What is Zealios? - A brand revisit.

Deep into our sessions with BOW we confirmed a realization that had been growing in our minds for a while. We needed to update and revamp our brand.

Inevitably, a company takes on a bit of the personality of its founders. When we first started with Zealios we had absolutely no experience with branding or in CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) for that matter. NONE. We were fortunate to partner with some really talented marketers/designers in the the early stages of the company who helped guide us in creating the visual presence for Zealios. We loved the clean lines of the original design and it felt good to be off and running.

At the time it seemed more pressing to get a product to the market than it did to consider what kind of emotional connection we were looking to make with our customers. To be totally honest we didn’t really know what Zealios meant to us either. We knew our own personal values, what we stood for as people, but hadn’t yet built out the framework for what Zealios stood for as a brand.

This has been a huge focal point in our BOW sessions. Working on our ‘WHY,’ as in “why do we do this”.  We will be publishing a stand-alone blog article dedicated entirely to finding our “why”. The process was a bear.)

It’s not as easy to come up with as people think. After much back and forth we realized that we do this because ‘we believe in helping others be their best,’ or ,if brevity and four letter words are your thing, ‘We give a shit.’ After focusing in on why we do this and what kind of connection we want to make with our community, we looked at our branding and realized it wasn’t an accurate representation of who we are as people, as a company, or as a community. One small example: the old logo mark (the three hexagons) is actually inspired by the visual effect of rays of light coming through glass. Most people think they are benzene rings  and immediately think it’s some sort of molecule.

Now that we are older and wiser (HA!) we agreed that it was time for a face lift. To engage our potential consumers, we need to evolve our brand; the look, the feel, perhaps a dash of the communication – and hone in on a clear emotional brand message. Our BOW mentors agreed that our branding didn’t accurately reflect our personalities and recommended we do a brand workshop. Three weeks later we found ourselves hopped up on caffeine and cookies doing a deep dive into the Zealios brand. It was a blast.

We digested everything we learned that day. It’s a fascinating experience hearing from people outside of the business what the brand means to them. Honestly, we were quite proud of the feedback we received. Ultimately, though we needed to turn this into something actionable. We distilled everything we learned into a final brand manifesto/voice.

Inevitably, a company takes on a bit of the personality of its founders. For a long time we felt we had guided the brand based on what we thought the brand should be. From this day forward, we are going to let our hair down, if you will. At the end of the day, Zealios means so much more to us than Personal Care. It’s a symbol of our attitude towards life. It’s the result of taking a chance, a leap of faith. It was born out of following our gut and backing ourselves. It’s the result of trading a secure job for the satisfaction of creating something meaningful. It’s a part of us.

Put into pictures, a little less of this:

And a little bit more of this:

With that all of that in mind, we are pleased to introduce for the first time the Zealios Brand Manifesto.

Our company was born out of a resolve to make a difference for athletes who strive for excellence regardless of age, race, gender, body type, or ability.

As a group, we thrive on challenges and don’t like to be outdone, but we are devoted to the simple goal of enhancing those exhilarating experiences. We aspire to support our community with positivity, humility and a down-to-earth camaraderie typical of rugby culture.

We are fighters, but we’re also lovers. We’re intense, but friendly. Serious, but not too much. We really want to win, but sportsmanship matters most.

At the end of the day, we believe sport is a path to self discovery and growth. When you push yourself to places you didn't think possible you can't help but grow.

We celebrate those moments. We challenge you to seek out those moments.

It's worth it.

Does that sound like the Zealios you know? We think it does….and we are damn proud of it. The final objective was to create a logo (and eventually new packaging) that accurately represents our brand. Easier said than done.

We need to give credit to the (wildly talented) folks at GB Two for completely knocking it out of the park with our brand new logo:

The “Z” has strong, clean lines that portray confidence, performance, and moxie. The three dimensions give it personality and depth, and the negative space has a playfulness to it that accurately portrays “serious...but not too serious”. We kept the font the same as a nod to our roots.

We love it and hope you do too! Where it really comes alive is in the new packaging design which we will be launching soon. For the first time we feel like our branding accurately represents who we are as a company. It feels good. It feels like we have grown up a bit and are now ready to sit at the adult table. Or maybe not, the kids table is usually more fun.

Let us know what you think!