Business Building

Daygold: Concepting, Testing & Launching a DTC Lifestyle Brand in a Crowded Market

Identity | Innovation | Naming

Project Details

Project Name

Daygold Startup Pilot + Brand Launch

Industry

Health & Wellness

Location

Portland, OR

A brighter life, naturally: Hyperquake helped a promising startup uncover and own the sweet spot of whitespace in a saturated consumer market.

Helping a B2B business deliver a new, innovative product line directly to consumers.

The B2B terpene-industry powerhouse True Terpenes looked to build business stability by expanding into the consumer marketplace. Their vision: A brand-new CBD concept built around the “entourage effect,” a science-backed formulation of natural cannabinoids and terpenes to improve customers’ days and nights.

Hyperquake partnered with True Terpenes and innovation firm Verify to identify the right audience segments in the oversaturated CBD market, and to test value propositions and product and CX variants in-market to maximize conversion during a pre-launch pilot. Armed with these insights, Hyperquake developed a holistic, resonant brand built to convert sales — from naming and identity design through complete packaging design and photography. The result? An irresistible wellness brand that speaks directly to the fastest-growing market segments and shares their deepest values: the constant pursuit of a brighter life, naturally.

Our Role

Aspirational Consumer Development
Brand Architecture & Strategy
Brand Identity Design
Go-to-Market Plan
Naming
Opportunity Articulation
Packaging Design & Production
Photography
Positioning & Narrative
Product/Service Creation
Rapid Concept Creation
User Experience
Website

Collaborators

Verify Venture Studio
Jessica Ebelhar Photography

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Rapid In-Market Prototyping to Prove Concept and Gather Insights

Through a multi-day Business Building client session facilitated by Hyperquake, we worked through parameters for the business including business targets, product form factors, and distribution models. We also set hypotheses for in-market testing (possible consumer segment targets, appeal of product variants, e-comm experience strategy). In partnership with innovation studio Verify, Hyperquake named and designed a rapid medium-fidelity brand, Botana, and spun up a Shopify e-comm site with product variant mockups and e-commerce options including trial kits, guided product selection and expert chat. We designed a social media campaign that tested a breadth of value props with each of our proposed target audiences. The in-market test ran for 60 days, and the conversion and engagement results were worth every moment spent: They provided early insight into the audience segments most interested, the value props most likely to convert, and the e-comm experience that took users from browsers to buyers.

“You have handled every aspect of our work together with creativity, grace, thoroughness and care. You have so much to be proud of, and we couldn’t be more appreciative and excited to launch Daygold into the world.”

Liz FitzGerald, Co-founder, Daygold

Brand Strategy Based in Consumer Testing Insights

Hyperquake developed a brand strategy, core value prop and key points of difference for the brand based on findings from the in-market pilot. The brand leads with aspirational lifestyle messaging in its tagline, “A brighter life, naturally,” and closes the deal with rational proof points grounded in scientific research. The marketing appeals to a range of audiences, but skews toward women (who comprise over 70% of consumers in the CBD market) and Gen X and Boomer buyers (the fastest-growing and least-targeted segments of the market). And Hyperquake created a brand name that is trademarkable in a crowded category, highly memorable, and carries inherent meaning and aspiration for consumers who hear it: Daygold. At every step, our strategic choices were informed and validated with target consumer feedback through qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys, so the client team could make choices with confidence.

A visual identity that encapsulates the product’s promise

In the chosen name, Daygold, lives a range of emotion and visual cues: Sunrises and sunsets, warmth and softness, circles, rays, natural elements, brilliant colors, an optimistic outlook. Hyperquake developed a visual identity that plays up what consumers told us they loved about the name. We created a beautiful wordmark paired with a coordinating icon that ties together the natural shape of the hemp plant, the rays of a warm sun, and the optimism of a new day. The modern palette and minimalist style toes the line between natural products and clinical science — always with the experience of the consumer at the center of messaging and design.

A holistic customer experience, made ready for launch

In the leadup to Daygold’s public launch, Hyperquake crafted a complete consumer experience that brought the brand position and identity to life at every key physical and digital touchpoint. We designed and managed production of all product packaging, from teeny-tiny trial bottles to signature SKUs and direct-to-consumer shippers. We creative-directed a gorgeous product photoshoot to generate content for Daygold’s website, social, and media presence. And we designed a compelling web experience at daygold.com, brought to life through our partners at Verify Venture Studio. In close collaboration with the client team at Daygold and True Terpenes, we are proud to have developed a startup brand grounded in research, informed and inspired by its consumers, and now ready for the world.