After further exploration (pun intended) there are a few things that Keep Exploring as a company has incorporated into their brand that not only sets them apart but has given them a unique brand in comparison to competitors.
- Person to person: Keep Exploring is a brand that knows its customer base better than nearly any of its competitors. It started as a grass roots company, and because of that the accessibility customers have to the founders and employees of the company is something that most conglomerate corporations would give a limb for.
- Hip branding: The branding of Keep Exploring is hipster/trendy/adventure/outdoorsy/wilderness people, which has been on trend for the last five or eight years. The “hipster” and the “adventurer” are two personas that high-school/college/younger adult aged people are itching to portray. Everyone wants to have hip pictures for instagram and create the right aesthetic that will ensure their spot in the hipster hall of fame. Keep Exploring has played directly into the hands of these people and has increased their value by marketing themselves in a way that is appealing to those people.
Moving forward, however Keep Exploring needs to start thinking about this:
a. what happens when hipsters go out of style?
b. what happens when the corporation starts to get too big to keep the personal touch as personal as it currently is?
c. how do they remain relevant when their aesthetic becomes dated?
While I work on their business card and letter head, I will be considering all of this to create a new, fresh take on the Keep Exploring brand.
Here is a link to my competitor analysis pinterest board!
https://www.pinterest.com/jessssssthemess/jmc-3433-competitor-analysis/
