Brand research

Brand strategy

In 2019, WHOI engaged with Boathouse, a Boston branding agency, to develop WHOI’s brand strategy. Boathouse conducted 75+ hours of interviews with more than 200 scientists, engineers, supporters, and experts, both internal and external to WHOI. They researched WHOI’s competitive landscape. And they worked with WHOI to identify key brand attributes and develop compelling messages, testing and refining these messages through an online study of close to 1,000 respondents.

Visual identity

After completing the brand strategy with Boathouse, we focused on the next step of WHOI’s “brand refresh,” namely, developing a comprehensive visual identity. A visual identity is a complete graphical system consisting of colors, typography, stationery, templates, design standards, and—most importantly—the logo and “wordmark” used to graphically represent the Institution’s name to external audiences.

To aid us in the process of evaluating existing components of our graphics system and assist us in developing a new system, WHOI hired Marquis, a branding and design firm out of Boston. During this engagement, Marquis explored elements of WHOI’s visual brand history dating back to 1930, performed qualitative and quantitative interviews and surveys, and developed a new logo and wordmark system that includes the original WHOI seal. More than 5,000 people participated in an online survey to select WHOI's new logo.

Market Research

Pollfish Brand Awareness, OTZ, and Ocean Literacy Survey

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution harnessed the power of Pollfish, an innovative marketing and consumer insights platform, to assess brand recognition, Ocean Twilight Zone comprehension, and Ocean Literacy over time. This partnership will enable us to gather valuable data to strengthen our mission and engage the public in ocean science.