Hortus Botanic Guardians

All 24 botanical gardens endorse the brand 'Hortus. Botanic Guardians’. Furthermore various brands are open to working together and creating 'Hortus. Botanic Guardians’ products. We expect to roll out the campaign and products in the summer of 2017.

The mockups of products with Hortus endorsement function as a discussion piece for brands to join the campaign and become a Botanic Guardian as well.

A broad media campaign would not have any effect. The budget was simply too small. Furthermore, it would not reach and engage the younger audience. We believed new audiences would discover the gardens much sooner if the gardens were to connect with brands already existing in the consumer’s world. So not: 'how do we get people to the gardens?’, but ‘how do we bring the gardens to the people?’

We therefore developed 'Hortus. Botanic Guardians’. A carrier brand for all 24 botanical gardens. A brand you can connect with. And above all a coalition open for other parties. Parties that do not only sympathise, but affirm that conserving biodiversity is part of their purpose. For brands and products that care for plants and their habitat, and realize preserving biodiversity is one of their USPs.

As a starting point for developing the visual identity we were inspired by the Fibonacci numbers which are omnipresent in nature, from the leaf arrangement in plants to the scales of a pineapple. Following this principle, a world of stained glass and coats of arms unfolded, and lead to the caleidoscopic visuals containing a Gilbert & George-esque symmetry.

In the Netherlands there are 24 botanical gardens, each with their very own, incomparable identity.

The Dutch Foundation of Botanical Gardens (NVBT) assigned us to create a logo, identity and pay-off for the joint activities of the gardens, including a campaign and mediaplan. With the objective to increase awareness of the botanical gardens and to attract more and younger visitors to the gardens and the website, and further to increase its revenues through entry fees, sponsorships, donations and bequests.