Branding and strategy for a Danish high-end audio brand
Introduction
What gets us out of bed in the morning is the chance that we will encounter someone as dedicated to their particular business as we are to ours.
When such a ‘meeting of minds’ occurs, we know that together we can achieve something beyond the ordinary. And just such an enterprise is Vitus Audio – a Danish audio equipment company created by a family of incredibly talented engineers and passionate music lovers who share a common ambition – to bring us closer to music and provide you with a lifetime of listening pleasure.
We were immediately impressed by their obsessive attention to the most minute details of design and function, and their single-minded determination to coax a superlative response from every component. In a word, they reminded us of us.
On their part, Vitus Audio recognised that BAAM had a clear understanding of the luxury market and would invest their brand with a sense of ultimate quality and integrity.
Ask the CEO of Vitus Audio, Hans-Ole, to sum up his company’s ethos and he simply says, ‘We put technology at the service of the music.’
The Brief
Our first task was to identify exactly what made them great, what made them different, what justified their place at the head of the table in high-end audio.
We warned them not to expect us to dive immediately into churning out moody photos of amplifiers, couched in the tired cliches of the industry. They gave an audible sigh of relief: At last, an agency that insists on immersing itself in their client’s products and ethos, its long-term ambitions, its customers and its dealer network, before it would even begin to consider writing headlines or crafting a design regime.
Our approach is restrained and thoughtful. Our work is based on real insights into our clients’ products and services, and these demand time and consideration.
After much discussion it occurred to us that a Vitus audio system was among an elite category of luxury items, along with certain brands of wristwatch, car and musical instrument, that defy time and fashion. They are not so much personal possessions as heirlooms to be enjoyed, treasured and cared for, then passed down to those whom you know will appreciate their outstanding quality in the same way that you have.
The work
Such products are not subject to the need for superficial change. Their makers fiercely defend the integrity of what they have spent decades perfecting.
This is not to say that Vitus Audio equipment is frozen in the past. If and when the company makes a genuine improvement, perhaps as the result of a suggestion by a discerning client, then that refinement will be carefully introduced into their product specifications.
The point is, Vitus will never pursue change for its own sake. The company is above fickle fashion, the headlong rush to grab the headlines in the specialist press. Its products leapfrog Time itself. Vitus’ only aim is, and always has been, to pursue the Holy Grail of perfect sound reproduction, to the ultimate glory of great music.
Out of this fundamental fact we created the company’s Unique Selling Proposition, and subsequently its corporate line:
Forever now
Perhaps this philosophy is best expressed by an advertisement we created for the brand:
‘The day Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart sounds dated, so will your Vitus Audio equipment.’
We have interpreted the ‘Vitus Audio vision’ and applied it across their communications: their presence on the web and on social media, their brochures, their advertising and a brand manual that specifies the use of type fonts, colour palettes, photography and design architecture. All of this helps initiate the dealer into the Vitus Audio family.
Our work on their behalf, they tell us, captures and communicates the Vitus Audio ethos and confirms their place as a giant in the world of sound equipment.
Although a trained electronics engineer, Hans-Ole has never lost sight of the primary purpose of audio equipment – namely to create the most natural and faithful reproduction of a musical performance that technology allows.