MySports – Branding is Campaigning
MySports features talks with experts and background reports, broadcasts Swiss hockey games and Bundesliga soccer matches, and airs content produced in collaboration with Red Bull. When VP Steffi Buchli was looking for an agency to further develop the channel’s identity, UPC MySports decided to work with LoF*.
LoF* Brand Exploration, Strategy Development, and Impact Refresh sees itself as an Innovation & Strategic Branding Agency. “We were in a larger committee – the editor in chief, the head of programming, and the UPC strategists, among others – and were sold on LoF*’s convincing presentation of ideas and strategies” – Steffi Buchli, VP UPC My Sports, June 2020
We at LoF* believe in completely new ways of collaboration between client and agency. Our work with MySports is a perfect example of that. “And the free space during lockdown actually made it possible to come up with the idea for LoF*,” says Roger Staub, Co-Founder. LoF* – short for Leap of Faith – means, “You need to take a risk in order to seize the opportunities of the future,” adds Christoph Eschmann, Co-Founder. “And the future is what we make of it.” Which partially explains why the founders of LoF* aren’t strict believers in market research and other prediction tools. “The best way to predict the future is to co-create it. And to achieve that you need ideas and a strong implementation. That’s what we’re about at LoF*,” Christoph says.
The way of looking at things is typical for the superfresh, future-oriented branding agency. Even though the founders of LoF* have already gained a lot of invaluable experience – Roger as a creative director in Los Angeles and Christoph as a strategic consultant and co-owner of a larger-size agency in Switzerland – the 40-somethings have remained refreshingly open-minded.
In a world that will be completely different tomorrow from today, staying curious and open to new ideas is more necessary than ever. And somehow this time right now is ideally suited to us and our ideas for the coming multilayered, new world.
“This is something LoF* is very good at: Uncovering really interesting yet realistic possibilities and opportunities for an effective evolution.” says Steffi Buchli.
“We think of ourselves as digital nomads; we are wherever we can be effective for our clients,” say LoF*'s Roger and Christoph. “We need neither an expensive, old-school IT infrastructure nor a server – our agency is totally cloud-based and wherever we are at the moment.” – Comming to think of it, our setup is more as a mobile office than a home office, but probably not even that anymore. We’re actually taking it one step further and posing a more disruptive question: Do we really still need an office when an office infrastructure isn’t necessary anymore?
“But what is very important to us, especially considering our sometimes really disruptive ideas for the future, is our strong, deep roots.” LoF* draws its inspiration from Los Angeles, where Roger has worked as creative director for 14-plus years and built a strong network. When it comes to implementation, Zurich is the place to be for both founders and where many new things are being dreamed up. It’s also where Christoph and his family have been living for the past years. And then there’s Schaffhausen, where LoF* AG has its headquarters – the charming and pragmatic small town on the Rhine that Roger and Christoph grew up in and that keeps them grounded.
We LoF* the World …
Roger, who has designed shows for Eminem, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z as creative director, experienced the power of true diversity and truly international teams in L.A. So during lockdown, LoF* went on to handle part of the redesign of MySports with a global team: The motion graphics for the MySports clips were done collaboratively in India, Zurich, and New York, mainly because the eclectic imagery required diverse skill sets. LoF* joined forces with GMD THREE from N.Y.C. on the wild motion collage since his experience with street art and music video clips were a perfect match.
“As LoF* we offer access to the world. We celebrate the local and regional perspectives and put them into a global context. We bridge the gap between local and regional perspectives and an international, more global view” say Roger and Christoph.
MySports and LoF* are both happy with the outcome! The new channel identity was launched in December 2020.