Blip sought us out to achieve branding and marketing excellence for their innovative approach to digital billboards.
While other digital billboard companies are still pitching their ad space using a near-traditional approach, Blip started offering 8-second minimum contracts that only cost pennies. Anybody can go to Blip’s website and promote something for an insanely affordable rate. It’s an industry-changer and is already gaining major traction along several major US roadways.
A critical part of designing something is considering how it will be implemented and consumed. This is called designing for use. We knew that Blip’s logo, templates, and colors were going to be used on big, pixelated, digital billboards and that they would be seen at a glance…from hundreds of feet away…from a moving vehicle.
Needless to say, immediate legibility and clarity was paramount.
Most logos are built to draw attention to themselves for the sake of standing out or communicating a product. Blip is an interesting case, however, because the purpose of their company is to draw attention to whoever or whatever is being promoted on their billboard. They are in the business of promoting other business. So while creating a likable and communicative logo was important, it was also important that the logo be capable of being subordinate to other brands.
The final logo accomplishes several key objectives simultaneously. It reads quickly and clearly at a glance. It also is built geometrically, with hard edges so at small or gigantic pixel sizes it stays crisp. Conceptually, it communicates as a word bubble which reinforces the origin and meaning of the name “blip” and the shape also eludes to a billboard – which of course is what the company is all about.
As the Blip brand matured, we started seeing use cases when being subordinate was not engaging enough. This was particularly true when it came to promoting Blip itself. Adding a “face” to a brand is most effective when the product itself is (and should be) formal, passive, or unemotional (i.e. Insurance). While developing some promotional materials, we pitched the loose concept of The Blip Man, which continues to mature the brand by introducing some much-appreciated immaturity.
