WEBE

TitleWEBE
BrandWEBE DIGITAL
Product / ServiceWEBE
CategoryA02. Rebrand / Refresh of an existing Brand: Consumer / Corporate / Non-profit
EntrantBRAND UNION Singapore, SINGAPORE
Idea Creation BRAND UNION Singapore, SINGAPORE

Credits

Name Company Position
Dan Ellis Brand Union Regional Creative Director South & Southeast Asia
Po Kay Lee Brand Union Managing Director
Ambrish Chaudhry Brand Union Regional Strategy Director South & Southeast Asia
Sherman Chia Brand Union Designer
Abigail Khor Brand Union Lead Strategist
Karishma Krishnan Brand Union Client Manager
Cheryl Lee Brand Union Client Manager

The Campaign

We took to the streets all across Malaysia to discover insights and inspiration for the new brand. We uncovered a world where ambitious Malaysians were forging their own paths to turn their little into a lot, and to unify their country for common good. Malaysian’s became our inspiration and our allies in a war against mediocrity. More than a mobile provider, we would create a digital platform that would connect and empower its users, to make positive change happen. We wanted to democratize data, represent the power in the people, and our creative idea reflected this. We named the brand webe. The name expresses the philosophy that ‘we is greater than me’. This community would embody the spirit of a brilliantly diverse nation, empowering people to be authentic and be who they want to be. Their aspirations and frustrations became our inspiration to create a brand that Malaysia deserves.

Creative Execution

This unconventional brand needed a disruptive way of thinking, one that refuses to accept the norm, one that would scale from the smallest interactions, to the largest events. We created a brand that is made up of shapes and patterns to represent our diverse community of members. webe does not have a fix set of colors, we wanted to be inclusive for all. In addition, images are crowdsourced from the community of members to ensure that communications are a real representation and expression of the members themselves. To integrate these design elements, we created a dynamic system that has 3 expressions (quiet, bold and loud). This gives webe the flexibility to communicate to all. The webe spaces were styled to encourage the gathering of communities with the use of warm lighting, and plenty of communal spaces. We chose materials that were upcycled to encourage ‘limits are opportunities’.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

webe first launched in March 2016 as a community Malaysia’s first fully funded crowdbacking platform for social projects), bringing together Malaysians to make a positive change. As of July 2016, RM800,000 funded so far on their crowd-backing platform, championing projects like fighting dengue that make positive change. Pre-launch activity has included an ‘850 by webe app’ which achieved over 160,000 downloads, and reached #1 in the lifestyle app space within the Google Playstore & Apps store. The philosophy behind the brand can also be seen in the culture of the company. By July 2016, employee satisfaction scores had improved to 81% overall. An initial launch phase has included invited existing Telekom Malaysia customers, and rollout of the webe network is planned to continue throughout the year. The full roll-out of across Malaysia is highly anticipated, and touted to be “the next big thing” (The Star, 8th April 2016).

The new brand was established to be more than just a new name and logo; it was a new business, with new beliefs and ways of doing things. Through our research that included experience safaris to different cities in Malaysia to engage with and understand their target audience, we developed the brand philosophy of ‘start here. go anywhere’ that now stands at the heart of everything webe does. We listened, crowd-sourced, and co-created the brand with customers and 1,000 employees. Ultimately, the webe brand is the community of members it champions. Together, they are stronger, with the power of data, they can contribute to a building a better Malaysia. We wanted to make webe Malaysia’s first community-driven digital mobility service provider.