Soma
Areas of work: Brand Strategy, Visual Expression, brand narrative
Hels and I jumped on the opportunity of working with an ambitious bunch of people in Dunedin who wanted to get in ahead of the Cannabis referendum in October 2020 and develop a market ready brand for Medicinal CBD. We both found it fascinating to research this brave new approach to health which had already proven effective and extremely attractive to consumers in markets like the US and Canada. What impressed us the most was the possibility of products which would help a huge range of people living everyday with chronic and often debilitating illnesses. Learning what other countries had already been able to do in terms of their branding and the many forms launched to market was fascinating too and opened up many ideas for this new New Zealand based brand. We all know the result of the referendum so whilst the brand we worked on from a strategy and the first stages of creative ideation never hit the market, I know that both us look back on the work with pride and a touch of sadness that it never happened.
“I worked with Saedi in my role (at the time) of Managing Director of AbacusBio. We worked together to support a medicinal cannabis company, Soma, to develop their brand. I am a scientist and it was important as part of the brand development, that science helped differentiate the brand, but we also wanted to make the brand accessible. I loved working with Helen and Vic – they understood the brief and really helped guide us to tease out what we wanted. In these kinds of relationships, you often walk into the room with pre-conceived ideas - Helen and Vic helped take us further, Vic also has an international FMCG background which really helped for this project. I think there are lots of “ho hum” brand people out there, so it was great to find original thinkers with flare and empathy.”
