NOCEM: THE BIRTH OF A NEW BRAND
PHOENIX STUDIOS x STUDIO THUSTHAT
About Us: Phoenix Studios
Our Perspective: Your Challenge
Our Process: How We Work
Our Work: Client Stories
PHOENIX STUDIOS
In times of disruption and opportunity, we help brands rise to the challenge.
We create and execute new ideas that build value.
We unite strategic advice, creative power and executional standards to help brands rise to the challenge.
Through close client par tnerships, we service brands worldwide and across sectors.
We deliver specialist exper tise in brand & marketing strategy, creativity, design, brand identity and experience.
Exper tise, bold thinking, and a willingness to tackle challenges head-on.
EXPERTISE MEETS ENTERPRISE
We’re a set of ex-leaders from large branding agencies & big marketing holding companies with client-side industry experience.
Together we’ve built an enterprising consultancy built on a solid foundation of brand exper tise.
Our experience spans a range of sector and world-leading brands.
GEMMA FULCHER HEAD OF CLIENT SERVICES LOUISE HUNTER EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
JONNY WESTCAR MANAGING PARTNER
VEB ANAND STRATEGY PARTNER
STRATEGY
CREATIVE
Research
Brand Strategy
Positioning & Propositions
Messaging
Portfolio Strategy & Architecture
Brand Identity
Brand Experience & Activation
Communications Design
Film & Motion Design
Photography & Art Direction
Physical Environments & Event Spaces
PRACTICE
PARTNERSHIPS
Brand Guidelines & Management
AI-Powered Content & Governance
Employee Engagement
Stakeholder Management
Specialist Research
SEO/PPC/Media
Web/App Building E-Commerce
Infuencers
BRAND AS A CENTRAL ORGANISING PRINCIPLE
Brand as an element of marketing and traditional communications activity
TOBrand as a central organising principle that drives experience, culture, pe formance and action
WHY CLIENTS LIKE TO WORK WITH US
Par tners, not just consultants
— An enterprising consultancy built on deep brand expertise, blending fresh thinking with decades of experience.
— Skilled at working with executives and stakeholders to drive brand transformation that gets results.
— From fnancial services to real estate, energy & infrastructure to technology, we’re sector-savvy yet cross-pollinate ideas to spark fresh, unexpected thinking.
— We turn complex challenges into clear, compelling strategies, original storytelling, and high-impact design.
— Having lived and worked across fve continents, we bring international insights to every project, no matter the size.
— Large agency creativity and professionalism without the bloated fees and bureaucracy.
YOUR CHALLENGE
Establish a confident, credible new brand for Nocem to unlock architectural demand and market growth.
Build a scalable innovation brand with real-world impact… Position as a premium, sustainable concrete innovation — not just “anti-cement” — communicate value beyond sustainability into performance, aesthetics, reliability
— Build credibility across architects, contractors, and developers
— Create a compelling name and bold identity built for scale and trust
— Suppor t brand-led growth from pilot projects to industrial-scale adoption
A brand is an investment, not an expense. It is an asset and a source of value.
A STRONG BRAND HELPS IN…
— ‘Brand’ is a set of psychological benefts resulting from par ticular associations in the mind of customers or other stakeholders.
— These benefts diferentiate it from competitors and create a promise of future performance.
— Delivering on this promise creates reputation.
— This reputation is a source of value.
CREATING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR A POWERFUL NOCEM BRAND
1 POSITIONING
…Appealing to multiple and diverse audiences through a single narrative
2 NAMING
…Developing a powerful name that’s linguistically/legally sound
3 IDENTITY
…Creating a compelling visual and verbal system that impar ts desired brand attributes
1. POSITIONING
WHY POSITIONING MATTERS
- Positioning = Intended brand image
- It’s the stake you put in the ground that defnes what your brand stands for and your value proposition to the market
- A good positioning strategy is compelling, diferentiating and credible.
- The positioning becomes the bedrock of your brand - it should guide everything you say or do as an organisation.
KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR NOCEM HOW WE BUILD IT
- Multiple and diverse stakeholders with diferent attitudes and motivations
- A complex product that needs to be communicated simply and memorably
- As a category game-changer , Nocem requires a positioning that’s exciting and disruptive
- As part of the positioning exercise, we will also game out diferent scenarios (and the pros/cons) for the relationship between Nocem and Studio ThusThat
- We use the 3Cs framework to build a positioning idea and brand narrative:
- Customers: We conduct research via in-depth interviews with a healthy crosssection of your stakeholders to understand what drives perception and choice in the category
- Competitors: We examine the positioning strategies of competitors and peers to ensure diferentiation and distinctiveness
- Company: To ensure that the positioning is grounded in reality, we review your vision and ambitions for the business
Positioning
EXAMPLES: ICONIC POSITIONINGS
Everywhere you want to be
Flying in the face of ordinary Let there be change Beauty without artifice
2. NAMING
WHY NAMING MATTERS
- A name is more than just an identifer – it plays an important role across all stakeholders of an organization or brand
- Informative enough to intrigue prospective investors and motivate existing stakeholders
- By being succinct, memorable and evocative, it can help drive awareness and communicate your brand positioning
- It can’t be a description of your entire business model or your entire brand - it can only do so much
KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR NOCEM HOW WE BUILD IT
- Most existing words and obvious compounds in the major languages are already owned by other organisations
- Naming is more than a creative exerciseit requires strategy and due diligence to minimise risk to your future business
- Typically, nobody likes a new name the frst time they hear it. It’s like hearing a new song. You make it likeable by design, implementation and repetition. -
- Naming brief: We create a formal naming brief outlining objectives, audiences, preferred name types and key requirements
- Workshops & development: We collaborate with you to develop a long list of potential name candidates
- Identicals, Linguistic and URL checks: We conduct checks (along with advice from your legal counsel) on name availability and suitability
- Final checks and registration: We brief your legal counsel so they can run fnal legal checks and register the name in diferent jurisdictions
Typologies
This is a simple classifcation of name types. Names may fall into several diferent categories when you consider variables like audience type, geography and established equity.
3. IDENTITY
WHY IDENTITY MATTERS
- An identity visually and verbally expresses your brand’s positioning and values to all stakeholders
- By communicating key brand attributes consistently, it should help instil positive perceptions of your brand
- It also acts as an identifer and a way to distinguish from your competitors . It should aid in the customer journey and in navigation
- An efective identity should make the brand management process easier
KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR NOCEM HOW WE BUILD IT
- A name is required before building an identity around it
- An identity is required before you can create any brand assets - such as your website
- An identity includes several elements including, but not limited to logo, brand colours, typography, photographic style, layouts, illustrations, etc.
- The application of the brand is key to the development process - it has to work efectively across disparate channels such as web, social media, signage - maybe, one day,
- Creative Concepts: We begin by building 2-3 creative concepts/sketches to evaluate against the established criteria
- Design Development: We fesh out one selected concept, building all the elements required and testing them on sample applications
Identities we’ve helped build
HOW WE WORK
WE CO-CREATE & COLLABORATE
WE ENGAGE & EMBRACE
We see co-creation and collaboration as essential to our partnership.
From the outset, we establish open communication and involve you at every stage—through regular check-ins and workshops—to tap into collective knowledge, uncover insights, and foster team ownership. This collaborative approach leads to solutions that drive long-term growth.
We’re in this journey together.
We fully immerse ourselves in your brand— its culture, heritage, and values—to gain meaningful insight and understanding. This allows us to craft a brand experience that feels authentic and compelling.
Our experience shows that successful brand evolution requires engagement across the organisation. We support this through indepth interviews, syndicated presentations, and content designed to inform and align your key stakeholders.
WE DRIVE EFFICIENCY & LONG-TERM VALUE
We believe building a strong, cohesive brand isn’t about short-term wins, but creating lasting impact.
