STARTUP NATION CENTRAL
Impatient Innovation
WHAT WE DID
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- Brand Strategy
- Art Direction & Design
- Website Design & Digital assets
- Editorial
- Film & Animation
- Illustration
- Photography
A pioneer in search of new purpose
Founded on the success of the eponymous 2009 bestseller, Startup Nation Central had claimed for years to be the ‘primary connector’ between Israel’s vaulted tech ecosystem and foreign governments and multinationals seeking innovative solutions.
But 10 years on, it was no longer the only player claiming this mantle, as hundreds of organisations – from universities and accelerators to VC funds and industrial megabrands – attempted to capitalise on the success of Israeli innovation. The term ‘startup nation’ itself had become generic, overused and over-contested.
To remain relevant in the evolving ecosystem, SNC would need to redefine its purpose and boldly articulate its value proposition to a diverse audience of stakeholders.
Rediscovering the essence of Israeli innovation
From the start, we decided to forgo the ‘startup nation’ metaphor and focus instead on unpacking what visitors to Israel found most fascinating: the country’s bold, audacious, and scrappy approach to problem solving.
This was supported by a feeling within the organisation that, though highly professional, SNC had become too corporate and lost its ‘Israeliness’. After conducting dozens of interviews and diving deep into the Israeli mindset, we distilled the essence of Israeli innovation into one word: impatience. Driven by a historical urgency to find solutions to existential challenges under harsh conditions, Israel has been forced to develop its own type of innovation.
We call it Impatient Innovation. It’s the antidote to the risk averse, slow-paced standard innovation frustrating problem solvers the world over. And it creates an entirely new category of innovation for SNC to own and champion.
Bringing the strategy to life
What does Impatient Innovation look, feel, and sound like? How do we capture the country’s restless energy and convey SNC’s newfound Israeliness while preserving the brand’s professional equity, both visually and verbally?
Starting with the logo, we were tasked with an evolution of the existing mark, introducing a more modern dynamic mechanism to allow for more flexible applications. Next, we drew inspiration from Israel’s rich natural and geographical diversity to create a fresh new colour palette. We added to the visual authenticity, human-centric photography that portrayed more of the real Israel and its’ innovators.
Finally, we wanted to capture the scrappy, ever-changing nature of Israeli innovation. We understood real tech innovation isn’t always linear, it isn’t always simple. An idea becomes a prototype on a window in an office, on a napkin, on a phone. Constructed, deconstructed, reverted, reworked. Thus, was born a dynamic annotation layer to capture the energy and soul of real innovation in a way that could be simply and effectively applied to all brand assets.
