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How do you turn Copenhagen’s largest office hotel into Denmark’s number one space for startups? Which brand strategy supports Symbion’s growth ambitions? And what expressions resonate best with the market? These were the major questions Symbion looked for answers to when Leanius was invited to develop the brand identities for Symbion’s new offices at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and Copenhagen University (KUA).
The CBS office will open September 2016 with the KUA space scheduled for inauguration in 2017. This will bring the Symbion family members to a total of four when the two new locations join Symbion Østerbro and The Orbit on Amager.
Four offices in various locations means new business opportunities. But also increased brand complexity. A stringent and solid brand regiment is needed to succeed. A regiment that ensures that the right story is told to the right audience in the right language at every single touchpoint. And, ultimately, that Symbion attracts the most ambitious and dedicated entrepreneurs.
The solution is a family of brands building upon Symbion’s powerful core story while maintaining a strong, individual identity.
The need to make a difference
To dine is to live
• Material brand assets
The personalities of the chefs
A Floor of Creators at CBS
Creators: those who create. Floor: members of an assembly, a new level, to amaze. Together the two words form ‘Creators Floor’ – the creative microcosmos at CBS where passionate people meet to exchange ideas and sow the seeds to future megabrands.
Creators Floor is the fusion of two flagships: Denmark’s biggest startup space and Denmark’s leading business university. It’s Symbion’s extensive experience in entrepreneurship and scalable innovation combined with CBS’ massive knowledge pool in business, management, and company growth.
Creators Floor is the bedrock of creation. New ideas and new business are born. You can almost hear it: “Aim for the sky.” So that we do.
The logo combines the ambitions of the entrepreneur with the insights of academia and points towards the end goal: success.
Creators Floor is located at CBS. This is hinted in the logo, which draws inspiration from the CBS color palate and visual identity.
But Creators Floor is something different. The logo shows an accent to a higher level. Accumulation of knowledge. And competencies. Layer upon layer.
The logo allows room for interpretation. Maybe it’s a reference the great pyramids, which should have been impossible to build 4,000 years ago and yet today rule rule the plains of Giza as a matter of course.
Or maybe it’s a cheeky comment directed at the Tower of Babel. A promise to succeed where the predecessor failed.
Regardless, Creators Floor tells the story big dreams and even bigger results.
Kontorfællesskab på KUA i København
Universal Innovation at KUA/ˌjuːnɪˈveɪt/ University meets innovate. Or perhaps it’s a fusion of universe and cultivate? What you get when you combine collaboration and energy? Unite + VA = Univate.
Univate is located in the heart of KUA, The University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Humanities, which offers film and media studies, philosophy, rhetoric, and information science.
The Univate logo was cultivated from Symbion’s unique DNA. At the same time it reflects the spirit of KUA and the scientific knowledge that KUA represents.
Univate is a marriage between the creative thinking of KUA and the discipline of Symbion. The logo connotates innovation, strength, and purpose. It consists of two elements, which are much more powerful together than on their own. Big fans of platitudes, we don’t hesitate to describe the logo as communicating synergy and co-creation.
From a more abstract viewpoint, the logo hints explosion. Something is created. A chain reaction even.
Or maybe it’s mitosis – the division of a cell. Not unlike the way ideas spawn other ideas when people meet.
It’s no coincident that the logo resembles the letters C and O. Co (-operation, -creation, -education) is the central nervous system in Univate. Univate is a collective of ambitious entrepreneurs and especially the results this community creates.
The font chosen for Univate is a tip of the hat to the dialectic of ancient Greece, which more than anything has accelerated human knowledge and development.
The logo of Univate expresses power, creativity, creation, and ambitions. Just like the tenants of Univate.
Epilogue: from office hotel to community for entrepreneurs
Not too long ago life was predictable. You’d go to school, get an education, find a job, get married and have children before ultimately retiring. The latter being the day many people yearned for. Now, after years of loyal service, you could finally kick back and live the good life.Today not so much. Today disruption rules. Nothing’s certain except uncertainty. Perhaps nowhere is this as apparent as in the way we work.
Freelance and part time work is on the rise while permanent positions of yore are dwindling. More and more people opt out of the system – the system here being too many hours at the office, too little time at home, too many bosses, and too little freedom.
Instead they embrace the life of the entrepreneur. With all the opportunities – and challenges – that come with running your own show.
Many office hotels have taken notice and have changed their core offering. If not indeed their very value proposition. Symbion in Denmark and WeWork across the globe are two excellent examples.
From simply renting out rooms, they now focus on building communities, facilitating networks, and providing educational tools for their tenants. And by doing so they transform. They go from being lifeless units of bricks and mortar to buzzing communities of ambitious people with big dreams.
Entrepreneurs are not chasing square meters. They’re chasing success. Flexible rental agreements, ergonomic chairs, height adjustable tables, and fast internet are no longer a competitive factor. Every single office hotel has got them.
What matters now is the community: who are the other tenants, what do they do, and what drives them? And the commitment of the lessor to maintain same community: how packed is the event calendar, what’s the frequency of social gatherings, do tenants have access to sparring and knowledge resources, does the milieu invite people to sit down for a talk and a cup of coffee?
The fight for tomorrow’s entrepreneur is on. The winners are the office hotels that understand and appreciate the ambitions of their tenants and make these ambitions their own. Embrace your tenants desire to succeed and you got yourself a very powerful brand.
Brands rooted solely in the soil upon which the offices are built will quickly end up there too. Six feet under.
We help companies revitalize their brand. We believe the key is to know yourself. Because only when everyone in your company pulls in the same direction can you draw on all your resources and make meaningful connections with your customers. And by meaningful connections, we don’t just mean sales. We mean loyalty. Growth. An experience that makes such a positive impact that your customers have to share the news about the difference your product or service has made to their life.