Apron

Get your Apron on.

Positioning
Tone of voice
Content strategy
Web, social and print copy

Read this if you’re looking to: Bring a fresh perspective to a predictable category.

Harnessing the hustle

“You have to watch The Bear,” came the first part of the brief from Bogdan Uzbekov, founder of Apron. “It tells you everything you need to know about what our clients go through every day.” In the TV series, a fine dining chef desperately tries to wade through the brutal realities of running a small business. The passion, grit and energy in the show set the pace for this project, and made its way into every aspect of the resulting brand (created with Outsiders).

The critical cog

With a crowded market, competitive category and increasing scepticism towards new technology, we had a lot to contend with. As great as the product is (it sorts, pays and reconciles invoices in seconds), we knew it wouldn’t break through without a distinctive brand behind it. We needed to tell a story.

“Not just another fintech brand: a new identity for Apron shirks category norms”
Creative Boom

Not painful. Powerful.

The ‘hustler mentality’ in The Bear came through in spades during the interviews we held with Apron team members and core customers. It was clear that everyone shared a relentless drive to succeed and keep moving forward. Except when they came across barriers to progress; like spending five hours a week paying invoices, instead of working towards the bigger picture.

Our approach

1. A fresh take on the category

We flipped payments from a pain to a positive, a barrier to a booster, by painting a picture of how they can be harnessed to unlock greater gains. This substantially differentiates the brand from competitors, and brings a new narrative to staid fintech messaging.
2. A marriage of words and images

Working hand in hand with Outsiders throughout the process led to maximum cohesion across all elements. As we progressed, the ‘Get your Apron on’ brand idea we’d established together at the start really came into its own.

The resulting identity makes the process of cash passing between partners tangible again, grounding Apron in the real world through a bare-bones colour palette, assertive typography and a ‘show don’t tell’ tone of voice to help people visualise their life with (and without) Apron, as well as a clever logo which recalls tied apron strings: a sign that you’re ready to get to work.
3. A bigger vision

In line with the team’s ambition to build an entire ecosystem of small business products, we positioned Apron as a critical cog in the small business machine. Not just one in a million other fintech ‘solutions’.

All together, the brand evokes action and momentum by really communicating the value of what Apron can help people to achieve. So far, we’ve helped the brand translate the identity onto their website, LinkedIn, a quarterly newspaper and even their own ‘bean counter’ coffee, with much more to come (stay tuned).

Ongoing Collaboration

Since launching the brand in March 2023, we’ve continued collaborating with Apron and Outsiders to evolve the brand alongside the growing business. Having successfully raised $15m in Series A funding, the team is heading for market domination at breakneck speed. As their strategy and copy partner, we’ve developed messaging for a game-changing new product, overhauled the website, produced trade show collateral and written editorial content in line with the expanded offer.