Hugo & Marie

What were once niche cultural moments can now meaningfully crossover into mass media—look no further than Timotheé Chalamet bringing his look-a-like contestants to this week’s SNL promos. Brand moments and activations can be flash in the pan or become lasting cultural mainstays. We often ask our clients: are we looking for a hot moment or a longterm audience? Both can be seriously invigorating for a brand, but the tone of these expressions ranges drastically. Here are a few recent activations which caught our attention which we mapped out in relation to one another for a recent strategy sprint.

We are very pleased to debut a new brand identity for Abstract, an eminent Silicon Valley VC fund. With over $1.5b in assets under management, the firm sought a sophisticated identity that reflected their both dedication to excellence and their reputation as a warm, responsive, hospitable partner to the founders defining the future. Working closely with founder Ramtin Naimi, our work encompassed strategy, copywriting, and comprehensive brand design to distinguish the firm’s perception among their landscape. https://lnkd.in/eckw924Q

As we approach the new year, our final Helium of 2024 considers the most powerful thing a brand can offer: a new way of thinking. Written by Michael Whitham (Creative) and Aidan Larned (Strategy).

Since 2000, the Tiffany & Co. Foundation's grantees have helped to protect more than 13 million square kilometers of ocean. We are excited to see the launch of their public-facing strategic platform 'For the Love of our Oceans', that will advance their decades-long commitment to ocean conservation. It was an honor for Hugo & Marie to work with a cross-departmental team from Tiffany & Co. to develop strategic and thematic directions to help bring this incredible initiative to life.

A look back to our partnership with Jerry Lorenzo and the team at Fear of God. The brand's digital flagship went through analysis, redesign, and development to become a clean, best practice e-commerce experience. Dividing the categories of the brand’s expansive output, the site maintains clear distinction between lines while remaining true to their strong, singular identity. Explore it further below. https://lnkd.in/e6pjs5A

In our ongoing work with Atmos Magazine, we aim to expand the brand's expression beyond what is possible in print. We've collaborated on interactive article designs that experiment with new functionalities, from audio players to dynamic text to animation, emulating the Atmos publication's elegance and adding a new dimension. Each story is treated as its own mini-site with custom color, animation patterns, typography, and sound for a unique reading experience.

Brands have the capital, purpose, and platform to generate creative that can penetrate, and shape, our culture. But how? Our newest edition of Helium presents distinct framings of creative strategy, guiding brands toward resonant expression without dictating it. Written by Strategist Aidan Larned.

When we designed and developed elysewalker's e-commerce flagship, we aimed to translate the retailer's renowned brick-and-mortar service into a digital experience. Incorporating the brand's talented and beloved team of stylists to both site UI and back-end functionality married the benefits of in-person shopping with e-commerce. Across the site we integrated handwritten "Love Notes" from the stylist team, sharing personal tips and favorites. On the back-end of the site, stylists can create custom looks for clients based on purchased and new items, offering personalized recommendations, in addition to seamless in-store appointment booking for local clientele.

As we built World of Reza's new digital flagship, one of our foremost priorities was to make visitors feel welcome and excited to explore the jewelry by giving it a sense of availability, despite its very high price point. We integrated two crucial PDP features to address this: Virtual Try On, showing the product on a prospective client without leaving the home, and a seamless appointment scheduling portal, making the bridge between virtual and real as frictionless as possible.

We worked with Tom Ford last year to concept, creative direct, and produce a campaign for the launch of its new 002 CHRONOGRAPH TIMEPIECE. A hero component of the spot was our 3D render of the watch, made in-house using the latest in game engine tech. Cost-effective and adaptive, the rendered timepiece responds fluidly to changes in lighting and has a richness in movement that is difficult to achieve in live capture. Here are a few moments from the film.