After a major acquisition and expansion during the past year, the website offering reductions for hair & beauty products and services has undergone a major rebrand with a new name: Treatwell.
The challenge
Over six months, Design Studio – the same branding agency that worked on Airbnb’s last overhaul – worked closely with Wahanda to unify all the businesses under the new Treatwell brand, and form an undisputed leader in the European market. This meant defining a brand strategy that would appeal to all ten countries where they operate.
The Strategy
New name and brand positioning
Treatwell is the name of the German rival company that Wahanda acquired in 2015 for about €34m. Wahanda is a word that doesn’t mean anything specific in any language covered by the business, which started to be problematic for the group.
“Wahanda may have built a pretty substantial brand presence in the UK, but it was a totally different situation in other places,” Champalimaud said. “In Italy the word is hard to pronounce, and nowhere does Wahanda actually say what it means.” explained Lopo Champalimaud, Founder of Wahanda and CEO of the newly named Treatwell group.
“As we continue to pursue our global ambitions, it makes sense to operate under one brand. But we didn’t stop there. We also took the opportunity to improve the experience for both our customers and business partners.”
Design Studio hosted a series of workshops and interviewed Wahanda’s most important stakeholders. This led to important insights that moved the brand positioning towards the concept of celebrating individuality. The branding agency decided to position the brand as a platform for self-expression instead of being just a booking website. Treatwell now offers personalized experiences to every single customer.
Tim Williams, DesignStudio’s Creative Director who led the project adds, “We wanted to change how beauty is perceived. The rebrand looks to celebrate self-expression and individuality, of both the salons and the customers who use the service”.
New visual identity
In order to illustrate the new brand positioning, the visual identity provides the brand with a fresh new look. The mix of vivid illustrations and photographs, with lines evoking movement reflects the vitality of the brand.
Together with the client, the agency developed a set of guidelines and tools that will help the team implement the brand across a variety of countries and touch points.
“The rebrand reflects the unified Treatwell, full of energy and vitality,” said Champalimaud.“The results match our ambitions for the future and offer our community an exciting new experience wherever they may be in Europe”.
Treatwell launched on Monday, through a brand film, a different web experience, and the new Treatwell app.
ABOUT TREATWELL:
Treatwell is the leading online booking platform for hair and beauty in Europe. Headquartered in London, the group was founded by Lopo Champalimaud in 2008. It now employs over 500 people across Europe, with over 20,000 salons and spas listed and more than 10 million people booking their hair and beauty through its platform every year. www.treatwell.co.uk
ABOUT DESIGNSTUDIO:
DesignStudio is an award winning branding and design agency with offices in London and San Francisco. Working globally, the studios recent rebrands have included Airbnb, Logitech and Turo.
References from: We are Design Studio, Cosmetic Business, Tech Crunch
Pictures from: We are Design Studio
thanks for sharing! I love the new visual identity, it perfectly portrays the new positioning of the company.
Hi Veronique! Thanks for your comment, and glad you like it!