Discovery originally approached me to create a Brand Identity for a digital channel about exploration. We created the Name and Visual Identity for the channel Seeker in a short three-week sprint.
Seeker gained market share but within a year Discovery asked me to look at the entire Brand Architecture of Discovery Digital Networks to find a way to consolidate the portfolio of channels into a more manageable brand to grow the business with new audiences.
Discovery’s value proposition; “To satisfy curiosity by providing the highest quality content that entertains, engages and enlightens” talks to a world that learns by watching or reading. But Millennials seek wisdom in another way – through ‘Applied Curiosity’. Simply put Millennials learn by doing.
Applied Curiosity, a tough ask for any content company, corresponded with two valuable gaps in the customer experience. Most of Discovery’s competitors were pumping out sensational content only showing the adrenalin rush of activity. But Millennials, who were actually busy doing, rather than watching turned out to also need inspiration, help with organization and sharing a post-experience sense of meaning.
Iterative Wisdom, the intersection of exhilaration and meaning became positioning for the Seeker Brand. The Seeker name and Identity representing that continual search.
Seeker.com grew from 480,000 visits to 4,550,000 in the first two months of launch. Seeker was acquired by Group Nine Media with an investment of $100 million from Discovery two years after launch.
The Team
Marc Shillum – Business Strategy, Creative Direction & Design
Jessie Van – Motion & Prototyping
Paul Valerio – Brand Strategy & Research
The brand font, Visby was designed by Connary Fagen,
The pings of each call made to the network warranting a response from the network revealing the missing piece of the identity, The stem of the K. The remaining ‘Chevron’ challenging the viewer to do, to inspire action.
The missing stem, The Obelisk, the monument to finding new meaning represents the commitment to building wisdom iteratively.