Monthly Archives: September 2017

Lerevent Corporate Branding

Опубликовано: September 26, 2017 в 14:10

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Категории: Our Work

Challenge

Lerevent, launched in 2017 is a vibrant and budding event planning company specialising in event management, brand activations, team building workshops in addition to hospitality consultancy and hospitality management services.

When Leverent approached Eroe Consulting to assist with launching the brand in France, the challenge was to:

  • Create an effective, engaging brand strategy and value proposition to express Leverent’s vision of ‘creating memorable experiences that evoke emotions, shape opinions and produce the finest events for the most respected clients across multiple industries’
  • Develop a new corporate identity along with creative elements to communicate the company’s brand essence and value propositions with its audiences
  • Ensure a seamless brand experience across the multitude of touch point that make up the Lerevent’s user journey

Working closely with the Leverent team, Eroe Consulting assisted in providing clarity and perspective about the stages of the project’s process, along with the direction that would ultimately lay the platform for the creation of Leverant’s brand assets.

Discovery

The objective of this phase was to define who Leverent is, what Leverent does, how Leverent delivers its services and why Leverent does what they do; to gain insight into the company’s core business and brand ambitions. This allowed Eroe to gain an understanding about Lerevent that provided and insight into the key business practices and brand challenges; in order determine the scope of the project requirements.

Research & Insights

The processes and actions of Eroe in this phase were to provide Lerevent a review of the local market, competitors, customer needs and drivers along with best industry practices. Eroe conducted a gap analysis and review of available data provided by the client. Multiple workshops were held to distil the work undertaken into key insights that would influence brand development in the next phases of the project.

Envisioning

Following the research and insights phase, Eroe & Lerevent focused on conceptualising potential solutions and propositions that address the key objectives realised in the discovery phase. These potential solutions act as manifestations of the direction the brand can take through visual representation; including photography, typography, colour, graphic elements, tone of voice and strategic approach (values, essence for example). The approved propositions formed the basis for rollout of brand assets and touch points ( brand collateral, brand messaging, digital environments and brand strategy tools.)

Naming

Eroe Consulting worked closely with the Lerevent team to develop a brand name that demonstrably communicated strong synergies and commitment to producing their client’s ‘dream events’. Eroe Consulting defined a set of naming evaluation criteria that facilitated the decision making process and applied the criteria to the names presented to management team. Names passed through a series of screening processes until the name Lerevent was selected as an ingenious combination of the French word ‘Le Rêve’ (the dream) and the English word ‘Event’.

Identity

Based on the approved brand proposition in the envisioning phase, Eroe refined the visual system, user experience and tone of voice through the development of various brand applications. Eroe created the Leverent brand mark to communicate both emotional and functional and self expressive benefits for the user. Association -rich symbols of the brand establish the brand essence and reinforce the functional benefit associations that covey a wholistic approach to manifesting dream occasions for its clients.

Lerevent Corporate Website

Опубликовано: September 26, 2017 в 12:58

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Категории: Our Work

Challenge

Lerevent, a new event management company in Nice, France, has aimed to challenge the status quo to greatly enhance and tailor the experience for persons wanting to create events and participate in bespoke travel activities.

Having successfully delivered Lerevent’s entire brand identity system, Eroe’s goal was to craft a digital platform to announce the new brand, create excitement, share insights and provide essential and interactive content to visitors looking for curated and personalised experiences.

  • Working closely with Lerevent, Eroe Consulting developed a new approach to displaying and generating content for users. Captivating imagery relevant to each users’ aspirations were implemented to provide a truly immersive experience. The user interface was designed to enhance awareness of the region and provide easy access to multiple areas of interest.
  • Eroe Consulting incorporated a powerful search engine into Lerevent’s responsive digital platform allowing users to navigate through destinations, activities and find inspiration from other travellers and events.
  • Additional functionalities to be integrated into the platform include travel planning tools that assist visitors with route planning, itineraries, hosting and accommodations. Additionally, custom event planning tools for weddings, conventions and larger public events will be incorporated.

