Form (formerly known as NKD Ambitions) is a non-invasive medical aesthetics clinic in Canada. In 2019, they were looking for a partner to help update their brand. Form offers high value services that are deeply personal. Building trust between their clinic and their audience is fundamental to their business.
NKD Ambitions was looking to update their brand for their launch. Overall, they were looking for a brand update (but not necessarily a new brand name) and wanted the brand update to help redefine the medical aesthetics category in Canada. This meant separating their clinic from negative impressions associated with plastic surgery and appealing to new audiences.
To create a brand that best reflects value and resonates with new audiences that had been previously excluded.
The global Medical Aesthetics Market is expected to reach 17 billion by 2023.
This is up 10.6% from 2018 and this growth is attributed to the availability in technology, increasing demand for treatments amongst men, exposure to new audiences along with the demand for the services. (Resource: Plastic Surgery.org)
The number of minimally invasive procedures is increasing.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of minimally invasive cosmetic procedures increased 2% YoY. Products like Botox increased in younger demographics, jumping 31% since 2015. (Reference: Plastic Surgery.org)
Technological advancement is making treatments more accessible.
Every year, greater and more effective technologies are being introduced to the market with better results. These technologies are making treatments less expensive and more accessible to customers. As the technologies are more refined, customer expectations will also increase. (Resource: CareCredit)
There are cemented social stigmas surrounding cosmetic procedures and plastic surgery often associated with vanity and narcissism. With nonsurgical cosmetic treatments strongly linked to plastic surgery, preconceived notions may often hinder market growth.
Authenticity matters to our audience. It’s about being the best you, not reinventing yourself.
One threat to the industry is the connection between plastic surgery and superficiality. In a time where body positivity and parallel feminist movements are dominating conversations in classrooms and social media, it’s impossible to ignore this threat when building a brand in the beauty industry. Ninety percent of Millennials, 85% of Gen Xers and 80% of Baby Boomers say authenticity matters to them when supporting a brand. (Resource: SocialMediaToday)
It’s not uncommon to overhear millennials exchanging “self care” routines or methods. Some surveys report that 94% of Millennials are willing to spend $300 a month on self-improvement.
While what constitutes “self care” is subjective, various industries have adapted their business strategies knowing both younger and older Millennials invest their time and money into self care. (Resource: Forbes)
The percentage of men seeking cosmetic procedures has risen 106 percent over the past decade—more than 1.3 million cosmetic procedures were performed on men in 2017 alone. In the last five years, men have had 23% more liposuction treatments, 12% more tummy tucks and 30% more breast reductions than ever before. While they are the largest growing segment, they are largely underrepresented when it comes to brand and marketing efforts.
With increased social inclusion, trans-rights movements and accessibility to aesthetic technologies, there is a steady increase of Facial Feminization procedures that help LGBTQ* community members feel more like themselves. Traditionally the needs of LGBTQ* patients in all medical situations are not accounted for which creates obstacles for proper treatment. (Reference: ResearchGate)
In the last 10 years, the use of soft tissue fillers and Botox injections are trending up for women in their 20s. Filler and Botox injection use among millennials aged 19-34 jumped 87% between 2011 and 2016. Both media specialists and academics are correlating the massive increase in visual media platforms like Instagram with this trend. (Reference: LA Times)
Understanding audience segments would ensure we were building a valuable brand for NKD Ambitions that reached new audiences and educated existing ones to build meaningful connections (and ones that their competitors were not).
Women over 40 were almost 20% more likely to be interested or already received treatment if they made over $100k a year, compared to those who made under $74k.
Women over 40 were most interested in receiving Laser Hair Removal, Facials and Botox/Fillers as treatments.
More and more men are getting aesthetic non-surgical procedures. Traditionally, men have not been included in medical aesthetic marketing. Clinics that market towards women may alienate men and their willingness to receive treatments. (Resource: Allure)
There is also a massive increase in men’s only aesthetic clinics (Resource: Allure). These clinics cater and normalize men caring about their appearance. Men aren’t exempt from the increasing pressures that our visual world has put on women. Men have to search harder to find support, testimonials and encouragement. Men who said “no” (21.62%) to receiving treatment, said they would change their minds if their friends and family encouraged them to go.
(Resource: Harvard Gazette)
This is an opportunity to build a brand experience that is inclusive and create messaging that speaks to this audiences’ needs and motivations. Clinics that are creating these inclusive experiences have a loyal following. There are specialized clinics that are working towards making these communities feel comfortable. Clinics who are able to adapt have seen success. The LGBTQ* audience depends more on word-of-mouth than other audiences to make decisions about their health care professionals. (Resource: Longdom)
While people know what the treatments are, the terms MediSpa or “Aesthetic Clinic” don’t mean much.
Audiences seem open to the treatment, however they state price and necessity to be a large barrier.
Audiences are running off a lot of misunderstanding in terms of procedure processes and outcomes. They stated “not knowing outcomes”, “having to repeat it”, “price” and “personal beliefs” as main factors why they wouldn’t receive treatments.
Audiences believe a certain level of “shame” has been reduced regarding the perception of cosmetic treatments although it still exists.
Our challenge was to create a brand for NKD Ambitions that would allow them to be a thought and experiential leader in their industry. Their brand would lead the conversation about normalizing medical aesthetic procedures and create an inclusive environment for new and existing audiences.
NKD Ambition needed a fresh approach. Their brand should lead the conversation about normalizing medical aesthetic procedures.
From our insights, we could see the brand approach needed to differentiate NKD Ambitions from plastic surgery. This meant starting with re-imagining the NKD Ambitions name aligning their brand with positive associations rather than negative stereotypes closely linked to plastic surgery.
