A brand that means zero
ZeroJet work – Brand workshops | Competitive Analysis | Positioning | Brand Strategy | Brand Naming | Brand design
Background
Formerly Voltaic Jet Systems, ZeroJet’s story begins in 2014 when our co-founders – entrepreneurs and outdoors- enthusiasts Bex and Neil moved to Perth and opened the world’s first Jetsurf Experience Centre. They realised two things:
- how big the market was (US$ 13 billion by 2027)
- the negative impact these petrol powered, two-stroke motorised surfboards were having on the environment. In short, taking one 20hp four-stroke outboard off the water is the equivalent of taking 150 cars off the road.
Since then they have developed the world’s fastest electric jetboard. But they still had a name no one really understood or liked – Voltaic Jet Systems. This is where Re:brand came in.
Challenge
From some engagement and anecdotal evidence it was fairly obvious the brand faced a challenge that the name was misunderstood and not really liked by staff, directors, production partners and the target market. It didn’t help leverage their unique story.
The directors wanted a name and brand that was going to send strong signals to an entrenched market that there was a serious, and cool, alternative to heavily polluting petrol engines.
Strategic project objectives were:
- Distil the company to clarity it’s position
- Develop a name that matches the innovation/disruption of the product
- Create a brand that will help drive engagement and sales
Strategy
With a very limited ‘start-up’ budget we held workshops with the directors/staff about who they were, their story, how they’re unique and what the business strategy was they wanted to achieve. Combined with a global competitor analysis we build a clear picture of how they can carve off their own unique position in the market.
This centered around their world-leading electric jet propulsion system. But they needed a name that educated the market about their unique system, the benefits a jet system offers and conveys their fundamental beliefs around saving the planet.
We distilled this down to a clean What, How, Why and then resolved to one concept: Zero
Creativity
NAME
The name came about from distilling the brand to core benefits over their petrol counterparts – having ‘no noise, noise pollution, no hassle (maintenance), no fumes, no draft’.
This was refined to make it more retail focused, memorable and punchy to be ZeroJet.
The name speaks strongly to their core benefit (zero environmental impact) and the performance of the system (Jet propulsion) in a beautifully simple, memorable name.
MESSAGING
The brand personality and messaging was purposefully developed to disrupt the market and challenge people beliefs about what they were buying – horribly polluting machines when they were often environmentally-conscious consumers. They’d simply had no other alternative for decades.
Key brand messages were developed:
zero fumes, zero emission, zero noise
“The ZeroJet name has been a huge benefit for our company. People just “get it” when we tell them our name. Zero fumes, zero noise, zero emissions… we don’t have to say this to customers, they already get it.”
NEIL MANS, CTO – ZEROJET
Identity
The identity was purposefully designed to be ultra modern, young and bold to tell the story of freshness, disruption and a new era in outboards.
Almost retail and ‘street-cool’ the brand has helped galvanise the team and also worked hard to attract top talent to come and work for the organisation who believe in the same things ZeroJet believes.
The electric blue and the wave patterns used make it fun and add context of the water where it’s used.
“Staff love it, the logo looks great on our product, all our staff wear ZeroJet branded hoodies, jackets and hats. I’ve had candidates (for new roles) comment that they were attracted to our company because of our logo.”
BEX REMPEL, CEO – ZEROJET
Results
As a start-up it’s critical that dollars spent equal a real return- on-investment that will ensure success of the company. We’re extremely pleased with the impact the name and brand has had for ZeroJet.
SALES
From zero sales to six (6) figures in 9 months!
ENGAGEMENT
“We’ve had a huge increase in enquiries and social media. People are finding us even though we are still not doing any sales and marketing activity. We have more demand than we can handle.”
BEX REMPEL, CEO – ZEROJET
“We’d had so much positive customer feedback. I think the brand work and name really has helped to kickstart us. We’ve had some very large and established boat builders globally reach out and are starting to work with ZeroJet.”
PARTNER FEEDBACK
