Los Angeles, CA
Greenville, SC
Brand Strategy, Branding Identity, Art Direction, Web Design, Launch Campaign, Experiential, Community Building
Brand Strategy
Branding Identity
Art Direction
Web Design
Launch Campaign
Social Media
Digital Marketing
Agency of Record
Launched in February 2019
HelloBello.com
The Project:
Launched.LA (a brand incubator) and celebrity co-founders Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard approached us to help them create a new natural line of baby products to be sold with a Walmart retailer exclusivity along with a direct-to-consumer offering.
From diapers to bathtimes to playdates, parents have to make countless decisions every day. The founders were on a mission to empower parents in those choices, and create a safe, plant-based line that was more accessible to a broad spectrum of parents. The products would all be formulated with premium ingredients, but knowing the company would launch exclusively at Walmart, they would need to be available at very accessible prices. We were thrilled to be involved in this challenge and crawled, er, jumped right in. The project was an opportunity to truly reshape what it means to create products for kids who 💩 their pants.
This wasn’t a typical startup however. The decision to launch at scale, with a plan to immediately send these products to Walmarts across North America, added an intense and immovable timeline. And adding in the need for a robust direct-to-consumer subscription model created another layer of complexity that we needed to figure out how to weave into a single strategy.
The Project:
Brand incubator Launched.LA and celebrity co-founders Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard approached us to help them create a new, natural line of baby products. It would be sold as a retailer exclusive in Walmart, along with a direct-to-consumer offering at HelloBello.com.
From diapers to bathtimes to playdates, parents have to make countless decisions every day. The founders were on a mission to empower parents in those choices, and create a safe, plant-based line that was more accessible to a broad spectrum of parents. The products would all be formulated with premium ingredients, but knowing the company would launch exclusively at Walmart, they would need to be available at very accessible prices. We we’re thrilled to be involved in this challenge and crawled, er, jumped right in. The project was an opportunity to truly reshape what it means to create products for kids who 💩 their pants.
With fast deadlines and an identity to create, we adapted our insight process, pulled together product and industry experts and got to work.
During our insight phase, we quickly dug into the founders, the market, the competitive landscape, and most importantly we talked to lots of human parents.
Through our work, four things became very clear. First, the new brand had to represent the celebrity founders. Our conversations with Kristen and Dax were approachable, energetic, irreverent, and full of heart. Because of their personal parenting journey, they conveyed a sincere desire to fill a need for all parents and families.
Next we came to the conclusion that we needed to evolve how people thought about natural, organic products. This was an especially critical challenge in terms of naming the company and designing the packaging, separating ourselves from a crowded space full of green leaves and white packaging.
The third piece was that we needed to figure out how to bridge the consumer mental model gap between premium products and approachable pricing.
And lastly, everything needed to be wrapped in a voice and tone that was authentic, meaningful and relatable to modern, especially millennial, parents. Parents we felt were looking for a brand that was more representative of their parenting journey and their values.
During our insight phase, we quickly dug into the founders, the market, the competitive landscape, and most importantly we talked to lots of human parents.
Through our work, four things became very clear. First, the new brand had to represent the celebrity founders. Our conversations with Kristen and Dax were approachable, energetic, irreverent, and full of heart.
Next we came to the conclusion that we needed to evolve how people thought about natural, organic products. This was an especially critical challenge in terms of naming the company and designing the packaging, separating ourselves from a crowded space full of green leaves and white packaging.
The third piece was that we needed to figure out how to bridge the consumer mental model gap between premium products and approachable pricing.
And lastly, everything needed to be wrapped in a voice and tone that was authentic, meaningful and relatable to modern, especially millennial, parents.
We also knew this brand needed something to fight for. A flag in the ground. What was the injustice in the marketplace that we were a remedy for? That flag became clear to the whole team as a young, stressed mother told us, “I don’t want to have to choose between what’s good for my baby and what’s good for my budget. I don’t want to have to worry about that so much.”
That was it. That was the best articulation of what we collectively wanted the brand to stand for.
