CLIENT/BRAND
Fora Form AS, Ørsta
TYPE OF PROCESS
– Brand repositioning
– Brand and innovation alignment
INTERVIEWS
12 Interviews
4 Workshops
OUTCOME
– Brand platform
– Product and portfolio strategy
– Action plan
“Brand Valley has a unique perspective. They combine an academic background and hands-on involvement, and manage to put the product in the brand context. They have made it possible to collaborate between a number of people, which has been a very good input to the development.”
Organisation transformation through brand design
Client
Founded in 1929, Fora Form is one of Norway’s leading suppliers of chairs, seating groups and tables for the contract market, with a deep-rooted philosophy of providing social working environments through collaboration with cutting-edge Scandinavian designers.
Ambition
Fora Form reached out to Brand Valley to conduct a brand transformation which would set the direction for the company and the product portfolio. The ambition was to improve visibility and market share on an international stage, while strengthening an internal awareness of their brand and design. The project was supported by Innovation Norway.
Context
There are several leading brands in the contract market for furniture. In Norway, there is an increased competition in this market. Sustainability is an important societal driver. The industry can expect a need for major transformation of their organisations, driven by a circular economy, including less consumption of new products. Offices are changing towards activity based working and less formal settings. All of these changes give Fora Form increased opportunities, but also challenge them as one furniture company can not solve all of the challenges alone.
Approach
BV Drivers map
Brand Valley's Drivers’ Map was the starting point for the project. What the organisation stands for would guide the activities they perform and how they relate to external and internal changes. It is therefore important to map the drivers from different perspectives as well as the positioning of the existing brand, in order to make informed decisions about what the brand should be in the future and how to achieve the change.
In the first phase, a mapping of the chosen perspectives was carried out by conducting detailed research for in-depth competitor analysis, and face-to-face interviews with employees, designers, architects, and dealers, as well as mapping the societal and market drivers. The interviews were important to get a greater insight of the past and current situations, and opportunities for improvements. Along with the interviews, a portfolio analysis of existing products was carried out to decompose the existing brand.
Brand and innovation process alignment
In Brand Valley’s approach we align Brand Design to the Innovation Process from the very beginning. The benefit of this is to bring coherence throughout the value chain, from idea to use - and reuse. Thus, liberating the brand from being a pure marketing tool, and transforming it into a guide for the whole organisation.
An ambition workshop was conducted with the senior management as well as employees, engaging the organisation to design possible directions for the brand. The approach was based on the creative flexibility of design thinking and collaboration. We believe that it is important to get all the perspectives on the table to find the common thread to create an inspirational ambition that unites the whole organisation behind it.
Findings from the interviews, workshops, and research were combined together with the insights discovered through the ambition workshop and were taken to the next stage for further analysis. Different roles that Fora Form can take were explored through brand concepts and discussed further in a positioning workshop, from which the desired positioning emerged.
Outcome
The final outcome of multiple rounds of interviews, workshops, research, and design over the extensive 11-month period resulted in an action plan covering the brand platform and product strategy which impacted the whole organisation. The core of Fora Form is, as they have expressed in their name: ‘Form that creates interaction and engaging fora.’ The collaboration and interaction with leading Nordic designers was core in creating these interactive fora. Sustainability was regarded as one of the building blocks and the company continues to invest in certifications.
The action plan was implemented and created strategic organisational impact, including separating product and brand management into two roles and setting up of the brand department, a first for the company.
Thanks to our client Fora Form for an exciting project!
Fora Form’s Brand Building Blocks
Other projects for Fora Form:
Product strategy (June 2018)