Working closely with the Lerevent team, Eroe Consulting assisted in providing clarity and perspective about the stages of the project’s process, along with the direction that would ultimately lay the platform for the creation of Lerevent’s most critical digital asset.

Discovery

Eroe Consulting worked with Lerevent as the technical liaison for this project to gauge both scope and complexity of the backend developmental needs. Multiple workshops were held to unearth all the requirements and ascertain the design goals of the digital platform, traffic goals, sales methods alongside product and service highlights.

Research & Insights

The objective of this phase was to use the information Eroe Consulting had gathered about Lerevent for the creation of its overall brand identity to identify business objectives for the digital platform and strategies towards elaborating Lerevent’s value propositions online. The data would form the basis for project requirements and form the top level implementation strategy.

Envisioning

Throughout the the process, this project was defined by a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach. Eroe Consulting conducted close quarter brainstorming sessions with a bevy of employee groups towards envisioning what the desired short, medium and long term outcomes of the digital platform would be. The envisioning stage was also focused on the core scenarios of travellers and event clients, solving roadblocks and formulating the purest digital experience possible.

Experience

Responsive design is now the industry standard for web design, but it hasn’t always been this way. Lerevent chose to partner with Eroe Consulting because of our pedigree in this area to build the first truly responsive event and travel management platform to cater to modern travel needs and tastes. Eroe Consulting prioritised a complete rethink of the travel booking experience in order to seamlessly integrate features for conversion rates, repeat visits, mobility and curated activities in a holistic and enjoyable to use interface. As an experience the focus of the platform’s design was to use geolocation data and curative tie-ins to deliver a handful of contextually relevant packages for users.

Identity

Based on the lighthearted but energetic visual tone of the Lerevent brand, Eroe Consulting carefully formulated the visual system for this digital platform that would compliment and maximise Lerevent’s overall brand identity. Optimised content, eye catching photos and videos relevant to the lifestyle of Lerevent’s audience make a strong impression, provide a compelling experience and invite visitors to ‘live out their dream’ and experience new destinations through this platform.

Implementation

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges Eroe Consulting faced was the technology behind the solution to Lerevent’s cutting edge digital platform. Careful and collaborative implementation was required to bring the platform’s identity to life. Lerevent technology team worked with Eroe Consulting’s developers from beginning to end and understood what was required to manifest the vision in ‘real life’. Dogfooding the design and testing incrementally with internal groups and larger external groups such as selected business and thought leaders in the industry helped the team to refine performance goals, address any functionality gaps and build moment for final launch.

MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) Saudi Arabia

Опубликовано: September 26, 2017 в 09:18

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Категории: Our Work

MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) Saudi Arabia is part of a global network of chapters dedicated to the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation worldwide. To date, MITEF inform, connect, and coach Saudi entrepreneurs—enabling them to transform ideas into world-changing companies rapidly. Founded in 2015 with the goal of promoting and enriching the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Saudi Arabia, MITEF aim to celebrate and support all potential startups and entrepreneurs in the Kingdom through our Startups and Ideas Competition.

Eroe Consulting was approached, as an exclusive technology partner, during the 2017 MITEF competition. Working closely with the management team, starting with the redesign and rebuild of the website to reflect modern, responsive standard and improve the user accessibility and experience. Eroe Consulting also updated, and updated vital sections, to reflect the impact of the MITEF initiative. We are also responsible for the support of the website, to ensure that the high volume of applicants, have the information needed, and can apply with no issues. While, continually updating the website, and proving Technical support to the MITEF team.

Discovery

to unearth all the requirements

Research & Insights

to analyze and identify the potential solution

Envisioning

to conceptualize the potential solution

Experience

to define the user experience

Identity

to define the user experience

Testing

to execute the test case and rectify early issues

UAT and Go Live

to open the platform to a closed group of users at Beta release, feedback, enhancements, and grand release.

