Swedish razor model Estrid has at all times performed issues in a different way. Constructed on a mission of physique confidence for all (reward be), it has grown a fiercely loyal group that champions self-expression over airbrushed beliefs. So when it got here to its summer time model activation, a regular product launch was by no means going to be on the playing cards.
As an alternative, Estrid joined forces with London design studio OMSE – with inventive administrators James Kape and Pedro Messias, alongside designers Judzia Wynn, Kat Excessive and Kir Nazarov, account supervisor Vanessa Pike, and photographers at Handover – to create Estrid’s Realm: a week-long takeover of Casa Privada, the personal villa at The Customary lodge in Ibiza.
From Estrid’s aspect, the mission was steered by inventive director Emilia Kape, with account administration from Sarah Cottingham, and images by Meghan Matthews and Emilia Kape herself. Collectively, the groups dreamt up a fictional membership the place “self-expression dominated”, then invited the group to step inside.
Drawing inspiration from the island’s legendary nightlife, OMSE created a daring visible world that straddles the road between fantasy and actuality. There’s putting typography, playful graphics, and a sun-baked palette of lilac, peach, and sea inexperienced, and it is wrapped round each floor of the villa. Customized signage, pool floats, embroidered towels, limited-edition merch… all carried the Realm’s cheeky character, captured all through the week by the group’s photographers.
“Estrid has by no means been about promoting razors,” says OMSE. “It is about creating moments the place folks be at liberty to be themselves. Ibiza gave us the proper stage.”
Group first, advertising and marketing second
Quite than a media-heavy press junket, the Realm welcomed small rotating teams of Estrid followers, creators and buddies. Every visitor skilled curated occasions, late-night gatherings and people quintessential Ibiza sunsets. The aim wasn’t to broadcast a marketing campaign, however to create tales price sharing.
It labored. Throughout a single week, the activation generated over 542 social posts, reached greater than 5 million folks and delivered an estimated £2.4 million in earned media worth – all pushed by natural buzz quite than conventional advertisements.
A lesson in trendy model constructing
For OMSE, the mission reveals how design can stretch far past logos and packaging. “If you give a model a bodily area, even briefly, you invite your viewers to play a task,” says Kape. “That is the place actual connection occurs.”
Estrid’s Realm may need existed for simply seven days, however its impression will linger. Throughout a time the place audiences can spot a gross sales pitch a mile off, it is proof that probably the most highly effective advertising and marketing is the sort that feels extra like an unique invitation.
