Project Details Project Title: Taiga Works - Rebrand Author: Christian Pagal Project Duration: 3 weeks Client: Taiga Works Team: Christian Pagal, Jeff Harrison (123W)
Taiga Works is an outdoor technical apparel brand from the 70s based in Vancouver, British Columbia. In recent time, the brand has fallen behind the pack. During my 3-week mentorship with One Twenty Three West, I was assigned this mock re-brand project with the goal of reviving the brand from its current state. The word mark is built to emulate the down baffles found in their iconic jackets all while representing the rigid nature of the outdoors. During the three weeks, i rebuilt a new set of branding assets which included a new logo, design system, launch campaign, landing page, social media campaign, and a plethora of brand assets.
Method Research, Strategy, Approach
My research approach involved looking at the present-day landscape of outdoor and technical apparel and where brands currently stand. Arc’teryx was a great figure to look at when considering what is working and trending for brands currently. Stemming from that, there are plenty of other successful groups in Patagonia, MEC, Salamon, and more which were other brands I looked into.
In addition, I also had to consider where Taiga was currently as a brand. Truth be told, they are deep in the hole and their relevancy in the grand scheme of things is minimal. This was something I considered in my strategy and the theme of brand revival was something I fixated on.
These are photos taken from my mood board and direction titled "A new era" to capture and conceptualize how outdoor brands are taking the existing landscape and turning it into something more lifestyle oriented. This direction would go on to spearhead the results of the rebrand.
Launch Campaign: Return to the mountains
To further elaborate on bringing Taiga back to the present, I decided to utilize up-to-date technology in augmented reality (AR) by using Adobe Aero. The idea of the campaign is for people around the city to scan the QR code which will lead them to a live/real-time event that involves arrows leading them to the mountains. From there, users will all gather in the outdoors celebrating the return of Taiga while exploring the outdoors altogether.
Potential Brand assets
Business Card
Shopping Bag (Front)
Shopping Bag (Back)
Uniform
Storefront
Delivery Vehicle
Challenges - The biggest challenge that came with this project was creating original imagery for the brand itself. Taiga has no existing assets that I believe are at an industry standard which resulted in me taking photos for the social media campaign.
Takeaways - This project was a great opportunity to work under a CD (Jeff Harrison - 123w) and ultimately understand the time put into a project. It also was a project that required a lot of engaged thinking taking a brand that was practically dead and giving it new life.
