Laton Brand Challenge

Laton is a venture capital fund in its founding process, focusing on startups in the gaming sector. Seeking an effective brand identity to compete with already established competitors in the industry, Laton approached Oyster. They needed to present a convincing argument against competitors with successful investment portfolios and significantly larger fund sizes. Moreover, this argument had to appeal to both entrepreneurs and investors amidst a gaming market characterized by increasing complexity and a tendency towards contraction following rapid growth. To address these needs, an extensive research, brand strategy, and design process were initiated

The Oyster strategy team conducted in-depth interviews with both internal stakeholders and players from various points of the gaming industry and venture capital funding domain. This helped in gaining significant insights into both the gaming sector and venture capital funding, understanding pain points, and identifying areas of opportunity. Despite investors and entrepreneurs being in very different worlds, it was observed that due to the current challenging circumstances, they shared similar feelings of doubt, uncertainty, loneliness, and questioning their capabilities for the next move.

A workshop with the Laton team helped in understanding the core values of the brand, enabling the formulation of a strong and consistent value proposition. Considering market conditions and target audience insights, the Oyster team suggested branding Laton around a character that continuously wins, thrives on challenges, and flourishes in tough environments, represented by successful game entrepreneurs who make up the investor base

Oyster’s creative team created a brand universe embodying this winning character. Rising building blocks, upward momentum details, neon tones, and bold typography reflected the feeling of winning. The brand’s ability to speak the language of the gaming world in a fun manner through the concept of “winning,” while also conveying its expertise and target-oriented approach to the business world, was ensured.

With dynamic typography symbolizing expansion and growth, Laton’s unlimited growth potential was highlighted. Through object applications facilitating recognition, Laton was defined as an exclusive club of winners, aiming to address both the feelings of loneliness and inadequacy among target audiences, while also making Laton a highly desirable circle to be part of. With this strong brand identity, Laton embarked on a successful investment journey, reaching an initial fund size of $15 million.