The client
Our client is a small but mighty in-house marketing team for parent company Bravas, working across brands - Arteva Premium Funding and Hunter Premium Funding. Both brands offer insurance premium funding giving businesses the ability to pay premiums in regular instalments rather than one large payment. It’s great for cash flow. The two companies and their brands have their own distinct histories, approaches and language.
The story
This story starts on a financial stage with the first character being an insurance premium funding company with an adventurous side. Waiting in the wings was a longstanding brand that was shopping for a new wardrobe. The central marketing team for both is lean and looking for an agency to extend their capabilities and have their back when busy turns to unmanageable. It’s a story about how an honest partnering relationship can lead to sustained creative success.
The branding power of a mascot
Arteva Premium Funding operates in a highly regulated sector. Yet amongst the paperwork, they are a company run by humans for other humans and it turns out that humans like having a bit of fun. They were open to having a mascot to represent their latest campaign and so Artie was born. The cutest addition to the insurance premium funding sector since…we’re not actually sure when, we haven’t seen another one. Arteva came to Studio Veld looking to elevate their Premium Partners campaign. They now have a brand refresh and an outrageously appealing mascot to underpin all other campaign assets. Something tells us Artie will be around for a while - who would be mean enough to tell Artie the show’s over.
“I'm so pleased with how it's all turning out because it's so different to anything out in the market at the moment, and the team are having a lot of fun with it. There's so much flexibility to what we can do with that kind of thing.”
–Amy Waddell, Marketing Director, Bravas
Extending in-house marketing capability
This is a marketing team with an impressive output across three brands. Marketing Director, Amy Waddell, was looking for a graphic design partner to help extend their in-house capability with a fresh approach. Weaving together our different expertise and perspectives is building a really strong client-agency team.
“It's been so beneficial engaging with Studio Veld because they've been able to help create these concepts for the Premium Partners campaign. And coming up with new ways of looking at the Hunter brand that we wouldn't have been able to come up with ourselves because we’re so close to the daily work.”
“The real value for us has been in the whole creative concept development. I've worked with so many agencies in my time and there's such a big difference in skills and capabilities. Some creatives just get it. Like they have that ability to think in a way that we don't as a marketing team, coming up with concepts that just take it to another level.”
“Establishing an ongoing relationship with an agency as an extension of our team was something that I was looking to do. It's nice to have that fresh perspective and I know that Lauren and the team have a breadth of clients that they're working across and can also bring some other ideas to us.”
Partnering relationships in creative services
Working together to create really cool stuff requires a specific approach. We were interested to hear from Amy about why she thinks the Bravas marketing team and Studio Veld are working so well together.
“It was an easy, comfortable relationship, right from the start. Just very warm and friendly. Lauren and the team are always very open to feedback, they don't get defensive when it comes to talking about things that might not be working for certain reasons. We just work really well together.”
Creativity needs a safe place to grow, and our safe Studio Veld space holds feedback as a tool for reaching the coolest place together.
“We've gone to the extent now of creating a more permanent relationship with Studio Veld. We will still have the need for project and campaign work, but we've just started running with a monthly retainer. It's nice to know that we don't need to stop and have a full brief every time we need help.”
“I really appreciate the flexibility that Studio Veld offers and they always deliver really well to a high standard.”
What does success look like?
Success comes in many colours and layers. The Arteva Premium Partners campaign was designed by the Arteva marketing team to promote the premium nature of their service. To do this, they needed to change their messaging and reach more people. With the help of Artie, and all of their branded assets, Arteva were wanting to: engage personally with 50 brokers over a 12-month period at conferences, exhibitions and events, and reduce the number of requests their sales team made for a rate reduction.
Rate review requests are an internal metric, but they could report that they are really happy with how they’re tracking. They were also happy to have reached 30 verified broker interactions at the 9-month mark. The added bonus (that we love), is that Artie is making people smile. They're bringing joy and fun to trade and exhibition halls.
“We've been out to a number of events since launching and everybody is starting to recognise Artie now. Artie breaks the ice and helps our sales team chat to people. We're in a marketplace with 100+ other exhibitors and having a vibrant and playful character helps break the monotony.”
“Artie is also a really nice way of softening a message that might be difficult to deliver. All of our email correspondence has Artie on it and people love it.”
And success for Hunter? A reminder that great success can come from the basics, like giving a team the branded tools they need to do their jobs. Turns out that consistent and easily accessed branding is team support as much as it is branding.
“From Hunter, the feedback from the team is just gratitude. Thank you so much for doing this and for providing us with these assets, (mainly PowerPoint files and flyers) because we haven't had this before. We've never had a template that has so much content already prepopulated so we can just tailor it and deliver it. Quickly.”
Our approach to
- Brand identity + visual systems
- Mascot + character design
- Presentation and document design
- Exhibition stand design.
Brand identity + visual systems
Brand Extension
Studio Veld refreshed the client’s existing brand assets while retaining core brand architecture developed and evolved the client’s visual identity from broad conceptual briefs, creating scalable visual systems across digital, print, presentation, and environmental applications.
We built cohesive design systems around geometric forms, simplified visual language, modular assets, iconography, and colour hierarchy. Brand extension was applied across campaign collateral, social media assets, banners, presentation templates, flipbooks, exhibition stands.
Mascot + character design
Creating a branded character
Study of anthropomorphising geometric shapes from existing visual branding - poses, hairstyles, clothes and head shapes. Reducing and simplifying the shape to a flexible, workable essence that could carry character.
Built expression systems using eyebrow positioning, eye variations, hand gestures and surrounding motion/action elements. Customisable facial expressions - always smiling but different smiles. All of which feeds personality-driven visual storytelling. Technical design decisions included simplified forms for compatibility with textured backgrounds, campaign graphics and scalable deployment. Overall design was based on intentional use of the mascot as a brand differentiation strategy and communication tool, narrative device, and campaign spokesperson.
Presentation + document design
Built flexible “plug-and-play” presentation templates with reusable modular layouts that can accommodate varying content lengths. Basically, Studio Veld built presentation assets that could be used flexibly across all areas of the client’s business. Flexibility was applied in content and graphic design decisions, for example, avoidance of rigid numbering systems that don’t translate well across functional areas.
Conversion of Word drafts into compelling digital flipbooks, online brochures and reports. Charts, maps, iconography and infographics integrated into branded layouts. Ultimately, created engaging visual storytelling for customer-facing educational material and broker communication tools.
Exhibition stand design
Design meets interior architecture
Designed full exhibition stand graphics and layouts working from plan views, elevations, isometric views and sign schedules. Creating print-ready artwork, separate elevation files and scaled environmental graphics to event deadline.
Spatial design understanding considered audience flow, viewing angles, front/side visibility, physical spatial constraints and accessibility.
Production constraints we managed included: equipment sizing changes, last-minute layout adjustments, complex illustration recolouring and print production requirements.
This type of work requires cross-disciplinary capability, with Studio Veld designers combining their UX and graphic design skills with their experience with architectural drafting and wayfinding.
Deliverables (so far)
Created by Studio Veld for Arteva Premium Funding
- Brand refresh, elevation + positioning
- Campaign visual identity concept - digital collateral to support
- Mascot development + rollout
- Social media post treatments
- EDM banners
- Event pull-up banners
- PF Insights - PDF download,
- PPT deck, Word templates
- Exhibition stand artwork
- Hubspot templates
- Staff training
Created by Studio Veld for Hunter Premium Funding
- Visual identity imagery review + recommendations
- Updated brand guidelines
- Word doc template
- PowerPoint deck
- Hubspot templates
Created by Studio Veld for Bravas
- Word doc templates
- Hubspot templates
