Rebranding during a global pandemic

October 21, 2020

Let’s take a step back for a moment. We’re in the Spring of 2017 and Kay Suppamas hosted her first workshop with a group of close friends. She was passionate about wellness and the impact city life has on our mental health, so she’d started making terrariums as a healing mechanism. Little did she know, this would just be the beginning of London based terrarium brand, Leafage.

Three years on and that workshop has grown into a full-time-thing. We’ve got a small (but mighty) team, a community of nature-loving beings at our fingertips and an ethos worthy for any heartfelt brand. If you’ve attended one of our workshops, you’ll know the love and passion Kay has for her brand; from the finer decorative details, the ceaseless knowledge and the smile on her face when your terrarium comes to life. Kay truly is her brand.

Leafage 2.0 has been in the works for some time and whilst re-branding your business during a global pandemic might not seem like a wise choice, for us, it’s been the answer. With no option for in-real-life workshops since March, we pivoted our offering and launched our very first DIY terrarium kits which have since ended up in hundreds of your homes. Levelling up our service and positioning ourselves as the go-to-destination for all of your terrarium needs is what Leafage 2.0 is all about. We live by the 3 P’s - Plants, People, Potential.

Let’s catch up with our Founder, Kay, to hear more about the rebranding journey so far.

(Good friends getting together)

How did you know Leafage was ready for a rebrand?

I have a sink or swim mentality and this year I’ve been doing a lot of swimming - haven’t we all?! I was really happy with the look and feel we had for Leafage already, but I wanted us to stand out from the crowd. Having a successful brand is more than just nice images and a cool logo, so after launching three years ago, our brand has evolved a lot in that sense. We wanted to finish off this year with a high energy, and a rebrand felt right to achieve this.

(Hannah briefing Vanessa, one of the Leafage team and our hand model)

Tell us about the rebranding process?

It was so much fun! I worked with my friend, Hannah Strickland, who’s ACE at all-things-design. We’ve been friends for a long time and Hannah actually worked on the very first Leafage photoshoot too, so getting to level-up our offering with her was pretty special! We worked together on a brief and Hannah knew exactly what I wanted from the get go; something bold and beautiful, just like the terrariums we create. I might be biased, but I think we’ve absolutely nailed it. A lot of nature brands are green and whilst there’s still elements of green throughout our new palette, we’ve toned it down and focused on the purple. Our website has also completely changed, we’ve moved platforms and added some more va-va-voom.

(Good vibes only 🤙)

How did you go about naming your products?

We sat on this one for a while as we wanted something a little out-there to fit in with the re-brand but we couldn’t find a complementary set of names that felt just right. I was in the studio a few weeks before launch and Soul Sistas by Bilal came on the radio, followed by Proud Mary, the Tina Turner classic. There must have been something in the air that day because those songs just made me feel so damn good. I took inspiration from the lyrics and started drafting up names in our team WhatsApp group. Shortly after, we’d found the ones you’ll see on the website today. Looking back now, I think our new names are perfect because I always tell my team, and anyone who attends our workshops, that we’re like a family at Leafage - so they definitely give a little nod to our ethos too.

Listen to Leafage 2.0 Spotify Playlist here >

What was the most exciting part?

We had a socially-distanced team day in the studio when we shot our new lifestyle imagery and that was bags of fun! The energy on the day was just incredible, it actually gives me a bit of a buzz thinking about it now! I called in on some old uni friends to make the shoot happen, as they are all such a creative bunch, so it was great to reconnect with people after such a long time of being apart, too. Hannah, our designer, put together a brief for the shoot which was all about vibrancy, colour, and minimalism. It’s very out there, but we love it.

Any advice you would give to an entrepreneur who is looking to rebrand?

Find a strong team, and GO FOR IT!