Battery Zone

Recharging a powerful brand through advertising

A 'paint-by-numbers' campaign

COVID-19 has created no end of challenges for businesses worldwide. For Battery Zone, New Zealand’s leading provider of battery testing, fitment, and advisory services, a strict national lockdown in 2020 meant Kiwis were no longer hitting the road for work or leisure.

As restrictions started to ease, the company needed to find a way to encourage their target audience to get back outside and embrace boating, camping and holidaying—while also promoting Battery Zone to power those adventures.

Battery Zone approached Viabrand® to develop an advertising campaign that encouraged cooped-up Kiwis to re-discover their own backyard and built brand awareness for the company’s products as roadside service tools.

Travel restrictions, social distancing protocols and a limited budget meant a traditional photoshoot was out of the question. The solution would need to be a little more creative.

The solution:

A “Paint by Numbers” Framework

For any outdoor campaign, strong visual elements are key to capturing the audience’s imagination. With a photoshoot off the table, the Viabrand® team decided a to create a unique Photoshop solution that allowed for creativity, consistency, and ongoing collaboration with the client.

Viabrand® developed a systematic, universally adaptable design framework that carefully considered the use of imagery, text and calls to action in each advertisement. This “paint by numbers” approach designated similar design elements to the same space.

For example, each advertisement followed a general pattern, with a vehicle or person front and centre, the company logo in the bottom right, text in the top left, and a lower quadrant banner that included a description and call to action.

A design framework

Images were individually sourced and layered with the other design elements in close collaboration with the Battery Zone team. As a result, each handcrafted advertisement looks as though it is the result of a dedicated photoshoot.

The design framework guaranteed brand consistency, which is essential for customer recall, while significantly reducing the costs associated with traditional, photoshoot-based campaigns. Moving forward, the Battery Zone team can easily adapt the framework in the future for additional marketing and advertising campaigns.

Making a splash in the market

The out-of-home campaign was big and bold, with the combination of design thinking and Photoshop magic creating high quality advertisements that really stood out.

Viabrand® worked closely with Battery Zone to stress-test mock-ups before releasing the ads into the wild. Thanks to this invaluable client collaboration, Viabrand® could take on board feedback and tweak the designs until they were the right fit for a number of carefully selected out-of-home (OOH) bookings.

The result was a series of distinctive and impactful advertisements from Auckland to Christchurch, and everywhere in between. Placements included publication ads and bus back bookings, all of which were selected to reach a broad audience.

Battery Zone making an impact

Overall, the campaign’s combination of striking imagery, clever messaging, and thoughtful placements helped the advertisements make an impact, but it was the client collaboration throughout the project, particularly during testing and implementation, that was key for seamless campaign roll out.

In the future, Viabrand®’s design framework will make it straightforward for Battery Zone to create additional advertising campaigns—and continue to keep New Zealand on the road.

What They Say
“Jho, Amber and the entire team are just true masters of their tradecraft. Their product is absolutely exceptional and it’s matched pound-for-pound by their customer service. Working with Viabrand on our organisation’s brand evolution project was an absolute joy and I couldn’t speak highly enough of the experience end-to-end. Thanks, Viabrand!”
John - CEO (Workcom)

“The Viabrand® team were very professional and were able to update our branding, promotional material and website to suit our target market for the relaunch of our brand.”

Max - Mechanical & Technical Engineering Manager (Snosko)

“Viabrand® offer an incredible graphic design and copywriting service. From the moment I first encountered their work, I was highly impressed with the quality of their designs and the creativity of their writing.

One thing I love about working with this marketing company is that they take time to get to know your business needs before jumping into any project. They take an individualised approach which ensures that everything they create is tailored specifically for you. Additionally, they are always willing to listen to feedback while remaining open-minded throughout the process. This helps ensure maximum satisfaction from all parties involved in each project.

Thank you, Jho and Amber. I am looking forward to the further collaborations.”

Damon - Digital Marketing Manager (Shafston International College)

“We’ve worked with Viabrand® for many years now on a variety of different projects from branding, design work to a recent TVC campaign. The team is fantastic to work with, the process is very structured and organised with nothing missed or out of the question.

We have been very happy with all the work from Viabrand® especially the recent TVC campaign. The team working on the project were highly experienced and delivered exceptional results.”

Rachael - Brand Manager (Century Batteries)

“I met the team at Viabrand® mid-way through a brand refresh project when I first joined Ultra Labels as Marketing Manager. The project scope was far-reaching and encompassed a revitalised brand strategy and delivery of a full suite of brand collateral. Our project manager, Amber, worked tirelessly with me to ensure that I was brought up to speed on all the major decision points. Even at an advanced stage of the project, my feedback was listened to and incorporated which was very much appreciated and I was struck by the responsiveness and professionalism of the Viabrand® team.

