Cardano Rebrand

Problem

Blockchain projects notoriously struggle to define themselves. It’s an early technology; the benefits are more visionary than actual – promises made today for tomorrow – and the technology abstract, complex, and unfamiliar to mainstream audiences. For Cardano, a proof-of-stake blockchain project developed through peer-reviewed research, these challenges were compounded by its academic focus. It was building for the future, but struggled to articulate itself in the present.

As a platform intended to do many things, it couldn’t rely on any one thing to define it. Its brand story was loosely threaded through blog posts, videos, and other communications. On its website, however, it lacked a cohesive story, narrative, and purpose, and struggled to communicate its USPs. The copy relied on convoluted and technical language bound within long sentences. This created a nebulous brand identity, understood differently by different community members, and impacted awareness and engagement.

Solution

Working with McCann - the agency chosen to develop the brand visuals - I united the project’s multiple visions into a single story. This was a story to fundamentally improve the world by rebuilding its systems. It was decided that the story should be aspirational, as a means of appealing to different audiences, and seize a powerful idea: that change is possible, and given the opportunity provided by new technology, the world and how we live can be drastically improved upon.

This ambition is also reflected elsewhere in the copy: the ideal is of blockchain as an equaliser, a disruptor, and a means of redistributing power – and the wealth that follows it – from the few to the many.

The core challenge was communicating the project’s USPs, research, and notable innovations in a way that did not trivialise or devalue the underlying technology, and which could be agreed upon by the many stakeholders involved. This meant communicating complex technologies and abstract concepts using simple, powerful language, at times speaking more to the intent than technical detail, and ultimately helping the reader develop an awareness that they could confidently communicate through relatable terms. A brand must capture an emotion, but that emotion must be substantiated by belief. We had to make the audience believe that what the project seeks to do, it can do, and is able to communicate both the why and, just as importantly, the how.

Results

Success is the product of synchronised efforts. Still, the new website, messaging, and brand identity helped to launch the project to unprecedented heights, becoming a top-10 Web3 project. The work resulted in Cardano topping the 2022 brand intimacy report.