Creating a brand

There’s so much that goes into crafting an image, a promise, a brand, which could somewhat define a business forever. But a brand is not a logo, a tagline, or anything else that will go into a fancy presentation early on before the launch of any business. It’s so much more than that. It’s a living entity. And it’s exactly like one genius brand strategist, Sasha Strauss , once put it “anything and everything you do and don’t do is a brand; everything communicates”. But let’s backtrack to how the hoper brand was first ever conceived and developed.

It’s a Monday morning in early December 2023 and it’s a field trip day. I’m in the car with hoper’s now CEO Demitris Memos as we’re driving on the ring road of Athens towards our take-off location. We reach the helipad, quickly board a beautiful black R44 heli from Robinson Helicopter Company and 23 minutes later we find ourselves in Andros. It’s mind boggling that on a random December day we find ourselves on an island just in a matter of minutes!?

As we chat on all things commercial, I’m in the hot seat for helping build the business the soonest possible in time for the upcoming travel season. At the time, the business is still a relatively nascent idea and time is of the essence. As I’m trying to find efficient shortcuts, I immediately think of REBORRN , a boutique consulting firm founded by the friendly duo Giorgos Vareloglou and Costas Mantziaris that I’ve happened to have worked with in the past and trust them with launching new businesses. In a matter of seconds, we both find this a good idea and decide to take it a step further. Not only do we want to ask for their help in creating a brand with them, but also help us on launching our tech stack.

Defining our Core Values and Purpose

A few days later we find ourselves in central Athens at the premises of BORRN , getting our hands dirty on naming, logo-typing and developing an early version of what hoper’s brand is today. Mathilda Nathan joins us to lead the front, as we’re honing in on our core values and purpose, slowly forming what the brand stands for today. Travel in Greece and specifically so around the Greek Isles can be a burden. If you’ve travelled around to the more off-the-beaten path destinations, you’ll know that it takes anything between 5 to 6hrs to get to Antiparos, involving three different means of transportation. We want to change that and help people reach islands with ease - and strikingly fast!

Safety is key, as is a fresh, innovative and exciting take on transportation. We're all about speed, access and a delightful experience - with scheduled, minutes-long heli hops across Greece.

Regardless of whether hoper.com is available or not, we still push to go ahead with what is a vibrant, elegant and short name for a service that is looking to redefine transportation to the Greek islands and beyond - hoper.

Creating a Cohesive Visual Identity

Amidst recurring design sprints and online chats, I meet with our design expert Athina Maria Karpathiotaki , who together with Anastasia Terzidou that is putting the words behind our visuals, has delved into what hoper’s image is about. Elegant curves, slightly skewed towards the right and bold as hell, in a matter of days the hoper logo is being bor(r)n.

The hoper logo, featuring two interlocking circles to form the letter "h," symbolizes the effortless transition between destinations, encapsulating the brand's promise to convert lengthy travels into brief, scenic journeys.?

And after a series of all hands on deck sessions, it’s starting to get color, taglines and a bit more life. On a call I vividly remember, we’re debating whether it’s a minimal black only service, or a multi-layered and multi-colored brand that can be bold and vibrant wherever possible. And, luckily, in an effort to be as inclusive as possible it’s both!

The weeks go by and we’re ready to receive the first few aircrafts that would need a touch of hoper. Alongside them, there are heliports with signs and other practical aspects to help passengers navigate around, as well as Ground Operations staff that will also carry the brand.?

Establishing a Consistent Brand Voice?

But creating a brand goes so much beyond just wearing a polo shirt with a logo. Speaking of staff, it’s about people. Building the team is one big undertaking amidst the season which is almost underway. And we’re lucky to have been joined by Aris Paschalidis on the Operations front, who is manning all things in the frontline. And here’s where the promise of the brand builds. Anticipating customer needs, answering questions before these are being even asked and trying to fulfil all sorts of requests that usually come off script.

We’re now officially launched, it must be a random weekday, as I get a notification from our our social media. It’s a user that fiercefully states that our name needs a double ‘p’. 'Hopper', not 'hoper', they suggest as the latter is someone that hopes. I immediately think of Apple's "think different" campaign from the 90s. Amongst marketers, the campaign became infamous also because of not being grammatically correct. I'm pretty sure Steve Job’s wouldn’t hope (no pun intended) that “think different” would abide to any grammatical rules. Apple shared their desire to change the world and make a difference. Even by a minuscule detail in terms of the naming of an ad campaign. So creating the brand is also about those little moments of clarity when you consciously take the decision to take a stance and brave it out.

Evolving the Brand

Ultimately it’s not just about the logo, the visuals and whatever else you’re sharing about the company. It’s about what customers do. What they share and tell their friends will be the message that propagates. Those special moments of delight that could hopefully unravel in the course of the company - mainly for customers but also for you.?

So along begins the journey and what the hoper brand will be more about.

Join us at flyhoper.com.

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