People who are interested in medical aesthetics but have not been traditionally considered as part of clinics’ target audiences.
Procedures, techniques and services have evolved along with the industry as a whole. Our brand strategy needs to offer valuable knowledge about what NKD Ambitions offers and the value it provides to clients.
Clients’ needs have also changed and what they value about aesthetic procedures needs to match the brand experience clinics are providing.
The term “self care” can be used at any point to describe ways that people engage in any sort of “self” act including drinking water, working out or journaling every day. The act of taking time for yourself (and consuming products) for your own betterment, is classified as a deliberate act of self-care. There are 13.1 million uses of #selfcare on Instagram. Scroll through #selfcare and you’ll see a mix of memes, tricks to clear skin, meditation tips and vitamin regimes.
There is a lack of differentiation in the medical aesthetics industry between competitors. From here, we saw competitors relying on stock imagery, leading with promotions and listing their services without providing meaningful context to these procedures.
From our insights, we understood what our audiences were looking for. The opportunity is to celebrate choice, beauty and embrace conversations about aesthetic modification.
New beauty companies have made their brands synonymous with “self care.” Brands like Glossier, Aesop, Lush and Goop have all approached conversations around beauty, taking care of your body and mind with transparency. They’ve also aligned their product with a lifestyle and positioned it as a resource for self-investment. They stayed away from cliches and tropes and instead, some focused on unisex branding and customization.
These beauty companies were disrupting the industry by positioning themselves as caring, independent and optional. They invest in connecting with real people and supporting their customers’ beauty journeys.
Before considering a new brand name, we set out to create a brand messaging system that would achieve our brand strategy objectives.
Humans have always used tools at our disposal to put our best face forward. Through fashion, accessories, makeup, societies in every culture around the world have exercised an element of adapting or altering their physical traits to make a statement.
Whether the statement is to conform or stand out. Humans use their body as a platform to communicate. There is a basic human tendency for self improvement and aesthetic modification.
The beauty industry has often assumed that people are collectively looking for one specific definition of beauty and that the only way to desire change is to desire perfection. This is the disconnect between the beauty industry and people. By projecting images of perfection, the industry alienates potential audiences. Most people are not interested in the pursuit of perfection and find it an unrealistic goal.
People of all genders can’t openly have conversations about their bodies because of the stigma surrounding physical modifications and how modifying one’s appearance is assumed to be indulgent. But that simply isn’t true—humans have made aesthetic statements and adjustments for thousands of years.
Investing in aesthetic and sexual health can improve your quality of life. Our new brand supports self advocacy and provides an open environment for exploration and choice. Supporting an essential human need to be heard and respected, our treatments promote sexual, skin and personal health and allow our clients to feel more like themselves.
To signify a new approach and brand, we set out to rename NKD Ambitions.
Form speaks to the transmutable nature of self and the potential for modification and transformation. As a verb, it is an action one takes, a journey and an exploration of self. As a noun, it becomes a fixed representation of idealized self.
It’s open ended and speaks to this idea of modelling and shaping something. Changing and adapting—changing form.
An open place for the evolving self. Open to all genders, community members. Open minded and non-judgemental.
A self coming to learn about ways to deal with insecurity. A self interested in improving their intimate relationships. A self finally feeling comfortable and confident enough to invest in treatments that before they felt shame exploring. The evolving self is all humans.
Honest leaders in modern medical aesthetics.
Supporting the exploration of health, beauty and self. A safe place to explore yourself and its evolution.
Self optimizers are open minded and curious. Drawn to concepts of self-improvement and growth, they are open to new tactics or opportunities to improve their quality of life or overall wellbeing. Whether motivated by external validation or internal goals, The Self Optimizers are always reaching for something and don’t hesitate to take control.
So they feel their concerns, desires or insecurities are being heard and validated.
So that they feel in control and that they’re in a pressure free environment.
So they can be confident in the decisions they make.
So they are comfortable before, during and after the treatments.
Form exudes honesty, confidence and relatability to make sure each client feels like they are worthy of self-love and investment. Open minded, yet bold, their interactions are judgement-free and raw, leaving nothing but solutions on the table.
We use our bodies as a platform to communicate. There is a valid and innate desire in all of us to want to evolve and change things about our platforms that we don’t desire.
It’s human and rather than ignore that basic human element—the industry has made it all about perfection and vanity. So we decided to stand for the opposite. To own exploration— take a chance on normalizing our desires and lead with exploration as a brand theme.
Creating a strong colour system opens new routes to experiment with brand expression, just as Form clients do with their selves. Form is an open place for the evolving self. The identity system isn’t static. Through colour, it’s constantly evolving.
And what is equally as important, is the curation of the colours. All of which were carefully and intentionally selected.
Our colour system is gender neutral and cultivated with a specific intention to do so the perception is not open for misinterpretation.
This identity is confident and simple. It’s androgynous and it’s elegant. It transcends audience segments—open to interpretation but loved by traditional consumers.
And through colour—we can see it’s not static. Through the changing colours, this identity means more than one thing. It, too, is always evolving.
The letters of “Form” have been modified to better suit the voice and personality of the brand. While still maintaining the style of a classic serif, contrast has been further pushed to give it a more contemporary flair. In particular, the F has been thickened and thinned in certain areas to balance the negative space it surrounds, therefore creating a better flow. Angles have been adjusted and sharpened.
Form’s new brand strategy set them up to approach their marketing in a strategic manner, especially finding gaps their competitors were missing.
Our brand strategy delivered a guide for creating future content especially used to engage audiences on social platforms.
We delivered a dynamic design system with multiple colour variations. This enabled the clinic to onboard independent freelancers to help produce future content.
