THE NEW BLUESPONGE IS UP
Last post to an amazingly enjoyable campaign.
Sometimes – you don’t really know why but- you know you have to do something in some unusual way and go on that lonely path. The idea of a live campaign over the 28 days of February came about one night, when we started thinking about how we should go about the necessary changes in our brand.
After having spent the past year closing the decade with its goods and bads and figuring out what should be next, came fall and by then we knew where we wanted to go (see day 2: The next ten years). Next came the how.
In October we focused on the way Bluesponge should -and would- articulate its new positioning online. Working with Jonathan, and then Celine, the concept and general mechanics became pretty clear.
Soon after, in November, some discussions with Raphael from Studio FEED made us realize that the Bluesponge brand identity needed to go through some changes as well. We started working on it in December, driving back from New York, just before the holidays and ended up with an updated logo mid-January, with only one shot of review.
That’s when the idea of an open and live campaign came about. We prepped it in about 10 days and the rest, you already know. Our daily posts during this last month will take you through the ups and downs.
It took us a while to figure it all out but once the intention was clear, getting there was so much faster. 10 years to get here, a whole year of sacrifices to think about what to do next and 28 days to execute it.
As to the type of campaign we undertook: open, live, consciously sloppy in its layout, we felt for something ‘natural’. We wanted the process to be for us something like the way we dress. First for ourselves and then to seduce others. We felt there was nothing to hide anyway. You know everything about it. We didn’t need or feel like boasting through words. We wanted to show what we do, not say it.
And yes, you took part, commenting, supporting us, challenging us. Some comments were right on. Yes the changes in our web presence is very radical, more radical than we first thought it would be. Maybe too radical a change? Time alone will tell.
Yes, some of this was too confusing, starting with a semi designed interface. Some friends said they liked the design – when there was virtually none- and others simply didn’t get what we were doing. Others -friends and strangers alike- came to tell us how much they enjoyed the move and how they were following us regularly. 40% of the site visitors during that period were actually repeats. This came in very handy, thanks ya all.
On a personal note, being with the team tonight after four intense -what else would you expect!- weeks and thinking about the symbiosis that prevailed between us through such a demanding endeavour make me feel we’ve made the right choices. Thanks Antoine, Celine, Cynthia, David, Hugues, Jonathan, Magali, Nadia, Patpich, Patrick, Philippe, Raphael/Studio FEED. Thanks to you, collaborators, for all the bits and pieces you’ll be sending us in the next weeks.
We started with an idea of where we wanted to get by the end of the campaign. We now have a new brand, a new ‘spiel’, and a beautiful platform to publish works and research and start working on the new plan. We will be moving fast, triggering many new things in the next few days. months. years.
We hope you enjoyed witnessing the process as much as we did doing it and please, keep coming back for more. The new Bluesponge is up.