Melbournians are notoriously picky about two things — their coffee and where they live. So once they’ve settled on their perfect postcode, it makes sense that they’d be very selective about their movers. For many years, Man With A Van has been the answer. Reliable, affordable and affable, the sight of the trucks trundling around Melbourne meant that someone was on the go.
But The Man was also facing an all too familiar problem — rival companies encroaching. They had long been the leaders of their particular sector, but of course, rivals were busily borrowing from their model, their ethos and their service. In response, they needed to dig deep and innovate their way out. In short, our favourite moving company needed to be repositioned.
The Research
Together we designed an approach that will take the company into the future and fit their continued expansion. We kicked off with a research piece that was sent to previous customers, as well as a series of focus groups. This allowed us to develop two customer personas — the Ideal customer and the Skeptical customer. The Ideal Customer was our old faithful, the people that we’d grown with, our Decision Maker. The Skeptic needed to be convinced, and was looking for costs first, service later. Working with these personas gave us such a good framework to think about the campaign that we decided to let them form the basis of the site development.
The Man needed a brand to suit the changing needs of their customers. While their trucks were once shifting between sharehouses, those original customers have now grown up a little. They still want to use The Man, but now they have slightly fancier stuff. So while keeping the brand equity was crucial, we needed to demonstrate a new maturity in the execution.
We launched the new brand with a through the line campaign showcasing a cohesive branding approach that gives the company ample room to grow.
Responsive logo
The logo is the result of collaboration between developers and designers. Previously, The Man had a logo which was prone to getting stretched and forced to fit onto things. While moving is all about making things fit where they shouldn’t, it’s not the right approach for a logo treatment.
So the finished logo is animated and responsive — it not only resizes but actually rearranges depending on how it’s being used. It can’t be ‘broken’, it can instead be pushed and pulled depending on where it’s required to be used. Something for consumers to enjoy, and fellow designers to enjoy playing with.
In brand terms, this gives a great cohesive look across the digital properties, but also means that the different truck sizes are all catered for. They’ve gone from being workhorse vehicles to smart moving billboards, emphasising the ability of the business to cater to the needs of different customers.
Copywriting
From a solid design base, we layered in some snappy copy. There’s an old maxim floating around about moving house being on par with a divorce in terms of the stress it causes. We needed to derail this idea and add a touch of humour to the situation, while reinforcing the idea that you’re in good hands with The Man.
Our work with the team at Liquorice transformed our brand and our customer’s experience. They guided us through the creation of a new brand and digital strategy, built our amazing website and created our TVC! We can’t wait to work with them again.
The Website
With two entry points to the site, these two groups received a customised booking experience. The Ideals were taken straight to the booking details, whereas the Skeptics got taken straight down to brass tacks and saw costs upfront without being pestered for personal details or having to complete contact forms.
This isn’t just smart UX, it gives the company useful data about their customer groups and what they respond to. The Ideals get the warm glow from dealing with a company that knows them, and the Skeptics have all their questions answered — and we know from the data flowing from the site that it works.
Interactive tools
The website is filled with interactive tools to make the booking process easy. This encourages users to provide more detailed information allowing Man With A Van to quote accurately and provide the right trucks for the right jobs.