< SUCCESS STORIES / NEATO
THOMAS NEDDER, CEO OF NEATO ROBOTICS AT IFA BERLIN GLOBAL PRESS CONFERENCE 2020
CLIENT
How Placing “Innovation First” in a Brand’s Strategy Guided a New Product Launch
SECTOR
/ ROBOTICS
/ CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
THE CHALLENGE
-
Guide Neato’s marketing, leadership and management teams to cohesively and effectively address challenges and craft a comprehensive strategic master plan that will catalyze brand growth
-
Create a keynote presentation/visual story for this pinnacle international brand that reflects the brand’s purpose, promise and values as it unveils the next generation of intelligent robot vacuums on a global stage
-
Distinguish Neato from competitors and advance the senior (15-year-old) robotics company into a bright future
-
Position Neato as the must-have premium offering in a fast-growing US/ Canada/ Asia Pacific Market
-
Deliver a “direct hit” keynote presentation crafted swiftly and efficiently with elegance, high excellence and minimal guidance
THE SOLUTION
Innovation First
Neato came about in 2005 at the epicenter of innovation – Silicon Valley. It sprang from a challenge to create products that improve people’s lives. In a three-day workshop sprint with Neato, Maspira Groupe counseled the alignment of Neato’s internal tenets with upcoming external branding campaigns. The strategy for the 2020 product launch keynote grew out of these Brand Strategy sessions. It spotlights Neato’s internal tenet of “The First.” Neato introduced many innovation firsts to the industry: its laser technology and smart navigation; its use of Wi-Fi-connected, app-controlled robots; its ability to connect robots to smart watches; its integration of Alexa and Siri shortcuts; and its ability to let customers integrate “No-Go Lines” into the mapping to tell the robot where not to clean. These brand-aligned visuals are arresting, distinctive, logical in their flow, intuitively navigable and understandable, and simple and compelling.
Robotics + AI
At the core of Neato are its robotics and AI. Like the first product launched in 2010, all seven generations were created with one mission in mind –– to provide customers with a robot that could clean the house thoroughly and easily. In the sprint strategy sessions, Maspira Groupe identified this mission as both a core purpose and a brand promise. Neato’s innovative engineering fulfills this promise. The product design incorporates complex algorithms for scalability and service. To showcase Neato’s groundbreaking robotics on a global stage, Maspira Groupe created visuals that captured the translation of mission and engineering into algorithm and scalability.
SMART Design
Maspira Groupe helped Neato shift from telling the story of how it offered the better product to the story of what makes Neato unique. One of the high-level brand statements defined in the strategy workshops that distinguishes Neato from its competition is its SMART design. The Neato robot is D-shaped, which enables it to clean where round robots cannot. It uses laser mapping of spaces to avoid obstacles, won’t fall downstairs, and knows when to recharge itself. And the newest generation features the addition of even more robotic senses. For the keynote presentation, Maspira Groupe highlighted these design benefits with its own “smart” design of easily intuited icons that incorporate elements of flow, mapping and navigation. Like the product itself, Maspira Groupe wanted to ensure the graphic’s premium appearance and function.
Silicon Valley Engineering Meets German Quality
A unique value proposition for Neato grew out of the brand strategy and growth workshop with Maspira Groupe: Neato is proud to blend the innovation of Silicon Valley Engineering with the reliability and durability of German quality. Not only does Neato look elegant and amazing, it consistently performs well and creates a positive and valuable customer experience. This can be the lynchpin in assuring customers that Neato is the premium brand they love, trust and want to bring home. Ongoing updates, best-in-class technology, easy set-up, premium built quality, and great customer support also make it attractive to trade partners who are offering more shelf spaces. This is a fast-growing market with a value in 2020 expected to be $2B and growing to $6B in 2025. Maspira Groupe’s global keynote visuals allowed the product to speak for itself.
THE PROGRAMS
ENGAGEMENT SINCE: 2019
The Solutions took shape through these following key programs:
03
Brand Strategy
Maspira Groupe conducted a three-day workshop sprint that encompassed a review of Neato’s business model, a market analysis of trends, users and customer journey maps, brand strategy development, brand activation steps, communication strategy, a review of channels and customer relationship flows, and an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, and trends. Many initiatives were discussed. Maspira Groupe recommended that Neato commit to at least two initially and execute them in order to create positive change internally within the company and in consumer behavior and mindset toward the brand.
TESTIMONIAL
Kriselle Laran,
Global Head of Communications
Neato Robotics planned to unveil its next generation of intelligent robot vacuums on a global stage at the 2020 IFA Press Conference in Berlin—a pinnacle moment for our company. We turned to Maspira Groupe to help create this important keynote presentation and help bring our story to life. The resulting product completely captured the story we wished to tell, but also caused us to look deeper at our brand and better define our core values and differentiators. Working under minimal direction and guidance, Maspira Groupe zeroed in on the design target and delivered excellence on a fast-paced turnaround. Thank you for helping us present our story to the world.