BRAND STRATEGY | TONE OF VOICE | PRODUCTION
Capturing the soul of British cold water surf brand Finisterre in a brand strategy and tone of voice
Finisterre is a founder-led B-Corp that has been well-loved in the UK since its founding 20 years ago. Culturally, it still has the spirit of a startup, but as a business, it’s poised for international growth. Over time, the team had developed an instinct for the brand, but they’d never been able to tangibly define it – a need that became increasingly important as they grew. I worked with the leadership team to define their brand idea, develop their brand strategy and tone of voice, supported the definition of the visual identity, and designed it into a full set of brand guidelines.
OVER THE COURSE OF 9 MONTHS
I worked closely with the leadership team in various stages, beginning with a discovery stage including research, team interviews, a competitor audit and a customer survey. The CMO led a project to define the target audience and together we used the collective insights to develop a brand idea. This was the foundation on which we defined the purpose, vision and mission, and on which we built a set of experience principles. I went on to define the tone of voice and built out a comprehensive set of guidelines, and worked with the creative team to codify the visual identity. All of this was brought together into a brand book, that I also designed.
PHOTOSHOOT PRODUCTION
During my time working with Finisterre, I also did the production for their spring photoshoot which we shot in the Algarve.