Becoming the sustainability firm to watch

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The challenge: ‍

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A cutting-edge global architecture firm from Germany needed help positioning as the “sustainability firm to watch”, with the goal of attracting visionary talent, high profile city leaders and celebrity advocates aligned with its cause.

The approach:

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‍We conducted an in-depth discovery to uncover the strengths and weaknesses of the brand, as well as blind spots and opportunities. We’d use the findings to recalibrate the brand foundations moving forward.

Why it worked:

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The work revealed a narrative, world view, and vocabulary that was holding them back, leaving their real story unsaid. This firm was not about solar panels, but about architecture that produced vs. consumed energy, and planning that built resilient social habitats vs. buildings.

But Frey Architekten was stuck in a loop of“green tech” and related terms which sold them— and their philosophy—  short, and caused them to rely on the founder’s electric personality to make headlines.

We needed to shift lenses. Far from competing with solar player and eco-architects of the world, Frey needed to vault into a different league of thought-leaders, inhabited by brands like TESLA, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, and The Climate Reality Project.

Making this shift, created the opening for a distinct mission-based brand that could easily extend beyond green tech and the shadow of the founder, with the reach and impact they so desired.

Owler Hook:
The filters you use affect how you view the world and how the world views you. Shifting from a functional to a vision-based mindset changed the game for Frey Architekten and enabled its remit to be as far-reaching as its vision.