Finding white space
Contributions
Building a New Brand Platform for ORCA
The cooler and drinkware category is a crowded one, but it’s largely a sea of sameness. Through strategic insights, we repositioned ORCA into an approachable lifestyle brand who reflects the recreational realities that consumers are actively pursuing.
Situation
When it was founded in 2012, ORCA Coolers primarily targeted their products towards hunters and fishermen. As their product line and customer base grew over the years, ORCA saw that they had the opportunity to move from a brand for niche enthusiasts into a more broadly positioned lifestyle brand. As a brand in a packed category, ORCA was also looking for a way to differentiate themselves from the crowd.
Strategy and Solution
Red Letter helped ORCA carve out white space within their category by identifying key, underserved target demographics. Created with insights about audience behavior in mind, ORCA’s new brand platform highlights recreational realities and the joy of gathering with others, rather than emphasizing extreme, isolated adventures.
Reflecting recreational realities
Our research revealed that most of the new target audience members use drinkware and coolers in approachable, everyday situations—not on extreme outdoor adventures. We recommended that all imagery and tone reflect these authentic moments to avoid catering to unrelatable extremes.
Subtle design refinements
ORCA came to us with an iconic logo already—the whale tail is a unique and memorable mark. As the brand evolved, we opted to make a few subtle changes to elevate the logo’s appeal to a broader audience beyond hunters and fishers.
Time is best spent together
In addition, we found that the new target audiences aren’t spending time outdoors alone like the “solo adventurer” trend in competitor advertising would suggest. ORCA’s imagery emphasizes togetherness with friends, family, and pets.
“Make it Last” creative platform
Inspired by ORCA’s superior temperature retention, the Make it Last platform combines a primary selling point with the desire target audiences have for creating lasting memories outdoors with the ones they love.
More work
A few more examples of how ORCA’s new branding comes to life.