DEL MARE

Beachwear

Keys: Branding, Commerce, Fashion, Packaging

Founded in 2006, Del Mare is a family business focused on beachwear. The project started as an informal activity and currently has two stores in one of the main tourist destinations in the state of Bahia, Morro de São Paulo. In addition to the stores, the company has its own cloth confection where it manufactures most of the marketed products, employing not only salespeople but also training seamstresses and sellers.

The company created an important milestone in breaking some paradigms in the regional trade, being the first store in the sector to work with products with more affordable prices for your consumers and also to work with product lines for plus size women.

Originally called as Sapore di Mare, in tribute of a song of the same name by Gino Paoli, the company for a long time had difficulties in retaining the brand name with the public. In most cases, it was difficult to identify the market segment that the company operated only by its name, sometimes being confused with the food sector.

Redesign

The first demand to be signaled by the owners was to change the brand name. In addition to the dubious nomenclature, the extension of the name hindered some applications of the reduced brand difficult, such as labels, embroidery and the like. After a sampling carried out with the local public with some proposals, the chosen name was Del Mare. The second change occurred due to the sign, which presented a generalist iconography, without presenting a singular element before the other companies in the market.

During the sign development process, basides the care to create something with personality and aesthetically pleasing, the entire construction of the element had a great concern in its ability to be reproduced, because of this the brand needed to be both strong and have reduction capacity. The final sign developed was a trident, in reference to the Greek god of the seas, Poseidon.

After the development of this proposal, practical tests were carried out with the public. The tests aimed to make a comparison between the signs and also to verify the degree of identification that the brand managed to have in relation to its predecessor.

After the development of the sign, the chromatic palette with which the brand would work on its pieces was chosen. The purpose of working with these tones was to reference beach elements, such as the sea, sand, wood and the like. Another key part in closing the concept of a new stripped brand was the creation of a calligraphic logo, made only for this project, that interacted with the sign.

Institutional Applications

For institutional applications it was necessary to create a graphic element that made reference to the concepts intended by the logo and the chromatic palette, for this purpose a waveform pattern has been designed, which depending on its chromatic application, portrays not only the sea waves in blue, as well as the ripples commonly found in the beach sands, when applied with the cream pattern.

The concern with having the production of materials with less environmental impact was perfectly combined with the concept of applications with a more rustic aesthetic in the brand's applications. For this, a mix of different papers of recyclable nature was used with different colors and weights.

Signage and Exhibitors

The next step in the project was the complete remodeling of the cangas display, positioned outside the store. The idea in the development was to add more than one function to the display, also acting as an exhibitor of the main offers of the store, for this purpose a ducts system was designed that allows the easy replacement of PVC plates, which slide through the center of the structure.

A few days after installing this part, a big change was noticed in the sales dynamics of the store, with many customers looking for sellers to be informed about the products for sale.

Accompanying the visual concept also implemented in the printed pieces, with more rustic features and with less environmental impact, the exhibitor manufactured with surplus wood from the region’s shipyards.

The store's external front has also been completely redesigned, aiming to bring a more beachy aesthetic to the establishments, which once had a very strong austerity in their windows. The structures, such as columns and beams, were covered with alucobond plates with wooden texture, in addition, PVC lettering were applied with the store’s logo, replacing the adhesives applied to the glass, which contained poor read.

Uniforms

In the making of the company's uniforms, one of the attitudes to be highlighted was the alignment of the concept of these pieces with the form of service provided by employees. Del Mare has a service philosophy that does not seek sales induction by the seller, which in many establishments ends up making customers uncomfortable. The store environment permeates a friendly atmosphere during service, and in addition, as it is a beachwear store, one of the intentions in the producion the uniforms was to break any rigidity that these pieces could bring to the customer’s approach.

Due to these concepts, the intention was to create uniforms that did not “look like uniforms” but as pieces that anyone could use in their daily lives, in part this ended up reflecting a spontaneous shift on the part of sellers, who also started to wearing uniform when traveling from their homes to the store.

Packaging

The packaging family is the main passive disclosure process that a store has in a physical environment. This part of the project resulted in a huge leap for the company, largely due to the fact that Del Mare has not previously worked with customized packaging, which detracted from added the value of the product. Due to the company's annual sales volume, the investment in these parts was considerable.

For this reason, the processo of implementing these elements took place gradually, where the first oxo-biodegradable plastic bags were applied, and, subsequently, with an increase in working capital, with the insertion of the main packaging.

The main packaging line includes heavyweight recycled paper bags. In addition to the lower environmental impact compared to the plastic version, the idea of adopting this part was to use local processes in its production, which ended up delaying the insertion of this part for some time due to the lack of suppliers in the region.

The paper bags have two versions with chromatic changes within the palette implemented in the company's visual identity.

In parallel to this process, two promotional packages were developed for the store, one for shirts and dresses, in addition to as an exclusive edition for beach yoke*. The idea behind this project was to promote the history of Morro de São Paulo, with the adoption of some local tourist spots on the packaging. These pieces have a bilingual content with historical information and curiosities about the place. In addition, fully foldable structures were designed, without the need to add glue to their assembly. Thus, the tourist can assemble the package and deliver it as a gift when they arrive at their destination.

Recently, to meet the demand of many customers, a tag was developed attached to the beach yokes* purchased at the store. Through a QR Code present in the Tag, the customer is redirected to a page on the store's website, where he has his own session with videos teaching the step by step of some yoke* moorings and with English subtitles.

The return obtained with the low investment of this piece was very profitable for the company, because with little capital and with a piece of very low impact, it was possible to create an effective piece with very positive feedback from the store's customers.

New Horizons

Due to the profound changes in their identity and the very positive return on these investments, Del Mare owners began to imagine new flights. Soon, the company will start investing heavily in the social media environment, as well to creating new sales modalities, as a supplier to other companies. The intention is to extend Del Mare's operations beyond the Morro de São Paulo archipelago, bringing together larger coastal cities, such as the capital Salvador. Changing the dynamics of the company's cash flow, which today ends up depending on the seasonality of sales, carried out mainly in the summer.

Currently, the company’s official application, with will have the function of e-commerce and content aggregator, with fashion tips and trends for users, is already in the development process. The idea is through this platform and social networks, to retain customers made in the physical environment of the store, converting them into buyers within the virtual environment.

Identifying this project as one of the catalyst elements for changes in the company was something very gratifying to see, it is very good to see a large part of his ideas being reverted to benefit other people's dreams.