TEll TEll Process

Gulliver Farnan, the founder and principal product designer of State of Nowhere (SON), had a unique idea for an eclectic homewares brand with a nautical theme.

Gulliver's life has been uniquely tied to the ocean. His dad worked on boats, and young Gulliver grew up by the water, the shipmen, the wharfs, the ships, and the crews. Man's relationship with the ocean was something that had always captured his imagination. With Tell Tell, he was able to create the narrative he always had running in the back of his mind. What is it about the ocean that has drawn men in? What is it that keeps them there for a lifetime? What do they see when they stare into the deepblack of it? The light blues of it?

Gulliver wanted to find out, so he started collecting the things those men left behind: discarded flags and nautical throwaways. What story did these once tell and what can they mean to us? Can something torn and forgotten become tangible again?

Starting with this rich and promising premise, Gulliver began crafting the brand narrative and articulating the concept, but nothing was coming together. He was losing momentum and feared the project would not reach the light of day.

Enter Tell Tell Copywriting.

What we did...

• Competitive Analysis: What's up with the world of nautical homeware? That is exactly what we dove into, and what we discovered was that the tone of his competitors was a bit watered down.
• Concept: We crafted the brand narrative and wove it around a single concept powerful enough to grow on its own—nowhere is everywhere.
• Brand Story: SON, more than most brands, needed a detailed and clear foundational concept. We developed a narrative for the brand, individual collections and products that could help customers tell their own sea stories.
• Tagline: A tagline isn't just a string of words that you can slap on your brand; it has to house the spirit of the brand and the compass for where you're headed, and that's exactly what we did with SON's tagline.
• Naming Services: Would a SON product by any other name still be as mighty? We don't think so, so we named a collection that was spawned from a story trudged up from the bottom of the ocean. And that story was so compelling that it in turn inspired new products and new stories.
• Story Development: There is nothing more powerful than a story well told, and we developed SON's story to be as mysterious as the discarded flags Gulliver found.
• Pitch deck: Gulliver needed a way to win over investors, and with a well-defined story, carefully curated products, and a story that could be understood both by audiences and investors, SON was able to sail on with backing from investors.

The Results...

With a water-tight pitch deck, a sea-ready concept, and product names that could battle the biggest waves, Gulliver presented his vision to a team of investors and won their approval--and their backing. Once we helped clarify his brand and narrative, he had a brand he could be proud of--all the way to the shipyard.

With a brand launching in 2020 and a new website coming right before that, State of Nowhere is here.