TurboSnail.pl
INTRODUCTION
This project began quite by accident, as randomly as one might imagine the combination of a snail and a car, or a woman and a workshop. But let's start from the beginning.
Turbo Snail is an automotive wholesale company specializing in the sale of primarily new, but also used and reconditioned turbochargers. However, before we delve further, it's necessary to provide some context.
In the Polish market, numerous similar companies exist. It's crucial to note that Poland is one of Europe's largest producers of cars and automotive parts. The automotive industry plays a significant role in the country's economy, evolving and transforming annually.
Stereotypes have been evolving as well. Traditionally, the automotive field was dominated by men in production, usage, motorsport, and marketing communications. A prevalent belief was that technical skills in this industry were inherently male - an assumption that affected perceptions of women in roles as mechanics, engineers, or professional drivers.
However, the world is changing, and with it, there are shifts in cultural and social patterns. Consequently, while the automotive industry is still perceived as male-dominated, an increasing number of women are becoming active participants and consumers in this sector.
Why mention all this? The founder of Turbo Snail is Natalka, a young girl who, since her early years, has spent time in the workshop repairing cars. Natalka brings a fresh perspective to her brand and aims to redefine the role of women in the male-dominated automotive world.
Intrigued? I invite you to read the case study for the unique brand, Turbo Snail. You will learn about:
Marketing in a challenging industry,
The acquisition of TurboSnail from another marketing agency,
Discover whether AI has replaced human effort in this project,
Understand the role of a brand hero in the strategies of global brands,
Explore the boundaries of my creativity and ultimately witness how one of my design dreams came to fruition.
An exceptionally good communication, information flow, and work culture developed between us. Our primary objective was to design and distribute a consistent and appealing brand ecosystem, which would simultaneously be practical and valuable for customers as well as employees. We placed the utmost priority on effective recruitment of new employees.
A Challenging Industry or Just Laziness?
One evening, I received an invitation to like a Facebook fan page. The profile name included the website address turbosnail.pl - out of curiosity, I copied it into my browser. Unfortunately, I found no website. The fan page seemed newly established. I decided to message the person who sent me the invitation. I asked Natalka if she needed help with online marketing.
Natalka replied that she would gladly collaborate with me on social media, but graphic design and the website were handled by another company for TurboSnail. As it turned out from our conversation, she wasn't completely satisfied with them due to differences in work culture and "a different graphic taste."
I won't delve into all the details, but in short, that agency required the provision of all the content - something I suspected might be difficult for Natalka due to lack of time and knowledge on how to present her business attractively to customers.
I wanted to push the subject forward and kill two birds with one stone. I planned to conduct an audit of the turbocharger industry, outline a strategy, and focus on creating thematic blocks and content for social media.
I intended to pass the same content to the website agency. It was to serve as both the content architecture's skeleton and the actual website content. I also wanted the subcontractor to launch the website quickly and provide a Content Management System (CMS), so we could independently and swiftly edit the content, rather than asking, waiting, and paying for additional changes.
Everything changed when I saw the prototype of the website - it was a copy of the WordPress template "Car Repair Services & Auto Mechanic WordPress Theme" for 69 dollars.
I was annoyed; I didn't want it to be another automotive parts brand made from a template. I shared my concerns with Natalka.
Okay, you might say most companies do this, what's wrong with that? Here's my response:
Avoiding Spoilers
I'm aware that many companies operate in a certain way and it somewhat works. However, my approach to work is different. If you have read my previous case studies, you would know that I place great emphasis on coherence and uniqueness in every sense of these words, as well as on strategies and results. I couldn’t bring myself to create one segment of communication that would stray from the coherence of another - in this case, the website. My conscience wouldn’t allow it.
I saw this as a challenge. I was very keen to manage TurboSnail comprehensively. After some initial research, I had a myriad of ideas about what we could do and how!
Moreover, this was the first company that had a mascot logo right from the start. Oh, the design and content opportunities that it presented and bubbled up in my mind! This company had a very strong competitive edge, and I did not want it to be undermined by a WordPress template and cognitive dissonance.
I understand that some industries or niches might be challenging in marketing. However, it takes just a bit of time to understand the industry - getting to know the owner, target audience, product/service, competitors, trends, challenges...
Sometimes, for an agency, such a non-conventional client can be seen as undesirable and problematic because they have their vision and require bespoke solutions, which demand more resources, not just installing a template and pasting the client’s text.
The Recipe for Success? Stand Out!
Let's set aside other companies that only make a positive impression and focus on rebranding Turbo Snail. I posed two very simple questions to Natalia - “Why a snail?” and “How do you want to be perceived online?”:
Hey! What kind of work do you usually do?
Hey! What kind of work do you usually do?
These two answers were the core of my concept.
After analyzing the competition, I noticed two extremes: either subdued, boring designs or overly outdated, corporate vibes - the competition looked either old-fashioned or too professional. Sometimes both. Only a few companies stood out with a modern, coherent, and accessible design.
