Building a brand is no small task, between aligning on a voice, a look, and how the business or company will be viewed by the world. For Seattle Advertising, based in Bellevue, Washington, it's been a fulfilling journey building the brand for HAELO, a new PEMF device targeted toward athletes and active individuals looking to level up their performance and enhance their wellbeing. The firm's partnership with HAELO has included coming up with a name for the product, creating a website, branding, generating media coverage, crafting a social voice, and developing visual assets.  

As HAELO has now officially launched and begun filling orders, the firm looks back on its progress thus far in branding the device and what the future will hold as the word spreads more about the revolutionary new product.

The beginning of a new partnership

The partnership between Seattle Advertising began after the HAELO stakeholders caught wind of another product that the firm had successfully launched, an app builder called Beezer. After HAELO reached out about working together, the agency was tasked with coming up with a name for the brand-new device. 

"HAELO is an amazing product that they came up with and it's changing lives, so naturally we were interested," said Phil Anderson, Executive Vice President of Project Management of Seattle Advertising. "I personally was charged with coming up with the name of the device, and I thought it was so amazing the way it renewed my energy and my soul. I just rolled 'HAELO' off my tongue one day and it stuck."

HAELO is a Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) device that mimics the symphonic frequencies of Mother Earth. This works by sending pulsing magnetic fields into the body by using specific frequencies. HAELO has ten frequency sets, working to promote everything from increased athletic performance to better sleep to boosted immune systems. 

Once they had a name down, the agency got to work developing and collecting assets. The team spent weeks getting footage in the form of pictures and video. They also began working with the engineering team at Seattle Software Developers, Seattle Advertising's sister company, and began to put together data of the ideal user that would use this device. 

"We wanted to find everyone that could benefit from what HAELO was offering," Anderson said. "We then built a website and a social media heartbeat to match that user." 

A proprietary technology for market research

In order to conduct the research needed to develop the HAELO brand, Seattle Advertising used its secret weapon - a software called Metric Pro. Metric Pro was created over a three-year period and provides the IP addresses, cities, locations, and cultures of individuals likely to benefit from a particular product or service.  

"We feed the software the ideal user, and Metric Pro goes to work overnight based on what criteria we give it," Anderson said. "For instance, if we tell it to find everyone that eats sushi in Seattle, it will do that." 

When it comes to consumer research, Seattle Advertising distinctly sets itself apart. Compared to other agencies, it has the advantage of being owned by a software firm that developed a large part of search and social media platforms.

The software searches Google and social media looking for keyword searches that consumers have typed in and then the software follows the IP search until it ends at the website the consumer purchased from. 

"We can then eliminate IPs that purchased for less than, say $500, on a landing site, so we end up with millions of consumers we can target with market ads," Anderson said. "Once we have the ideal consumer, we can then tell the software to target market those IP addresses on mobile and desktop devices with ads."  

Branding HAELO

When it comes to branding, there's a multitude of tactics involved and implemented. 

"Branding is fun because you're getting press articles written, setting up the social media and allowing the writers to start posting, all while developing the product and getting the website put together," Anderson said. "We're negotiating with our clients one minute and cracking open a bottle of red the next. It's all part of the process." 

Anderson said that to make branding work in today's digital world, it's really important to focus on content generating, public relations, and a good Wordpress site. Once the designers have developed the branding assets, the software developers create the site. Then it's off to the coding engineers, who code the schema data on the back end of the website. This method is often favored by Google and other search engines.

In the process, the engineers embed keywords into the schema data that match the keywords consumers are typing into Google, and this pulls the site up like no other software or method. However, it doesn't come naturally or easily. 

"It's an art form we have mastered," Anderson said. "We then match those same keywords into the social media posts and the press articles.  Soon, when the brand is searched, it looks like a million bucks. And, we do all this before we spend a dime on advertising." 

When it comes to describing the HAELO brand, Anderson would say it's "a one-of-a-kind amazing system that changes your body. It's that simple." 

As far as the future of the HAELO brand, he said HAELO is going to change the entire PEMF space in a few years and the technology is spot on. Branding now will only further efforts moving forward to make HAELO a household name.

Having a successful partnership with an agency

For a client to have a good partnership and see the results they're looking for, Anderson said it's all about trust in the agency partner. 

"In order to have a hit, you have to trust your advertising agency 100 percent," he said. "Let them do what they do because it's what they're experts in, and this is important.  Most clients piecemeal some aspects of branding and marketing out to other vendors, and if a client wants this, they are not a good match. We want to own our brands because that's the only way to really shine on the search engine. Let the professionals run with it." 

On the agency side, Seattle Advertising makes it a first priority to put the client first and deliver excellent service. The team's goal is to build solid and long-term relationships with clients to see them through from brand inception and into the future. Whether it's a new company or an established one, Seattle Advertising invests their time, expertise and passion into every client they work with.

Common mistakes and misconceptions about building a brand

With the ever-changing landscape of the internet and social media, many businesses find it hard to know where to start. They might go to SEO firms or advertising agencies and want to begin with ads right away.

Anderson said this is a common mistake, simply because people are always looking brands and products up on the internet.

"So many clients come to us with horror stories of other SEO firms or advertising firms that they engaged with," he said. "The most common mistake newbie clients make is advertising their product or service before they brand it."

The reason for this is that a consumer may be online, see an ad, click on it and then search it on Google to learn more. In fact, 82 percent of consumers typically look up a product before they purchase it to see reviews and other content the brand is putting out. If there's nothing on Google, they won't engage and the brand will lose the sale.  

"That is why if you plan to drop an app, or some device, or even if you are starting a new restaurant, always brand first for 90 days so there is something for the consumer to find," Anderson said. "Remember the rule: People believe everything they read on Google, so make a digital footprint that rocks." 

Seattle Advertising's client roster includes a good amount of entrepreneurs and startups, and Anderson said that the largest misconception of an entrepreneur is that there are "too many" players in the market. 

"I know so many good apps that fail because of a lack of good branding," he said. "And I mean really good apps that were developed by the best app houses in the country. Don't think because it's an amazing idea that it will pick up speed on its own. You have to craft a great brand, too." 

The creative advantages and challenges of a new brand

Developing a new brand is an exciting and fulfilling process, and it leaves room for loads of opportunities. For Seattle Advertising and HAELO, the journey has been a full and holistic approach, and continues today as they work to strengthen the brand. 

HAELO officially launched at the end of last year, after months of working to build its brand. The overall feel of the brand is focusing on wellness and helping athletes and active users level up and achieve their peak performance, while at the same time nurturing their mental and emotional wellness. 

"You want to always have a brand that cuts through," Anderson said. "You must brand and then hit them with ads to start anything in today's e-commerce marketplace."