Support

Provide on-going support

The newly designed responsive site delivers a great channel, for competition applicants, who would love to make application on the go, making the website accessible to all audience.

Do the new Apple products measure up to the competition?

Опубликовано: September 13, 2017 в 14:32

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Категории: Insights

It is September 13th, the day after the much anticipated Apple Special Event held at the new Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. Traditional media and social media are full of statistics, opinions and comparisons and we could not let the day pass without adding our two cents on the newest Apple products and features. Here we compare flagship products between industry leaders for a fair assessment.

Smartphones

Apple’s new flagship phone, the iPhone X (pronounced “10”, not “ex”), is full of high-quality upgrades from the previous iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Here is what’s new in the iPhone X. It features facial recognition technology with a “super retina” display of 2.7 million pixels on a 5.8 inch OLED display screen that spreads from edge to edge. Though impressive and ground-breaking for Apple, in this regard the company is playing catch up to its competitors such as Samsung, who has already been using the OLED screens for its phones. And as per its specifications, Samsung Galaxy S8 actually has a higher resolution and sharper image than the iPhone X.

The iPhone X purportedly has two more hours of battery life than its predecessors and it boasts wireless charging capabilities due to its new glass design. How this plays out in real life, however, we are yet to see, as the iPhone battery has always been a sore point in the high-end devices. Also, wireless charging is hardly revolutionary, as it has already been featured in Samsung devices. So, again, Apple has only just caught up with its competition in this regard.

As anticipated, Apple has done away with its iconic home button in the iPhone X and users can now unlock the new phone with FaceID, a facial recognition technology that Apple says can identify users with just a glance and with only a one-in-a-million chance of mistake. Samsung, on the other hand, uses face unlock, iris scan, and fingerprint scan on its Galaxy S8. Though this sounds impressive, Samsung’s face unlock function has had some issues and the fingerprint scan seems to be the most popular way to unlock Galaxy S8 devices. It will be hard to compare this aspect till Apple’s FaceID function is properly tried and tested.

The new iPhone X has optical image stabilization (OIS) for its two rear 12-megapixel camera lenses and a Portrait Mode with a portrait lighting feature on the front-facing 7-megapixel camera. Samsung Galaxy S8’s 12MP camera (not dual camera) also has optical image stabilization. It seems that Apple might have a one-up on the competition with its front-facing TrueDepth camera feature that uses multiple cameras and sensors to enable FaceID and secure payments via its Apply Pay platform.

Streaming Devices

As its name implies, the Apple TV 4K will be able to stream sharper 4Kresolution content with HDR support. These elements, however, are not new to the market, and there are many such options available to consumers, such as Roku Ultra and Google Chromecast Ultra. HDR comes in two main formats, HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and Apple supports both, while Google and Roku only support HDR10. Both standards are excellent and having only one is not viewed as a problem as most video content comes in only HDR10 or both HDR formats.

With all its pros and cons, the price of the Apple TV 4K is one of the highest of the group, leaving consumers with many other high-quality and more affordable options. Though costing more than its competitors, Apple may have an edge with its first-party content. Roku, though very popular, does not have its own media library for users to purchase video content. And while Google does have plenty of content via Google Play, users can only access Chromecast Ultra with a smartphone or tablet, as opposed to Apple TV 4K’s convenient on-screen interface.

The new Apple TV will have 4K movies available through iTunes and, in a shrewd marketing move, the company is offering users free 4K upgrades to their previously purchased content. Also, they will not be charging more for 4K versions of movies on iTunes. Apple is also collaborating with Netflix and Amazon Prime to acquire 4K content for its product. And to add to all this, Apple will also be supporting live sports and newsfeeds later on this year. All these points lead us to believe that the Apple TV 4K may just have an edge over competitors in this market.

Smart Watches

As we predicted in our previous blog post, the new Apple Watch Series 3 will have cellular LTE capabilities built in thanks to eSIM patents Apple acquired a few years ago. The company reported that the new Apple Watch SIM numbers would match that of the user’s iPhone. This means that you could be completely untethered from your phone – you could leave it behind while still staying connected. There will, however, be two models launched; the one with LTE cellular connectivity will only be available in the US and Canada for the time being. Countries like the United Arab Emirates will initially only be able to purchase the model that does not have eSIM capabilities.

