Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Baby Center is a Slovenian brand of children’s equipment that has been operating for 25 years in the Slovenian and Croatian market. The need for modernization and adaptation to new trends, but also the lack of essential emotional associations that would make them different from other brands on the market, were the reason for creating a powerful story. When creating a new brand strategy that will differentiate them in the market, they chose Zagreb based agency Brandoctor as their partner.
During this process, the analysis found that among all brands in baby products and toys in the Slovenian and Croatian market there’s a lack of emotions. And the feeling of difficulty of parenting as a life role became the premise for the new brand foundations that were defined for the Baby Center, and which in the new brand strategy has become synonymous with the hand that helps parents through all the beginnings in the life of a child. A hand for all your beginnings thus became the new slogan of the Baby Center.
“Baby Center is sending a message that they know what it means to be a parent, and it is a question to which we do not have an answer, until we step onto the road of parenting. This road is full of surprises, it’s unexpectedly happy, hard, wonderful and terrifying, amazing and beautiful. On this road, you always need another hand, another shoulder, another smile, because you can’t do it all alone. On this road we celebrate the beginnings, because we know that through that we grow, improve and learn. A beginning is not only the birth of a child, but also the first tooth, first steps or a moment when our kid goes to kindergarten or school,” explained Anja Bauer Minkara, senior brand consultant and director of Brandoctor, and added that an essential part of rebranding is the redesign of the points of sale as well as raising awareness about the importance of service staff to help customers through advice and education.
The new strategy is followed by a new visual identity, signed by Sandro Dujmenović, whose central symbol is a hand that can be anything – an animal, a monster and whatever our imagination can conceive. This hand thus turns into a system of animals – a flamingo, an elephant, a giraffe, a dinosaur, and the stork as an umbrella icon of the brand. Two levels of recognition of these symbols – as a hand and an animal – are directed to two different target groups, parents and children.
“The challenge of this rebranding was to create a new meaning for the brand, regardless of the retention of the existing name. This ‘new’ Baby Center thus becomes synonymous with a broader meaning than just its products, it becomes a fine emotional support to parents on a beautiful and demanding path of parenthood,” concluded Anja Bauer Minkara.
The first store that follows the new strategy and visual identity was opened in early October in Ljubljana. Baby Center stores will gradually be redesigned during 2017, while the first such store in Zagreb can be expected in December this year.