging for new ranges.
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Distribution web · Photo · RebrandingPatilineIndustrial bread and croissants, made by machines you can watch. We built their distribution website and website, shot their own-production bakery range, and rebranded Patiline Bakery.
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Rebranding · WebsiteESDThe largest electronics service network in Romania, speaking for itself at last. Positioning, rebranding, fleet and esdrom.ro.
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Festival · BrandUnchain FestivalThe Davos of CEE fintech, inside Oradea Fortress. Strategy, identity and a website where one red thread builds the fortress.
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Branding · Growth · ProductSteam Coffee ShopA pioneer brand refreshed for its community. New energy for the people who were there from the start, and a clear invitation for the ones just arriving.
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Brand universe · WebArtisan Coffee GearCoffee gear for passionate customers, in a tailor made environment with a personal voice. A whole brand world, from the letterform pattern to the webshop.
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Brand · WebLongshieldLong-term investments, under a shield drawn on the golden ratio. Strategy, logo, brandbook, stationery and website for an investment group.
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Rebranding · WebsiteTechventures BankThe first entrepreneurial bank in Romania, refreshed: silver wings, landscapes in navy and a website with a human approach to banking.
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Packaging · Caviar · LiveryARCA ResortCaviar tins, a van and smoked-fish trays for a resort-destination with its own ponds and production.
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MedicalElithiaMaking motherhood a soothing, joyful experience: brand, website and content for a women's health clinic.
Read the case →Industries we know from the inside
Coffee StreetCromatic Studios is a Bucharest branding studio for specialty coffee, food and drink. We design the brand, the box, the shop and the feed for the places people come back to.→Fintech BoulevardCromatic Studios designs brand strategy, identities, websites and apps for banks, brokers, investment groups, fintech startups and energy companies in Romania. Clear for the regulator, warm for the customer.→Medical AvenueCromatic Studios builds brands, websites, films and content for clinics, laboratories, pharma and aesthetic medicine, in Romania and abroad. Precise for the doctor. Calm for the patient.→
Good questions
Before the coffee
What is brand strategy, in plain words?
It is the decision about who you are for, what you promise and how you sound, made before the design. At Cromatic Studios it ends in the Core, a one-sentence value proposition, plus an archetype mix and customer profiles. Toskani MED's Core describes non-invasive aesthetic treatments for caring doctors, in a family environment, with an expert voice.
What is the Core?
The Core is our strategy tool. It sums up your culture, your clients, your voice, the feeling you give, your impact and your X factor in one sentence. Unchain Festival, Toskani MED and Patiline, with The Core 2.0, all started from it, and every design choice after that answers to it.
What happens in a brand strategy workshop?
Your team and ours sit at one table, work through mission, values and brand attributes, then vote. In the Toskani MED workshop closeness, expertise and efficacy won. That set a Caregiver and Sage archetype and gave every box its line, designed by the skin architects in Barcelona.
Do I need a strategy if I only want a new logo?
A logo without a strategy is a guess. Even a facelift starts from one. Steam kept its steaming cup, and the refresh came from guest interviews and a positioning built on belonging. ESD's new logo followed its Hero and Ruler strategy, so the tilted stripes carry speed for a reason.
Do you do strategy for B2B and established companies?
Yes. Patiline, a B2B bakery for HoReCa, wanted to be seen as a partner you can trust instead of a transactional supplier. ESD, the largest electronics service network in Romania, needed a voice of its own. ALTIUS, a leader in veterinary pharma distribution, needed a repositioning to consolidate its market status.
Your brand next?
hi@cromaticstudios.com · +40 728 978 068 · Strada Olari 9, Bucharest