The purpose of this spec project is to demonstrate how we would apply the 4 Step Brand Design process to a Muay Thai fight gear wholesaler. In this scenario, Stick & Kick is a company created by a professional fighter who also worked as a coach. During his time coaching, he became sick and tired of his fighters injuring themselves in training and before important fights.
Thus he built Stick & Kick with the focus on stocking top-shelf brands and providing the best possible customer service experience. The team consists of Muay Thai fighters, coaches and gym staff to ensure all products are battle-tested, comfortable and durable.
After being in business for 10 years he has realised that there are new and emerging brands that are now competing for the same space, such as Punch equipment, MMA Fight Store, Venum, plus many more. Stick and Kick needed a way to differentiate their brand in a saturated market and position themselves as the go-to store for all your Muay Thai gear needs. They also needed to revamp their previous brand identity to be relevant for the next generation of fighters and the new evolution of martial art sports. With the emerging popularity of MMA, Stick & Kick saw a new opportunity to target a new part of the industry. They also realised that they would need a way to guide their internal design team to apply this new identity to their marketing material and their new line of products which they plan on launching.
After sitting down with Stick & Kick and identifying their key pain points we would diagnose and see that the 4 Step Brand Design process would best fit their needs. Starting with a new logo identity as the old one positioned themselves as the (budget/entry-level retailer). We would also need to ensure the logo works well, embroidered and screen printed. Because they already have their own design team, we would need to create a style guide document that outlines how the new identity will be applied. Whether that be social media, photography, signage for their store, digital ads or their own fight gear products. We would then collaborate with Stick & Kick to improve their current e-commerce website to ensure the brand identity is being implemented correctly and improve the overall usability of the users shopping experience.
Once these have been implemented, Stick & Kick will now have an improved identity system that is functional across all types of media, whether that be physical products like their new line of fight equipment, merch, digital advertising to their shop front. The style guide document will give the internal design team the freedom to implement the new identity correctly without the aid of Black Bear Creative and ensure a consistent brand message.
Improvements to the e-commerce site’s user interface would ensure the brand style is consistent and also avoid common problems found in e-commerce stores, such as product structure, abandoned carts, lack of sharing functionality and not enough information to confront user’s sale objections. By taking these measures as well as smart marketing strategies, Stick & Kick will have the best opportunity to achieve their goal of being the number one champ in the Muay Thai fight gear industry.
