CATEGORY:
ECOMMERCE
CLIENT:
OBERLO
YEAR:
2023
background.
TASK: Establish Oberlo as a challenger brand, positioning it in distinction from its parent brand Shopify. Establish a brand positioning to move from a generic SaaS product to an education and media destination for Gen Z entrepreneurs.
When Oberlo was acquired by Shopify in 2017, it was a simple dropshipping app. With a product-first approach, branding wasn't a priority, and its identity was easily lost amongst a sea of generic SaaS companies.
But as the company quickly grew thanks to a content-marketing juggernaut that included articles, videos, podcasts, and long-form guides, Oberlo's brand demanded definition.
Spotting an opportunity to establish a positioning as a challenger brand separate from parent company Shopify, I led the team that transformed Oberlo into a brand for Gen Z entrepreneurs. The brand built an rebellious identity around the scrappy, DIY aesthetic of new entrepreneurs to become the place "where self-made is made."
process.
As a Senior Brand Strategist, I led the team at Oberlo as we engaged in a total rebrand, including a new brand positioning and visual identity. The brand then came to life through its website content strategy and information architecture overhaul as part of a total website and product redesign.
Challenger Brand Behaviours
Partnering with the London team from Design Studio for the rebrand, Oberlo was broken down to its fundamentals, and built up into a new brand positioning. This positioning was defined by four key behaviours: Start Something, Be Relentless, Stay Real and Raise the Bar.
These behaviours help shape decisions about how Oberlo reflects itself both internally and externally, and are designed to exist as part of continual loop of progression and improvement. After starting something, being relentless on the journey, staying real about the setbacks and struggles, and raising the bar for others around you, the loop begins again.
These behaviours were built off insights gathered through merchant interviews and cultural research, to both elevate the existing strengths of the Oberlo brand, and face up to some of its biggest challenges.
While Start Something and Be Relentless tackle the motivation and mindset struggles faced by new entrepreneurs, Stay Real and Raise the Bar challenged Oberlo teams and its users to push themselves to continually work to improve the reputation of the dropshipping industry.
Brand Architecture: The Challenger Brand's Position
The shift in positioning allowed Oberlo to take a challenger, yet complementary positioning in the architecture of Shopify brands. While the Shopify master brand was exploring a territory of passion, support, and craft, Oberlo welcomed an audience of black sheep who might otherwise have felt out of place in Shopify's world.
Through doubling-down on the Gen Z audience, and amplifying the culture of hustle and scrappiness, Oberlo was able to capture a segment of new entrepreneurs that were previously unreachable by Shopify.
A Challenger Brand's Visual Identity
The brand identity built upon these behaviours to create a look that felt young, fresh and DIY. The color palette extended Oberlo's original blue identity, turning up the dial with a set of supporting colours in rich tones and pastels. Oberlo's new tone of voice was a little cheeky, a little pushy and always direct, never shying away from sharing hard truths.
We engaged illustrators Guy Field and Appear Offline to create a set of original illustrations that captured the scrappy spirit and spoke to the underlying brand behaviours.
Layered together, Oberlo's new brand identity spoke directly to a young audience who were turning away from the polished aesthetic of the millennial Instagram era, and embracing a more playful, authentic style.
results.
The 10-month long project reached its end with the public launch of Oberlo's new brand, website, and online educational product in October 2020. I led Oberlo's internal marketing teams through the roll-out process, including brand onboarding, creative concepting workshops, and go-to-market project management.
The rebrand galvanised the Oberlo team, resulting in a shift of direction for the product and marketing teams. The rebrand was brought to life through a overhauled website strategy, a new educational products, and a revitalised video strategy.
A new generation of entrepreneurs had found their place.
testimonial.
"Working with Venetia and the team at Oberlo we were struck by their distinct and honest view of the real world of entrepreneurialism, no romanticised ideals of overnight success stories but a self-made, rebellious energy embracing both failure and success as halves of the same whole."
Alex Johns
Creative Director, DesignStudio