A brand that all parents could feel proud of regardless of socio economics, race and geography. A brand that would show up during one of life’s stinkiest and unmissable joys, parenthood, and help eliminate the impossible choice of having to pick between what you knew was better for your baby and what your budget allowed.
We also knew this brand needed something to fight for. A flag in the ground. What was the injustice in the marketplace that we were a remedy for? That flag became clear to the whole team as a young, stressed mother told us, “I don’t want to have to choose between what’s good for my baby and what’s good for my budget. I don’t want to have to worry about that so much.”
“When we set out to build and launch a new brand, we knew success would hinge on doing things differently than everyone else in the market. We needed the support of an agency partner who shared that vision. Someone who wasn’t in the business of just ticking boxes and delivering the expected. A team that wasn’t afraid to get messy, present courageous ideas and challenge our thinking. Brains on Fire is the kind of partner that feels like an extension of who we are and who we’re trying to be. ”
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Hello Bello
We took all our learnings and pushed them through the birth canal of our imaginations (ok, ok sorry) ... and Hello Bello was born.
We landed on a name that was an authentic extension of Kristen and Dax themselves, equal parts playful and sincere, and a wordmark that reflected their individual parenting styles, approaching it from two, balancing sides.
Our spirit / tagline of “Goodbye Bad Stuff” rounded out our naming convention and helped us push beyond the stuffiness usually associated with “green” or “organic” products -- setting the table for a natural brand that could be approachable for everyone.
From there we weren’t crawling, but sprinting. Next came visual brand language and characters, product design & development, diaper designs, website design, social and digital marketing content and launch content. We wanted to create a brand that parents would feel good about and be proud to bring into their homes and that took us to a brand that was bright, fun, playful and, most importantly, mission driven with a big sense of humor and an even bigger heart.
Packaging & Design
Our team tackled packaging with a strong mandate to shake up the competitive space. We went with bold and fun colors and playful elements, but our designers also considered various real-world challenges at each step of the design process. We worked hard to address real parent problems like, “How the hell do I get shampoo on my baby’s head with only one free hand?”
Diaper Patterns
The seasons may change, but diaper duty is nonstop when you have a baby. From day one, our team began concepting and designing new batches of diaper patterns to roll out (and wrap up) each season.
Our mindset was to approach the diaper designs with less of an ‘essentials product’ process and more of a ‘fashion cycle’ process.
The greatest gift of any of our careers has been
the process of naming our diaper patterns.
Website Design & Experience
Creating a robust online subscription model for the company was a must. Our team looked to take our bright, fun and playful brand language and layer that into the digital space. Two high priorities were conversion and customization, which led us to build a fun monthly bundler experience that allowed users to build their just-right designs and product bundle to match their family's needs.
The Bundler
The Hello Bello Bundler allows customers to walk through steps to customize their monthly subscription in a fun way.
Retail Customer Experience
In addition to the direct-to-consumer experience, we had to make sure the brand and our design was adaptable to in-store sales at Walmart amongst customers with no previous touchpoints with the brand.
Content + Social + Digital
Our content, social and digital marketing teams collaborated to make sure that the brand touchpoints were consistent across all the possible channels a customer could interact with. And our social team set out to start building authentic community from day one.
Launch Content
With products and design ready, it was time to put Kristen and Dax front and center with a series of videos and content to introduce the world to their new creation and a launch campaign to start to communicate the values behind the products.
“I have never worked with a group of people that understood story, emotion, and creativity as well as Brains on Fire. Their ability to push the boundaries of aesthetic and concept, while remaining anchored to the soul of a brand, is truly inspiring”
Founder, Hello Bello
The launch of Hello Bello was marked by a gain of over 150,000 Instagram followers on day one. The success grew from there with more followers and of course customers.
Validation continued to roll in during the months that followed launch both from real families expressing connection to our brand values to leading press, like Good Housekeeping, awarding our diapers designs the #1 spot in the market.
Our brand work was also awarded the Gold trophy for best strategic or creative development of a new brand from Transform Awards North America.
In addition to continuing on as the agency of record for Hello Bello, Brains on Fire currently manages strategy and community across Hello Bello social media.
