Epic Bullion
The first wave of serious online bullion dealers established the standard for bullion ecommerce. But their formula became generic and the sector generally lacked personality. The aim for this brand concept was simple: create a visual identity for an online bullion dealer that stands out, injecting fresh personality into the sector.
ADVERTISING
BRANDING
COPYWRITING
GUERILLA MARKETING
IDENTITY
ILLUSTRATION
LOGO DESIGN
UX/UI
WEB DEVELOPMENT
The brand color: bright red – permanent, immediate, and passionate. Straight away, the brand is differentiated from the greys and yellows of most online vendors. Red stands for the urgency of investing, and the fear of missing out.
As a UK based company heavily reliant on the trust and guarantees of the Royal Mail (postbox red), the brand establishes a continuous color from purchase to delivery.
The brand logo is composed of two fonts: ‘Intro’ and, ironically titled ‘Silverfake’. Epic is the strong, familiar word – it suits a bold font that is visible and meaningful in isolation. The other font adds an element of the Wild West – evoking the Gold Rush era and the rugged individualism of cowboys and mining exploration. This theme runs across the brand’s look, feel and even sound…
The two logo fonts only appear in the logo itself, effectively distinguishing it from other copy. The two accompanying typefaces are Monstserrat – for headings, and Helevetica – for paragraphs. They create approachability that counters the bold individalism of other elements. The brand colours – red, white and black – are declarative, urgent, and confident.
The Wild West theme is no more present than in this concept video (above). The soundtrack is Ennio Morricone’s Ecstasy of Gold – the theme to Clint Eastwood’s The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. The styalized Western classic revolves around a cache of gold, and contains all the cliches of a treasure hunt. The music is familiar territory for a gold investor, yet perfectly sums up the contrarian, adventurous appeal of Gold and Silver. It matches the typeface of the logo, and allows the brand to toy with popular touchstones of bullion mythology.
Morricone’s music lends itself to remixing very well. Should the brand want to hone in on a specific audience, it would be easy to remix the music into an updated version whilst retaining its identity.
All this allows great differentiation in a sector that is vying for UK-local appeal. Instead, we looked at the consumer profile, and found that Americana is an easy fit, despite the fact that the company is British.
The video also acts as an audio visual mood board for us to test themes and content scope. Every aspect of gold investing is included: traders, the markets, gambling, logistics, retail display, non-stop price discovery, company location, excitement, adventure, trust, illumination, choice, self-determination, and wealth.
Unlike others in the sector, the brand makes use of guerilla marketing, and internet memes that were popular at the time. We sought inspiration from popular forums and sites that were bullion-centric, with discussions of money printing, irresponsible economic policies, conservatism, self-preservation, self-sufficiency, privacy, security. The entire brand and marketing strategy was aimed at the first-time investor, looking to make a purchase of £1000-£3000.
Though the brand is embellished and differentiated, at the end of the day, users want a transparent, trusted and easy online experience.
Our ecommerce concept is a no-frills, straightforward and seamless design. The brand colours of red, black, white and grey run through the entire online experience. The price tiers are transparent, and updated in real-time. All costs and payment options are clearly stated, and there is very little variation across platforms and devices.
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