I am very happy with the results – their work on both our brand strategy and the way they applied insights gained to deliver a comprehensive and cohesive suite of stand-out brand collateral. And our sales team are delighted with their polished and professional toolkit!”

Tess - Marketing Manager (Ultra Labels)

“Initially, we didn’t want to rebrand. After talking to Viabrand, however, we knew it was a strategic commercial decision that would grow our business to the next level. In a competitive industry, we needed a way to strongly position ourselves to capture new customers.

We were completely blown away and loved our new brand the moment we saw it. This gave us the clarity and professional brand identity we needed to move forward with confidence as a business. Viabrand’s process, knowledge, skills and support are second to none! We look forward to our ongoing partnership.”

Christos - Managing Director (Embient)

“We approached the Viabrand® team to help us strategically refresh the Opticomm brand. We needed to balance the creation of a contemporary brand while staying true to our core. Viabrand® understood our organisation and what we are about. They supported the creation of a brand identity, narrative and architecture that captured who we are, what we stand for, and what we offer. The team was patient, supportive, and responsive.”

Tamika - (Uniti Group)

“We approached the Viabrand® team to help us move from a collection of brand elements to a brand that was consistent, professional and really captured the essence of who we were.

We also put forth the challenge of taking our new business that had global growth and capturing our brand while not being just another technology company. Not only did the Viabrand® team deliver on this, they really went above and beyond.

We now have the professional brand identity that is setting us apart from the norm. Viabrand® have become our go to trusted partner in this space as we’ve found a professional team we can rely on.”

Aaron - CEO (StormWarden)

“I want to thank Viabrand® for all their assistance. The engagement with Viabrand® to launch our new business partnership with a global brand went very smoothly and was completed very efficiently. Well done to your team!”

Craig - Managing Director (Nqpetro)

“Having worked with Jho and the team at Viabrand® for the past couple of years, they have earned a great deal of trust and respect within our business. This has been achieved through a number of contributing factors, including their absolute responsiveness to our support requests, their pro-active approach towards continuous maintenance improvements of our overall web environment and their creative thinking around our corporate branding strategy. They always deliver on-time and on-budget and most importantly, it’s all done with a smile.”

Geoff - IT Manager (Opticomm)

“I would like to pass on our thanks to the Viabrand® team. We are very happy with the outcomes their rebrand process has been able to achieve for our business. When we showed our staff your work and they loved it. Spot on!”

Michael - Managing Director (Burke Raftery)

“We engaged Viabrand® to plan, release and provide ongoing brand development of our company’s image across social media and channel sales campaigns. They delivered a refresh of our brand and rebuilt our business website. I can pleasingly say that their responsiveness, work ethic and the subsequent results have been nothing short of fantastic!”

Scott - Product Manager (Intelepower Systems)

Uscribe engaged the team at Viabrand® to come up with a full rebrand for the then Sign Technologies Australia. Their creativity and their ability to capture our ideas and translate into a brand identity was truly amazing. Right from the outset, the team was passionate about our brand and even shared other ideas beyond just the rebrand. I would strongly recommend Jho and his team.

Arnie - Arnie General Manager (Uscribe Australia)

Viabrand® have been an invaluable asset for my company and its branding, marketing and graphic design requirements from the day we first engaged several years ago. They quickly became the ‘go to’ people for all our graphic design requirements small and large. I would not hesitate in strongly recommending engaging Viabrand®, as Jho and his team possess an unworldly skill to extract from one’s head their artistic vision for how they see their company brand, and then help you get your brand out to the world.

Daniel - Managing Director (Red Dog Group Australia)

Viabrand® has clear direction and great ideas. This matched with their excellent management skills and timely delivery leads to successful projects with quick turnaround times. Viabrand® are a pleasure to work with!

Sciobhan - National Marketing Manager (Redflow Energy Solutions)

We have utilised Viabrand® in a broad consultative capacity and have found their insight, creativity, urgency, organisation and integrity to be an excellent fit for our business. Viabrand® has added significant value to our marketing function and have become an invaluable resource.

Jeremy - National Sales & Marketing Manager (Hyne timber)

We engaged Viabrand® to undertake a review of our existing brand and subsequently develop a new brand identity to reflect the vision, values and direction of our business. The team worked with us to understand our business objectives and subsequently developed a new brand identity that was spot on!

Adam - Director, Marquette Properties & Publisher (TheUrbanDeveloper.com)

Viabrand® worked on the development of the Blackett Homes brand and delivered truly impressive solutions for the business. They are a pleasure to work with and are very professional and flexible to our needs. Their passion to merge strategy and creative thinking is evident in the work they produce.

Rick - Blackett Homes (Sales and Marketing Manager)

Viabrand® are a fantastic all-rounder in terms of creative, design, project management and website development. They are a fantastic asset to have, as it is rare to encounter a creative design team with such a wide skill base. It is a pleasure to work alongside them, as they have a very professional and focused work ethic.

Andrew - Marketing Manager (Century Yuasa Batteries)