Brand strategy for a market leader in Europe’s electric vehicle charging industry
Beltran Dobao — Global VP Marketing at EVBox
“Joseph's work as strategist, creative, and copywriter for EVBox has had a profound impact on the organization's brand. His understanding of the climate tech landscape paired with his strategic mindset has given EVBox a sustainable edge in a rapidly saturating industry. As a result of his work, we are approaching the future with a new narrative that's been embedded throughout EVBox's go to market strategy.”
EVBox is a market leader in the European EV charging industry.
It’s a heritage brand — as much as that exists in the nascent EV industry — and it’s a multinational scaleup, HQ’d in Amsterdam and owned by a French utility company. It was started by a Formula One driver…
It’s a seriously interesting brand.
But after a period of massive growth, two acquisitions, a failed IPO, and with a sprawling portfolio and a new management team; the company had lost it identity.
However, it’s also a true climate tech solution.
The company’s tagline is literally “powering our sustainable future” and they produce cutting edge electric vehicle charging solution technology.
And if we are to reach our climate goals, then we must lay the foundations of tomorrow’s electric vehicle charging network today.
FFS: They just launched released the fastest charging station on the European roads: 400kW.
And they asked me?
To help them craft their new brand?
To define their mission, vision and values.
To help shape the brand characteristics and in turn, the visual identity.
To write the story they take to the market…
The story the CEO tells when he gives an interview,
…the story the VP of marketing and the Head of Demand Gen integrates into their campaigns,
…the story the PR department tells the press,
…the story that the CCO uses to open sales conversations.
It was the opportunity that shaped my career.
I couldn’t believe it and I still can’t believe it.
It’s the opportunity that’s solidified my approach to brand building.
And it’s helped me develop my skills in not only writing these stories, but transforming them into new mediums like film as a creative.
All whilst holding true to my biggest value: communicating sustainability as an opportunity, but not as a given (and according to greenwashing laws).
About how we contribute to a sustainable future, but that doesn’t mean that we can call our products sustainable.
It’s been a wild ride.
It’s taken me to Romania and Georgia. It’s put me on stage in front of hundreds of people, when fireworks went off to celebrate the brand launch, followed by a very Dutch techno DJ. And it’s given me the opportunity to work with countless excellent people.
I don’t expect you can fit all the things I’ve done throughout this process under one hat. I’ve worn many. But if i had to try, I’d say this:
I’m the brand’s strategist: I work with the brand team but as an external. I consult across departments. And this gives me the opportunity to be objective and to tell it like it is…
But then what does that actually mean, right? What do you produce?
Product copy?
Ad campaigns?
Vague statements about values?
Blogs?
Sure, you can find my words and my photos and my brain in all those things, but…
I produce value. I produce alignment. I produce interest.
But perhaps more importantly, I have also been the sparing partner, life coach, adventurer, dreamer, and on at least one occasion, last-man-standing on the dancefloor.
As you can probably tell, I loved every minute of it.
Below you can find a range of assets that we worked on, and are still working on, throughout the strategy, development, and rollout of this rebrand.
If you want to do something like this, to embark into the unknown of climate entrepreneurship, to shape the future together, to build something incredible, I want in.
Full testimonial by Julie Davy-Adjei, Director Brand & Customer Communications
Joseph has been working for EVBox for two and a half years now as copywriter and brand strategist. He has been helping us formulate value propositions for many new products we have launched in the last year but more importantly, he has been instrumental in our recent rebrand project.
The EVBox brand had barely changed since the company was founded back in 2010. There was never a clear brand strategy, and we inherited a legacy of inconsistencies and quick fixes. There were some elements of brand foundations like a story and a slogan but there was a lack of clarity around the brand’s strategy, even the brand team was confused.
The rebrand project started a long time ago, but everything accelerated when I took over the role of brand manager. Joseph and the team had already made great strides, particularly around the visual identity but there was still confusion around our brand core: our purpose, mission, vision, values etc. This was not originally in the scope of the rebrand project but thanks to Joseph’s expertise and tenacity, we decided to look at everything again.
Joseph has developed his own 6-step brand building methodology, which we have used for our project.
We have gone through many iterations, far too many hours in video calls but I am very proud to say we now have a clear brand strategy, three strong brand characteristics, a solid verbal identity as well as a powerful strategic narrative, thanks to Joseph’s pivotal role. His deep knowledge of the sustainability tech landscape was also a strong advantage. He was able to steer us in the right direction and get EVBox to truly stand out.
Joseph also supported us with the creation of clear brand guidelines to ensure employees, partners and other stakeholders could easily get familiar with the new brand.
This was all launched earlier this year and the feedback we have received from internal stakeholders is overwhelmingly positive. Everyone is now clear on our brand’s position, our mission and who we serve. Our brand is now stronger, more cohesive, and better positioned for the future, all thanks to his expertise and dedication.
This was an all-consuming project and Joseph never shied away from it. Throughout the duration of the rebrand, Joseph consistently demonstrated professionalism, reliability, and a genuine passion for our brand’s success, while still supporting on his copywriting day-to-day projects.
Working with Joseph was a great experience, and I am immensely grateful for his contributions to our brand's journey.
We are not stopping there, and we have already asked him to work on the production of a brand positioning video as well as a brand awareness advertising campaign.
About Joseph D. Simpson: I am a brand strategist, creative, and native English copywriter, well-versed in the science of sustainability and trained by the the CEO of a public company in business transformation (I helped him write his best-selling book). I host a podcast called Climate Tech Growth and I have written a book called Climate Tech Branding: How to build a sustainable tech brand. I’ve also contributed to publications like Sifted and The Next Web.
You can contact me at joseph@climatetechbranding.com.
(p.s. Please let this be a lesson for those who think AI is going to replace us creatives. Try to find a program that can punch that much soul into a case study and I’ll chop off my left pinkie. We’re still alright!)
