Gopher-it
Gopher-it is the first Windows based ‘Intelligent Speech Discovery’ desktop software based on patented, phonetic technology. True phonetic speech search technology powered by Aurix that will help you find words and phrases in call recordings to improve operational efficiencies, combat compliance breaches, gain competitive advantage and provide peace of mind.
An extension of the Aurix business-to-business model, Gopher-it was marketed direct to the contact management market. The business-to-consumer model would require wider spread marketing channels to penetrate, acquire and retain customers with a proposition and tone of voice tailored to the three key consumer profiles.
The strategy has already reached primary objectives and secured further investment into targeting an additional key market.
Analysis of software across various markets revealed the need to further investment into the brand naming process in order to provide clear differentiation in such a competitive environment.
Research to identify consumer behaviour resulted in using less traditional marketing channels and instead targeting the consumer through email marketing and online publicity.
Identifying the marketing channels relevant to the target consumer, Tang worked closely with Aurix management to forecast production schedules and associated budget to build a detailed plan for a 6 month cycle to ensure timely campaign milestones, set relevant measurement points and ensure increased capital investment.
The launch of a new desktop software brand to perform in an extremely competitive environment, needed to be unique in every aspect. Market research reaffirmed the need to thoroughly explore the brand naming process.
With a less obvious and more unique brand naming strategy in place Tang carefully crafted the brand marque that would have a strong impact at low colour and resolution on the desktop as well as be elegant in high colour and resolution on promotional print.
The proposition from Aurix for business-to-business relationships held true for this business-to-consumer marketing but the brand message was more direct and supported the brand strategy from naming to implementation of the marque.
Researching competitors and desktop software available on the market it was clear that pursuing obvious name building on the term ‘search’ would not be unique enough to differentiate the brand in an extremely competitive environment.
In this modern digital world everyday language is constantly evolving. Digital consumers are adopting brand names that are synonymous with the service it provides. You no longer ‘find’ a search term you ‘Google it’ or ‘Yahoo it’.
This consumer behaviour left a wake to slip stream our brand naming strategy into and develop unique but familiar characteristics. We wouldn’t have the luxury of colossal brand exposure to establish an abstract name into the market so we needed to adopt a naming family that is already well known, has inherent personality and can be tailored to key markets.
After extensive investigation we settled on the animal kingdom and explored relationships between the nature of the animal and the positive perception to each key market. For the contact management market the ‘Gopher’ was chosen due it it’s friendly yet persistent personality.
Next we took brand ownership of this desktop language by encompassing the quantitative term ‘it’, to build a new and unique naming structure. You will no longer ‘find’ audio data you ‘Gopher-it’.
The brand marque needed to be capable of performing in the digital desktop environment as well as on printed marketing collateral.
To build a strong silhouette capable of instant brand recognition on the desktop at low colour depths and resolutions, Tang’s creative team gave emphasis to a carefully crafted first letter from the brand name and abstractly suggested the animal in simple fluid curves. A vibrant and dynamic orange was selected that performed both on the desktop and full colour print as well as layers of detail that that add value at progressively higher colour depths and resolutions.
The final brand marque, supported by a memorable brand message that re-enforced the naming strategy, was took a distinctive and unique position in a competitively commercial market.
Working with a leading consultancy that specialises in software graphic user interface, we provided guidelines to successfully manage the Gopher-it digital brand and gave direction on screen design and interface personality. Tang also specified exact colour values and the brand marque in developer acceptable formats to achieve an interface build within a single pass process.
By simplifying the brand marque to just the recognisable letter ‘G’ and digitally painting every detail that brand was capable of performing in as few as 16 colours and 256 pixels. Tang developed two platform versions that included 12 different pieces of artwork that were tested and supplied as desktop ICO files.
The splash screen used on loading has the largest resolution opportunity within the software to communicate the brand. Tang designed the Gopher-it splash screen to remain focussed on the brand marque and used colours along with animated graphics to re-enforce the brand message. The splash screen also gave the opportunity to introduce background colour use that would synchronise with exhibitions and digital marketing collateral. All components were developed and supplied in Xaml format to support the software development cycle.
