How might a B2B company effectively introduce a completely new solution to their target audience? What strategies can be used to make complex technology services easily understood right at the start of your customer relationships? 

Those were some of the initial challenges Marketbloc, a Techstars Chicago class of 2024 startup, approached Laetro with. 

Marketbloc is dedicated to drastically simplifying performance marketing for founders and small businesses. They occupy a distinct niche in the chatbot assistant market and their innovative offering provides powerful features for users. However, as a new B2B startup, Marketbloc faces unique marketing challenges in bringing this novel product to market.

The Request: Develop a mascot to personify an AI marketing platform

The MarketBloc team reached out to Laetro for help in developing an identity for itself, using a mascot concept as a starting point. Specifically, they wanted to personify their chatbot with a character that’s engaging, unique, and representative of what the platform can deliver to its users.

The Solution: A bold character designed to guide customers

The project required overcoming a few initial challenges. The first was how to use a character persona to provide an identity for a company that specializes in marketing automation for its customers. 

Marketbloc’s initial character concepts were already complete with a unique backstory and home planet—where marketing was a way of life. The Laetro team took these concepts and fleshed out various character paths, each defined by different origin stories, personalities, special abilities, and visual presentations. 

Janna Reddig, Laetro Brand Strategist: "The big idea was to bring the character to life with an origin story. We presented a lot of options which the MarketBloc team found helpful."

Laetro gathered examples of how the mascot could functionally behave to serve Marketbloc’s business goals, and pitched ideas on what the mascot could do in terms of defining a brand and visual identity. 

Once the character was locked in, the Laetro team developed video scripts and sourced voiceover talent conducive to the initial phases of the chatbot’s launch.

Maintaining close collaboration while offering flexible solutions, the group at Laetro quickly became an extension of the Marketbloc marketing team. Calls were lively and productive, and there was a clear direction that allowed the best ideas to thrive. 

Slack provided the full team with current project updates, and the group at Laetro was able to jump into different corners of the project to provide assets and perspectives the company had not previously seen. 

The result was a clear success. Born out of a close partnership, the platform’s character development led to a powerful logo, wordmark and visual identity. These assets helped create a tighter brand story and character personality, helping the company present itself as a robust marketing collaborator for its customers.