Samsung has previously used LTE technology to make its smart watches independent of phones, so Apple has not revolutionized the smart watch market with their latest upgrades. Despite lacking the latest technology, to date Apple Watches have ruled this sector and the new changes and upgrades should only solidify its position as the market leader.

Though there were very few surprises at this year’s Apple Keynote event due to accidental leaks of information, the event has finally confirmed many of the tech world’s predictions. We look forward to seeing the new products in the market for a more thorough analysis.

Everything we THINK we know about today’s Apple Launch

Опубликовано: September 12, 2017 в 11:10

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Категории: Insights

As in past years, this September brings a great amount of speculation and anticipation towards the annual Apple product unveiling. Today’s September 12th Apple Special Event (that you can stream live from the Apple website at 1pm Eastern time) is even more momentous as it marks the 10th anniversary of the iPhone and it is also the first public event to be held at the Steve Jobs Theater at the new Apple Park corporate campus in Cupertino, California.

What can we expect from Apple and Tim Cook this year? As usual, the rumor mill has been churning and there have been some accidental information leaks directly from Apple about what will be revealed at today’s event.  Here is what we think we know …

Year upon year, the iPhone has been Apple’s most successful product and according to recent leaks and contrary to initial expectations, there will be THREE (not two) new iPhone models announced today. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will probably have incremental upgrades to the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models. The new model designs are expected to be similar to the current iPhones with LCD displays and a physical home button with TouchID capability.  They also might be slightly larger than the current generation of iPhones and it is rumored they may encase Apple’s next-generation processor, A10X or A11.

The talk about town, however, is all about the third new iPhone that is to be announced today. The model will probably be called the iPhone X and will have an edge to edge screen with no bezel and it is strongly suggested that the iconic iPhone home button will be removed. The larger screens will boast a high-quality OLED display giving it more accurate colors and image uniformity. Rumors have been spreading that face recognition will be used to unlock the new phone model. If the face-recognition leak rings true, then expect better depth sensors for Augmented Reality and increased security measures. The phone may be encased in special high-end materials and it will also don a high-end price – the iPhone X model has been rumored to cost USD 1000 or more. It has been reported that this luxury product will be available in limited quantities with only 10,000 manufactured per day.

It is also rumored that a new Apple Watch (most probably called Apple Watch Series 3) will utilize an embedded LTE eSIM to untether it from its phone link. This LTE connectivity would be solely to improve data transmission, not to make phone calls. The use of Skype, FaceTime, and other VOIP platforms via the new model has not been ruled out.  If true, this would bring about a new portability to the product, if Apple has been successful in extending its battery life. Besides this, you might be able to purchase the new Apple Watch in some new colors and at a lower price point.

Expectations are high that a new version of AppleTV will be launched  with the capability to  stream hi-res 4K videos. The new product (Apple TV 4K?) will house Apple’s new powerful processor, the A10X or A11, along with 3GB of RAM.  The probability of this product being launched today has increased as stories fly that Apple has been speaking to studio executives about gaining rights to stream 4K videos.

Apple’s newest mobile operating system, iOS 11, is likely to be officially launched to consumers today as the beta version has been available to developers for some time. Most noteworthy is the launch of the AR Kit in iOS 11 – this kit is comprised of developer tools for creating augmented reality apps – interactive tools that overlay virtual objects in the real world. This development would bring about new advanced and exciting applications.

Besides the aforementioned products and developments, there have been rumors of design changes and improved battery life in AirPods, not to mention new animated 3D emojis. Also, as we were only just introduced to HomePod – Apple’s smart home speaker – at their previous developer’s conference, it is safe to say that more details will be given today about this product.

The anticipation builds as the hour draws closer – what do you think of our Apple Special Event predictions?