"If I’m being honest, I haven’t felt
anything about tech for some time."
anything about tech for some time."
Challenge
From headphones to mobile phones, tech has become a house of mirrors, reflecting the same tired designs year after year. Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus, saw an opportunity to bring the passion back to technology and reintroduce the artistry, confidence, and craftsmanship that drew him to tech years ago. Partnering with a team of tech veterans, he founded Nothing. Its name inspired by the company’s longer-term vision: a future where nothing stands between people and technology.
Nothing had big dreams. But in the near term, it needed to establish itself as a world-class brand and successfully launch its first-ever product in collaboration with teenage engineering, a pair of true wireless headphones dubbed ear (1).
Nothing had big dreams. But in the near term, it needed to establish itself as a world-class brand and successfully launch its first-ever product in collaboration with teenage engineering, a pair of true wireless headphones dubbed ear (1).
What comes first, the brand
or the product?
or the product?
Friction
Without even a product sketch, the Nothing brand launched in October 2020. The brand-first approach meant that we needed to get people excited about the company’s story. And keep them excited through to the launch of ear (1). Fortunately, Nothing had one hell of a story.
Our mission is to remove barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future that looks, lives, and feels like nothing.
Solution
Working closely with the Nothing team, we helped craft the company’s long-term vision and formulate its focus on removing barriers. In parallel, we explored the brand’s look and feel, drawing inspiration from the raw digital fonts and colors from IBM’s iconic mainframe era in the 1980s.
The brand’s logo was designed to underscore Nothing’s minimalistic vision. To get people hyped about Nothing, we created a short video to reveal the logo and communicate the company’s manifesto.
The brand’s logo was designed to underscore Nothing’s minimalistic vision. To get people hyped about Nothing, we created a short video to reveal the logo and communicate the company’s manifesto.
The next step was communicating the vision: to remove barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future. We wanted to immerse our audience in that future. To do it, we created a video that visualized a world where technology is so integrated into our lives that we barely notice it.
Using social media and the Nothing website, we continuously released brand-building assets, generating awareness and drumming up excitement for the company’s soon-to-be-announced product launch. The render for Concept 1 gave people a first look at how Nothing would manifest its vision with its partner teenage engineering.
Everything that is ear (1) is there with purpose. Everything you see and everything you don’t see.
The date set for the launch. We created a series of hard-hitting brand and product assets, including a 5-part documentary series that introduced the world to the team at Nothing and captured the final weeks inside the company as it prepared for the launch of ear (1).
The carefully timed and thoughtfully assembled mix of assets enabled Nothing to maximize impact with its target audience and reach ambitious pre-order and sales goals (not to mention a high bid of $1,029 on StockX). In the days since its launch, ear (1) has been covered by almost every tech publication imaginable, with outstanding reviews of the product and marketing that helped bring it to life.
Probably best put by Carl Pei, Nothing ear (1) is just the beginning, the first step in a long and exciting journey ahead. We are proud to have been a part of it and look forward to what’s next.