Description:

When industrial designer Greig Brebner saw 5 pound umbrellas filling up London rubbish bins, he saw an opportunity. After many painful years applying himself to the invention of an incredibly well engineered umbrella that didn’t poke your eyes out, and didn’t get thrown in the bin – BLUNT was born.

20 years later, BLUNT had become famous in New Zealand, but wasn’t gaining traction in global markets, with low sales and awareness across the UK and Australia. The truth was BLUNT lacked brand depth. People “loved” their BLUNTs, but they weren’t emotionally connected to the brand like they were to the products.

A full rebrand was undertaken to create more emotive consumer connection for a global audience and make the most of this market opportunity. But it also aimed to do more than that - it was about using good design to help drive better financial and environmental outcomes. To build not only a global brand, but a better business, in every sense of the word.

Importantly, however, this isn’t just about design that helps the business make more profit. It’s about design that helps the business make more of a positive environmental impact, too. Because good design—and good business—need to do both.

The result is a new BLUNT brand that helps drive better outcomes for both the business and the environment. It improves sustainability, cuts plastic waste, and supports sustainable forestry while at the same time bringing a heightened sense of emotion to an otherwise functional category, successfully challenging the competition, setting BLUNT up to transform its position in global markets, and boosting profitability.

“The new brand gave us a unifying set of codes that brought complete consistency to the brand – we genuinely believe it feels like a big global brand now”.
Fee Cortis, Head of Marketing.

One year later, the rebrand has already driven incredible shifts in brand awareness, revenue, consideration and sales across all three target markets. Giving them the tools to confidently take on the world with an increase in sales of 103% in the UK, and an increase in awareness of 73% in Australia.