Brand Positioning
Build the foundation for successfully marketing your brand through a deep understanding of what consumers want, how your brand is uniquely qualified to deliver and how it's differentiated from competitors.
Taking CushCore from DIY to Pro
In order to future proof their company, CushCore wanted to evolve their brand and develop a brand messaging platform that clearly communicated their value to mountain bikers. Current Forward helped CushCore, a mountain bike tire insert company based in Bend, Oregon, refine their brand platform and position them for future growth.
Our Process
After collaborating with the CushCore team to align on their marketing and business goals, we conducted a landscape analysis and customer interviews that led to rich data about the current brand perception, the value it provides and its relevance in consumers' lives.
The analysis uncovered key opportunities and led to the insight that informed the revamped brand positioning. While CushCore products are backed by science and engineering, the brand needed to lead with the emotional benefit it provided riders: confidence.
The research findings, brand strategy and messaging platform were operationalized in a creative brief. The brief took the form of a user manual, which was a format that resonated with the internal team, as many of them come from engineering backgrounds. Because this artifact was representative of the brand culture it provided a deeper layer of inspiration to the designer they hired to revamp their
visual identity.
“We better understand where we are strong, where we are weak and where to focus our attention going forward. Now we know we need to focus more on the emotional benefits to the rider, such as confidence.”
- Adam Krefting, CushCore Founder
Results
CushCore quickly implemented the new brand positioning and messaging strategy in social media and print. They also launched a redesigned homepage that featured emotionally driven benefit messages and imagery. The strategy laid the foundation for further evolving the brand and continuing to grow the business.