Making the career leap from enterprise to consumer brand was not just about a shift from defining a value proposition to appealing to the individual's needs. It's not about creating a brand guide either. For Heather and me it was the A to Z of how we would build our corporate values and policies to how we will reinforce the same through every part of Artifcts. "Okay, but what does that mean, Ellen?" Let me tell you!
Privacy First
Our prior lives were about "need to know." Out here in the private sector it's about delivering value to consumers with the least intrusion possible on their personal information and identity. At the very least, putting decisions about privacy in their hands, not ours. We defaulted all settings to private, created restrictions on what information is shareable to social media (to avoid spilling sensitive information), and ruled out commentary and view stats to avoid unwanted and sometimes demoralizing vibes.
Authenticity
A word often abused, I know, but it has permeated every daily meeting between myself and Heather as we've built Artifcts over the last year. Take our brand video, for example: Our decision to hide behind the camera was not about our CIA backgrounds (although that didn't help), but a reflection of the reality of Artifcts - it's about the objects of our lives and the humanity captured by them, not us as co-founders. It's about real people, memories, connections, and experiences, and, of course, stuff.
We've stayed true to our values and used our growth this past year to collaborate with other "underrepresented entrepreneurs" along the way. Did you catch our recent competition with Brooke Robinson's Goodtype lettering community? You will see this theme persist. In an upcoming ARTIcle we'll share our interview with a female entrepreneur out of Austin, Texas, who stepped out on her own during the COVID pandemic to offer workshops and services for archival preservation - what's old is new again!
Playfulness
Our logo taps as pages load, have you noticed? You can even view the original inspiration for it in this Artifct about the creation of our logo. We think it will flip its tiles, too, one day to the great discomfort of our creative director. Our primary brand color is a vibrant, life-reflecting green. We have a kid flying on our 404 error page. (We hope you haven't seen that yet!) We launched our company with teaser videos about how not to Artifct, starting with a dog digging frantically on a beach. Speaking of, one of our original product personas was pets! If we are going to become a "museum of humanity," in the words of one of our original community members, we can't take ourselves too seriously, and we must always reflect our community and be approachable. (HELLO! Did you catch our new year's day post on social media?)
Sustainability
Sustainability is another foundational element of our brand. We believe that Artifcts provides Arti Community members a forum to appreciate the stuff they have and impart the meaning of it to future generations. We are evaluating how we can bring sustainability into all parts of our business from expectations we have of our cloud services provider to the Artifcts we feature on our website and the content we publish, including pieces we have published about upcycled, custom textiles from a New York-based clothing designer and an Austin-based home goods artist. It also means that as we dream up Artifcts-branded swag for our team and ambassadors, we're seeking out individual illustrators and lettering artists, sustainable product materials, and Artifctable-goods. This holiday we even reminded our audience that you can gift the Artifct experience without so much as a bow wasted!
Singular (but Evolutionary) Focus
Parents, you've probably heard this expression, "Are your listening ears on?" It's product suicide if you do not have built-in mechanisms to collect information about your product. If you've checked out my LinkedIn profile you've seen this concept reflected another way: "When you argue with reality, you lose, but only 100% of the time." (Byron Katie)
At Artifcts we are loyal to our DNA and laser focused on the stuff in people's lives and the meaning behind those objects. But we're at the beginning of our consumer brand journey. We have a lot to learn from consumers and how Artifcts will serve them over the years to come. During the earliest days of Artifcts, we found, for example, that only by directly addressing, "What is an Artifct?" could we then help people over the hurdle of what to Artifct first. Now we tell people we're redefining 'artifacts' because Artifcts are not restricted to items of historical relevance, high dollar value, heirloom status, or parts of collections. Artifcts are objects that have meaning to you. That's it. This 'stuff' helps to define parts of you, your legacy, and your relationships with others.
On that note ...
... What would you say are the defining elements of your company's brand? Or, you, dear consumer, what helps solidify in your mind what a brand is all about? Let us know at Hello@Artifcts.com. We'd love to learn from others who have tread this consumer brand path before us to help reshape the world around us.
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