The Aurix parent brand was used as the umbrella software house to promote the Gopher-it desktop brand into the contact management market. New pages were quickly added to the existing Aurix website to support current new business activity and presence at a national exhibition. Additional templates and functionality were also developed to ensure reliable paths to capture enquiry interest online.
In accordance with the marketing strategy, Aurix booked a stand at the CCF Expo at the Birmingham NEC in 2009 as part of their activity to go direct to the market. The exhibition was identified as a key event in the contact management calendar and marketing plan milestones were timed around this new business opportunity.
Experienced gained at the exhibition in the previous year precipitated the size and plot location along with budget forecasting to ensure a successful event. Working within fixed budget limitations Tang managed the exhibition from concept, through sourcing to delivery and installation. Costs were managed so effectively that the quality of the stand design exceeded all initial proposal expectations.
Tang’s experience made the creative team look beyond the initial requirements of the brief and to ensure maximum return on investment by carefully considering the longevity of the design. With this goal in mind the stand design was built with a flexible modular system that can be adapted to a multitude of future applications including; a single podium, back wall displays, mid to large exhibitions and even bigger with additional counters and screens.
The design focussed primarily on the parent brand ‘powered by Aurix’, capable of promoting ‘Gopher-it’ and all future desktop brands at various exhibitions for different markets. Tang established a design system that used muted darker backgrounds to contrast against the Aurix red and bright colours of the desktop brands.
The counters design included the Aurix audio wave graphics that synchronised with digital and printed marketing collateral to support brand recognition. There was an allocated area to display printed literature along with key messaging and information on a single back panel. The stand design included secure storage and a seating area around an informal meeting table protected by low level screening.
The centre piece of the stand was a large display screen that could be used to run demonstrations, presentations and most importantly show off the desktop brand. On either side were demonstration areas that also carried the desktop brand on screen savers and backgrounds. This approach to use digital screens ensured minimum overheads to adapt the stand to future desktop brands.
The Aurix stand successfully made its mark at the exhibition and by removing any set-up distractions Tang gave the sales team the freedom to solely concentrate on achieving high quality leads.
Previously established design guidelines by Tang were modified to accommodate a Gopher-it datasheet that would become part of the Aurix literature family. With a large bright orange Gopher-it brand on the front it drew attention on the exhibition stand and supported both single sheet and brochure distribution.
With three screens on the exhibition stand as a cost effective method to raise brand awareness Tang brought to life the Gopher-it brand with a dynamic and elegant animation. The beautifully crafted lines that make up the marque and its striking colour use set against a muted dark background quickly caught eye of passers by to leave the distinctive Gopher-it brand message burnt into their memory.
The on screen animation was developed at low cost into a PC screen saver for instances when the screens would become idle and distributed as a free branded promotional product.
The on screen animation was also developed at low cost into a desktop background to promote the Gopher-it brand on the static desktop idle and distributed as a free branded promotional product.
The animation was scripted into PowerPoint templates designed by Tang to introduce and close promotional presentations.
Branded word templates were developed to support distribution of white papers on new technologies by Aurix.
Working with a preferred PR agency based in Bristol, frequent online publicity was driven leading up to the exhibition that helped to influence a positive brand perception.
An add-on module to the CMS system along with bespoke templates designed by Tang enabled Aurix to internally manage email campaigns to drive interest to the exhibition. The designs continued with the brand language of Aurix to establish visual hall marks that would be instantly recognisable at the exhibition stand. Analysis of email reading interest also provided potential interest for enquiries at the stand and support ongoing communications in areas of interest.
The Aurix Multimedia CDROM was modified to include Gopher-it promotional literature and products.
Branded Aurix red pens were sourced and produced at low cost to support enquiry conversations at the stand and act as a reminder post the event.
