Kids Ride Shotgun
Shifting a brand from a single product business into a leading global riding brand, fostering the next generation of mountain bikers.
Project Information
Client Kids Ride Shotgun
Industry Consumer Products, Soft Goods & Sporting Equipment
Services Building Brands & Storytelling, Design Research & Customer Insight
Key Outcomes
Brand strategy
Brand identity design & development
New brand mark
Defendable communication systems
Business coaching & genuine support
Overview
From humble beginnings as a single product (predominantly wholesale) business, KRS is in a rapid growth phase. Their brand needed to shift and develop from where it began into a more complex, small multinational with a rapidly expanding product set and supply chain. The brand is now operating across many countries and channels, through retail and digital experiences, and they needed to effectively operate and drive their communication with clarity.
Founders Dan and Tom approached Virtuo to help them strategically think through this opportunity and build a brand that the world would easily identify with as the ‘mountain biking with kids’ brand. Offering a sounding board and creative process, we enabled all of their thinking to be land-out in a strong, easily identifiable brand system which speaks directly to their mission and powerful purpose.
Frame
We engaged strategically with the founders by helping them think through their growth goals and aspirations for a rapidly growing business. They needed help building a branding system which embodied their vision and would be easily identifiable around the world. The challenge was: how could we move from one product to a full product portfolio. A portfolio with an ever-growing online, wholesale and retail network across the globe?
We started by diving deep into the companies' purpose, their customers, and where they saw the category (that they were creating) in the future. This set the foundation.
Our Approach
Working with a clearly defined purpose, vision and mission, we helped the founders create a communication system that embodied the core unifying idea of the business. This included working closely with their team to create a new striking and prominent brand mark, along with a suite of brand assets; packaging, on-product, in-store, and online elements.
All of our efforts were focused on articulating their vision and mission, putting customer interests first, and basing the brand around the emotional connection of mountain bikers. The intention with this approach was to sell easily identifiable benefits (not attributes), while understanding the cultural tension and connection felt through their products.
Their philosophy is simple: riding, and everything it offers, helps positively develop kids and leaves a lasting impression. This philosophy became a key driving force for brand development.
Every parent wants the best for their kids. The job of the brand is to inspire people to go riding and create more authentic moments with their kids. The new brand mark visually reflects this by showing a parent and child within the Kids Ride Shotgun cockpit (connection), as well as the outdoors with the sun rising over the rad trails explored together (freedom). The tagline was a key item in the generation of a cohesive brand and call to action. This was easy: kids ride first. Three simple words which mean everything the brand stands for.
We worked through colours, defining their photographic style, and a new action-oriented typeface and visual language.
Outcome
A brand that speaks to the universal desire of connection and freedom, developed through time spent together. Kids Ride Shotgun’s brand is unique and globally applicable. Kids Ride Shotgun have grown exponentially, and the company is recognised for it’s international success and has won numerous awards.
“Kids Ride Shotgun worked with Virtuo through the design and development of our company’s new brand. Together we created a brand we love and are excited to launch - to carry our story forward.”
— Dan Necklen I Co- Founder
Our brand goes much further than wanting to inspire the next generation of riders. It’s about the universal desire for freedom and building connection through special time together. This is a universal desire because every parent wants the best for their kids. Our brand mark reflects this by showing the parent and child within our cockpit while also emulating the outdoors explored with them. The mark has been carefully considered to get the right balance of the two.