After consulting with Natalia and presenting my vision, we decided to build the graphic and communication foundations from scratch. Out of all the previously created materials, we decided to keep only the logo that was already in use.
What is Macot Logo? A Visual Identity System
The logo, or more accurately the mascot logo, became our starting point. I matched it with two fonts and a color scheme. Several proposals were made, and as you might guess - the most vibrant and colorful one, featuring a striking pink color, was chosen.
I knew that having a cartoon character in the arsenal brought huge success to many global companies.
Take Disney for instance; say the name and many of you will think of Mickey Mouse. Want to learn a new language? Your companion isn't Duolingo's CEO, Luis von Ahn, or Severin Hacker, but a fun, green owl! The use of mascot logos in sports teams is also notable.
Feeling hungry? McDonald's clown Ronald or Harland Sanders from the KFC logo will invite you to their restaurants. How about a sweet treat? Consider M&M's or Haribo gummies, which also have their mascots. Or something savory? Speaking of Cheetos chips, surely the amusing Chester Cheetah comes to mind. Brand heroes are also present in "tougher industries", like Duracell’s purple bunny for battery sales, or the Michelin Man in tire manufacturing.
These are global brands, but in Poland, we have plenty of examples of mascot logos too, such as in the Żubr and Harnaś beer brands, the little yellow character from Danone. Just don't confuse it with Delma's drop of fat. For dessert, Milka’s cow will tempt you with chocolate. And all this can be purchased at Żabka or Biedronka stores.
Indeed, mascots give each brand a unique identity and help them stand out from the competition. They are so ubiquitous that we often don’t pay them much attention. However, you'll agree that these creations function in our subconscious. We form relationships and reactions with them.
It's our psychology; we find it easier to notice and remember a friendly mascot character, recognizing it in the future, rather than geometric or abstract shapes in a logo. Hence, the best mascot logos help companies build a unique and recognizable brand personality, increasing customer loyalty. A brand hero can symbolize the values, mission, and message of the brand, conveying them in an accessible and attractive way.
Therefore, the snail, which was the basis for the entire brand communication, was a brilliant concept for me, especially in such an apparently boring and non-media niche. I imagined a snail scientist - sharing various interesting facts, a snail mechanic - talking about technical stuff, or even a racing snail for memes.
Let's Make the Snail Speak with a Human Voice
The next issue is the brand's tone - let's make the snail speak with a human voice. Literally, the voice of our target audience. The primary recipients of our brand are workshops and mechanics.
No offense, but we won’t be writing them lofty, praiseworthy poetry. Instead, we’ll use a casual, meme-like, sometimes slightly vulgar language, which they know well and use daily. We won't present technicalities and all that complicated gibberish either, but rather strive to build trust through accessibility and openness.
On the archetype wheel, we focus on Group II Belonging - meaning we'll rely on archetypes like the companion and the jester, with a pinch of the sage and the rebel.
I wanted to develop a lively communication language and was curious to see how ChatGPT would handle this task. I tried putting it in various roles, creating extensive prompts. Unfortunately, in many cases, the generated content didn't meet my expectations.
GPT often exaggerated with the word count, introduced hallucinations, and made logical errors. It created texts that looked reliable but were incorrect. Additionally, they were too prolix and full of flowery nonsense.
It tried to be funny, but the target audience of TurboSnail wouldn't buy that kind of humor. Artificial intelligence operates on algorithms and data, which sometimes means it lacks understanding of social context or emotions. Moreover, it has some annoying structures, turns of phrase, and clichés, reminiscent of school templates. In this case, I try to avoid all frames and templates.
I won’t complain about ChatGPT here because as a brainstorming companion, it is very good. But to a large extent, I had to rely on myself and my creativity. I reviewed hundreds of meme pages and watched creators like smiechawaTV, AdamMechanik, and Wazzup.
Tough Decisions: Does a Wholesale Business Need an Online Store?
When digitizing an automotive wholesale business, the answer to this question should be clear-cut. However, instead of making hasty decisions and plunging into the whirlpool of unforeseen events, we decided to approach this with a cool head. We listed and compared the pros and cons of e-commerce as accurately as possible. We also added approximate financial outlays associated with designing, implementing, administering, and marketing. Finally, we put all this on a timeline to get a clear picture of how long it would take us to create the platform, stock it, and then handle management, moderation, optimization, scaling, marketing, and everything else.
Conclusion: The entry barrier is too high. Additionally, we didn’t want to lose TurboSnail's strong competitive advantage of flexibility and customer service. Building relationships and understanding the individual needs of business partners is more challenging in an online store.
Moreover, TurboSnail offers a vast selection of turbochargers, which can also be ordered specially for customers. We didn't want to limit ourselves to the regular assortment of an online store. We also aimed to make obtaining information quick and easy for everyone, eliminating the need to search through huge indexes of online catalogs.
