Pine Stilts Construction

PINE STILTS CONSTRUCTION

CASE STUDY

ConstructionStudy

Pine Trees. Mountain Views. House & Villas.

Pine Stilts Construction is a premiere mountain/stilt house and villa construction company throughout the Scandinavian Peninsula. Being around since the early 1980s, the company has flourished in becoming the go-to construction throughout the region. Yet, coming into the new era of technology, the new CEO (Mark Karlson) felt the brand could use a facelift to catch up with how the company interacted with its customers.

As part of MK Light's Internship Program, the primary goal was to develop a rebrand that captured the essence of how Pine Stilts Construction did business while launching them into the new era of technology.

The approach not only had to touch base on pain points that the company had seen with the installed identity but also up the ante with the existing brand standards.

CHALLENGE

Make the brand experience match the customer interaction and work environment.

OUTCOME

A new logo and brand materials that solidify Pine Stilts as one of Scandinavia's modern-day premier stilt construction companies for those looking for that perfect view.

SCOPE OF PROJECT

Strategy

Messaging

Brand & Identity Design

Digital & Printed Marketing Assets

FULL CREDITS

THE BEGINNING

The project was initiated after a conversation with one of MK Light's Executive Creative Directors, John Ruedik, and Pine Stilts Construction's BM, Delilah Anderson. Together, they agreed that MK Light's project leadership team needed to fly out to Pine Stilt's primary headquarters in Oslo, Norway for a multi-day discovery session.

After back and forth discussions along with demonstrations of Pine Stilts modern-day process, key insights into the pain points of the current brand were identified.

"We have come a long way from where we began 30+ years ago... Yet, we still see clients associate us with how we did business over 20 years ago."

- CEO, Mark Karlson

THE DESIGN

"We need to communicate more clearly with your customers," answered creative director, John Ruedik.

Often times, companies grow from where they start and become who they are today. Yet, they don't alter how they communicate with their clients. Companies see it as 'it has worked in the past so we'll continue to do what works'. But, can you do the same thing and expect different results? We need to evaluate what we communicate and how we communicate it.

This notion quickly led to designs, visuals and messaging for the Pine Stilts Brand that was applied across all key touchpoints by the internship team (MaKyle Mares, Rudy Wilson, Ana Walker & Amelia Moon) led by John Ruedick.

FINDING THE MARK

Once the tone was set, the team went to work to capture a mark. Referencing the old logo, the team didn't want to completely recreate the wheel but wanted to have an appropriate call back to the original logo while creating an updated aesthetic that aligned with the current day culture of the business.

The original logo depicted a silhouette of a Pine Tree perched on top of the wordmark. The graphic execution through the physical application fell flat, losing the majority of its fine detail especially at smaller sizes. The team worked to overcome this with the new icon, being specifically made to be easily identifiable through numerous mediums.

EXECUTION

After establishing the primary mark and identity, the team worked to execute the items in a comprehensive manner. First, by creating two suites of collateral for the brand, one for the office worker and one for the field worker. Second, by developing a messaging strategy that would establish the new voice of the company.

"Establishing the new voice of the messaging came in 2 parts. One, by having more selective photography by color-grading images with the palette of the brand, therefore removing the color of the world allowing viewers to come to their own conclusions on how reality should be. Two, saying more with less. We worked to be more inviting to viewers. With some copy lines such as 'Come On In', 'Welcome Home', or 'Built For You' throughout the marketing of the rebrand."

- Creative Director, John Ruedik