Part I of the Excite Media’s brand journey series.
Our journey to discover the what, how, why and so-what for Excite Media.
Almost two years ago, I worked with Scott Maynard, my partner in crime and business, to develop a vision for Excite Media for 2020. We’re calling it our 20/20 vision because we hope to have that sort of clarity, but I’m sure that’s a tired joke by now.
Now, ten years after the birth of Excite Media we’re mapping out how we can continue to become bigger and better than ever before.
The Epiphany
The vision for Excite came to me in a moment of clarity; I had an epiphany. Lost in thought and daydreaming about the future I was struck by a vision of what Excite Media might look like in five years’ time. I grabbed my computer and jotted the ideas down as quickly as I could.
It took me ten minutes to compose the vision that would push the business, the Excite team, and our clients forward for the next 5 years! I emailed the draft to Scott, who replied with a quick ‘Yep!’ and there it was; our 20/20 vision.
“Once you’ve inked something into existence you’ve made a commitment – there was no turning back.”
I’ve always been a bit of a dreamer with a sense that I wanted to do something big, to change the world in some kind of way. I’ve always felt an overwhelming drive to push the boundaries, to make big statements and not settle for the small talk.
You see, I knew where I wanted to take Excite, but putting pen to paper makes a powerful statement. It sets wheels in motion. Once you’ve inked something into existence you’ve made a commitment – there was no turning back.
Picks of the Litter
Our vision became a detailed roadmap for where we are going to take ourselves and the business. The images below are a collection of what emerged from the vision and what continues to drive Excite forward.
The Challenge
After introducing the vision to the Excite team, we kicked off our campaign and moved towards achieving the goals we had set. It didn’t take long before we started picking up some serious momentum. We’d put in a lot of work and had already achieved a bigger chunk of our goals than we’d expected.
This was when I realised that we had no idea why we were trying to achieve these goals. Sure, these goals grew the business. Sure, they helped us grow as a team, but there was no rhyme to our reason. We had a final destination picked out but no truly compelling reason for us to get there.
“We had a final destination picked out but no truly compelling reason for us to get there.”
It was at this point that I sat down with Scott to figure out how to articulate the purpose for our 20/20 vision and answer the question: why does Excite Media exist?
The Final Frontier
I realised that without a purpose, our vision was a bit short-sighted. This prompted us to take things back to basics and explore what it is that drives us and our team at Excite. Over the coming weeks and months, Scott and I are working with our team to explore what the Excite brand means for us, for our team and for our clients; we’re working to discover the what, how, why and so-what of Excite.
This is where our journey has really begun, and we’d like to invite you to embark on it with us.
You can join us through our blog or keep in touch and up-to-date with us on all the usual social channels.
