Responses by Alex Bennett-Grant, founder/CEO, WE ARE Pi

Background: After 30 years of success, Desigual, like many high street fashion retailers, struggled to connect with a new generation consumer’s tastes and shopping behavior. With sales declining and an aging customer base, Desigual was in need of a brand turn around. With no easy solve to this threat in sight, the time had come to do something radical. We were brought on to do exactly that, with the ultimate goal of making Desigual a unique icon for generations to come.

Reasoning: To reinvigorate the brand, we had to get back to its unconventional roots. We needed to celebrate the need for illogical minds and the different perspectives they bring to the world. To go forward, we needed to think backwards. On our journey to a full brand turn around, we decided to very literally turn the brand around. We did what no other brand would—we flipped the logo backwards and created an entirely backwards campaign to announce it to the world.

Challenges: Keeping the newly constructed, 12-meter (39 feet) high flipped logo on the side of the building a secret during its construction. It was constructed before the event and was hidden from the public for another week!

Visual influences: We were inspired by the selfie generation we set out to connect with, so we created a campaign that was only legible through the selfie lens. People could stand in front of our posters, open up their selfie-mode cameras in the Instagram app and our previously backwards manifesto and logo would immediately became legible. It was the first campaign that’s only legible in selfie-mode.

Favorite details: That this was not just a stunt. The industry is littered with one-off activations where brands try something for a day and change it back the next. Desigual’s commitment to making this permanent is evidenced in the product, with a completely new line of clothing being released globally, and the stores, all of which will have their logos changed by the end of next year.

Anything new: When you’re looking to do something radical and to connect with a completely new audience, there can be no aspect of your brand that is off the table. People are smart, and they’ll sniff out anything that feels fake. The logo sits at the heart of brand, so we put it at the heart of this transformation.

wearepi.com