After preliminary tests, we knew that encouraging customers to make direct phone contact or send inquiries was most effective. This approach allows us to focus entirely on availability and rapid communication, facilitating relationship building and the efficient gathering of necessary information and making purchasing decisions. This, alongside building a coherent brand awareness, forms the foundation of our strategy.
AI as a Web Designer?
The beginning of this project coincided with the biggest boom in AI. ChatGPT received regular updates and was made available to everyone with open-source code. Consequently, generators for images, music, movies, and other digital goods were created prolifically. AI was on everyone's lips! Conferences, television, podcasts, YouTube, TikTok - practically every major company was implementing AI to keep up with trends and optimize costs. But more on that later.
I asked ChatGPT to create a structure for a website. The generated structure was correct and standard, but in the context of this project, it required, in my opinion, significant personalization. In the next step, I was very curious to see how to generate a prompt for MidJourney from the same result - I couldn't wait for the graphic interpretation of this project.
Unfortunately, the results didn't fully meet my expectations. So, I decided to return to the basics - start with a traditional tablet and stylus. The vision of the site in my head was clear from the beginning. I wanted to realize one of my design dreams - to create an entire site in flat design style with elements of vector graphics and mini interactions.
Remember how in the first project for Sudety Cars, I wrote about how Instagram, Dribbble, and Behance influenced my perception of design? The year 2021/2022 was full of websites in flat design style and vector graphics. I really wanted to create such a site but didn't have the right opportunity until now!
Earlier, I had the idea to develop the concept of a cartoon snail from the logo into an entire universe. As the main theme of the website, I wanted to introduce additional, thematic types of snails. A plan was formed for 4 additional characters - a genius snail, a racer snail, a grandpa snail, and a mechanic snail.
Will AI Replace Human Soft Skills? Creativity and Controversies
The AI boom also had another side. The internet was awash with content based on fear and controversy. Many people were disoriented and frightened by this new reality. Numerous debates arose about the concerns of various creators regarding AI.
Until recently, it seemed that the last thing artificial intelligence could take from humans was creativity. Creative industries were supposed to be exclusively the domain of humans. Ironically, they seem to be overtaken by artificial intelligence right from the start! I decided to check this out!
Since I'm not artistically talented, I wanted to use the MidJourney tool to generate illustrative graphics for the website, depicting new thematic snails. But it wasn’t that simple. I spent countless hours experimenting with various prompts, styles, and variants. Something was always missing. Although the results were often impressive, I couldn't clearly define what I wanted and what didn't fit.
In my opinion, although artificial intelligence can generate exceptionally good and creative content, it still lacks the subtlety and intuition characteristic of the human approach to design. As humans, we are equipped with the ability to perceive the world personally with all senses and, most importantly, to process this experience through different levels of our intelligence, from emotional, kinesthetic to logical-mathematical, on which we build our individual identity.
I'm not sure when you're reading this text, but I assume that artificial intelligence has significantly evolved since the time of writing. At that time, I decided to forego AI solutions and seek help from my talented, good friend, who has specialized in drawing, painting, and graphics for years.
Joe is a graphic designer who helped expand the snail family. I sent Joe the same brief - the same prompt given to the AI. It was a direct hit, right on the first try. Quick action without revisions. Each of the snails had its character, its individual features, while remaining consistent with the others. The snails were illustrative, but not sweet and infantile. More so, they were “gritty” and human-like, yet eye-catching and endearing.
Joe also created a pattern for TurboSnail, depicting various parts of turbochargers as well as the turbochargers themselves. We used it as a background in both printed and digital materials.
Finally, the moment arrived - the new snails found their place in the web page design. I placed them on a specially prepared track and added motion animations correlated with the page scroll. The effect was fantastic!
Although initially, I wanted this impressive section to be the main element, I quickly cooled my enthusiasm and realized that it was too bold an approach, potentially resulting in a high bounce rate, which nobody would want! I looked at the conversion funnel, then at the customer profile and their roadmap. It became clear that it’s more prudent to start the page with a classic hero section, one that won’t deter potential clients but rather help them achieve their visit's goal.
Since Turbo Snail's main target audience isn't individual customers but companies ordering wholesale quantities of turbochargers, I decided to focus on conversion through a clear, simple form and telephone conversation. Hence, the main CTA is a phone number. Future plans also include implementing a callback plugin for the number provided by the client.
The rest of the page structure is a typical, well-executed landing page with easy navigation, focused on conveying key information. Flat design turned out not to be as easy as it might seem. The design process itself was not free from various design decisions. I experimented with different layouts. I wanted to adhere to all the principles of good UX/UI design and create a clear layout free from clutter. The page includes: contact details, an overview of the categories of turbochargers offered, a detailed purchase path and social proof, as well as a link to an external marketplace and blog.
The site is, of course, also optimized for mobile devices to ensure an excellent user experience regardless of the platform used.
RESULTS
….
Landing Page - Flat Design