Where possible, we leverage existing knowledge and assets to enhance our research, saving time and efort for senior stakeholders. Our focus is on using what works well today to build value for tomorrow.
We create & connect the essential components to deliver on brand challenges
IDEAS
PRACTICE
INSIGHT
Deploying the three C’s (Customer, Category, Company), we articulate a fresh understanding of the challenge, fuelling strategy creation and bringing focus.
IDEAS
We create new, original ideas to position brands and inspire brand identity, communications and experience.
PRACTICE
We deliver assets and toolkits that enable content development, protect quality & consistency, and simplify the delivery of brand and marketing campaigns.
INSIGHT
Kick-of meeting
3Cs analysis
Company: Business strategy review
Customers: Stakeholder and potential client interviews - architects, contractors, developers and investors (10 x)
Competitors: Competitive/category review (up to 5 x competitors/peers)
Insights & opportunities workshop with ThusThat (3C insights, territory for brand positioning, and scenarios for ThusThat + Nocem relationship)
IDEA
PRACTICE
Brand positioning idea and narrative fnalisation
Naming brief & approval
Naming workshop & development
Name identicals, linguistic and URL checks
Full legal name checks and registration*
Visual identity concepts (2-3 concepts)including logo, typography, primary and secondary colour palettes, graphic devices, photography/illustration etc)
Visual identity concept presentation, feedback & selection (up to 2 x rounds of refnements)
Design development (up to 6 x applications)
Messaging framework & tonality (up to 3 x key messages for up to 4 X key audiences & supporting proof points)
Final artworks
Digital brand guidelines & AI GPT helpdesk
Socialisation with key stakeholders (up to 3 x sessions)
2-3 Weeks
4-5 Weeks
3-5 Weeks
CLIENT STORIES
POSITION A GLOBAL TECHNICAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICES BRAND
IN A FAST DEVELOPING MARKET Challenge
out as a
CLIENT: MERLIN POWER
SECTOR: ENERGY
SOLVE: POWER IN ACTION
ENABLE THE TRANSFORMATION OF THIS RESPECTED CATEGORY EXPERT TO BRAND LEADER Challenge
Merlin has a track record serving the marine, automotive, defence and blue light sectors with a genuine depth of technical expertise. The challenge was to protect IP and grow in digital channels serving a diverse set of customer categories. Through research we identifed that the power systems category is both deeply segmented yet critically joined up in operation.
Merlin products help to provide power where it is needed and in many cases where its availability is mission critical. We changed the name to Merlin Power to add clear communication of the brand proposition and help bring confdence and potency to the brand. We created the promise, ‘Power in Action’ to position the brands technical proposition and help deliver stronger beneft communication.
A digital-frst approach to the brand design evolved the core identity elements, introduced a vibrant electric blue, powerful verbal identity and image style. We created ‘The Power Cycle’ to join together over 4,000 products across product segments to aid cross-selling and customer education. An alternate colour palette and tonal system was deployed for the defence market.
POSITION A FULL-FIBRE ‘ALT-NET’ FOR ACCELERATED GROWTH AS THE CHALLENGER CONNECTIVITY BRAND Challenge
The drive for full-fbre broadband infrastructure for the UK has attracted signifcant investment, creating many new fbre network build companies and full-fbre broadband brands. Whilst the main incumbents have struggled with customer service and network reliability issues, the market has created opportunities for agile, customer focused brands to bring better products and services. We identifed that customers often don’t switch providers, despite better face value, due to perceived risk and low category expectations.
We built the brand positioning on the idea of ‘We’ve got YOU’, a promise that refected YOU’s category leading Trustpilot ratings and the empowerment that YOU’s ultrafast broadband brings to customers.
We revolutionised the brand identity with a shorter take on the name to bring focus to the customer (moving from YouFibre to You). In addition, a punchy and distinct colour system; a personality and tone of voice designed to deliver the challenger spirit; and a through-the-line launch campaign produced to land the brand and enable performance marketing. From 20,000 customers to a number heading towards 100,000, a new approach to brand in the category is helping to drive growth.
