Seaweed Valley
Giving Europe’s seaweed sector a shared voice
CLIENT Seaweedland (and Hortimare)
Services
Brand Strategy Workshop
Brand Positioning & Messaging
Tone of Voice & Brand Guidelines
Funding Communication Pack (One-Pager & Pitch Deck)
About
Seaweed Valley is building the innovation ecosystem for Europe’s seaweed sector. Rooted in Noord-Holland, it merges Hortimare’s R&D and seed-breeding expertise with Seaweedland‘s land-based cultivation technology, working alongside local government, educational institutions, and industry leaders to close the gap between seaweed research and market demand.
Their ambition is to connect a fragmented industry, make credible opportunities visible, and prove what seaweed can genuinely contribute to food, feed, plant, and biomaterial supply chains, before Europe cedes the sector entirely to Asia.
THE CHALLENGE
Seaweed Valley’s vision was clear, but it lived differently in every team member’s head. Ask five people what Seaweed Valley actually is, and you’d get five slightly different answers. The organisation was already fielding questions from policymakers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and industry peers, proof of its role as a bridge between technical expertise and end markets, but without a shared, written-down Why, How, and What to answer them with.
Without a clear positioning and consistent communication, Seaweed Valley could be mistaken for “just another initiative” rather than the credible, collaborative industry leader it aims to be. The wider seaweed sector adds its own headwinds, low consumer awareness, unclear market pathways, and a history of over-promising, making credibility something Seaweed Valley had to earn.
The Approach
Before Seaweed Valley could speak with one voice to the outside world, the team needed to agree, internally, on what that voice was saying. Our sessions went back to the core of the organisation first, then built outward: aligning the team on a shared Why, How, and What before turning it into practical tools to communicate with the outside world.
Phase 1: Brand strategy & foundation
We facilitated a co-creation workshop with the Hortimare and Seaweedland team, using ecosystem mapping, audience identification, and archetype exploration to finalise Seaweed Valley’s Why, How, and What. We weighed two archetypes, the grounded wisdom of the Sage against the bold curiosity of the Explorer, and landed on the Explorer as the truest fit for a brand built on venturing into unproven territory. From there, we defined brand positioning, mapped primary and secondary audiences, and set key messages for each.
Phase 2: Core messaging & audiences
Building on the workshop, we developed a brand strategy that articulates Seaweed Valley’s purpose, positioning, and narrative, with audience profiles, messaging frameworks, and content pillars to guide ongoing communication.
Phase 3: Practical brand tools
We translated the strategy into a practical brand guide the Seaweed Valley team and partners could pick up and use: mission, vision, values and proposition, logo usage, colour palette, typography, a tone of voice guide, imagery style, and quick-start templates for social posts, one-pagers, and event slides.
Phase 4: Funding communication pack
To support Seaweed Valley in conversations with funders and partners, we built a communication pack: a clear articulation of the sector’s challenges and Seaweed Valley’s role in solving them, a one-pager, and a support deck they can adapt for meetings, covering the Why/How/What, market gap and positioning, initial traction, and priority projects.
Logo design process
The result
We delivered a brand foundation that lets Seaweed Valley speak with one credible voice across a very varied audience, from researchers to funders to industry pioneers.
- Brand strategy: A defined Why, How, and What, positioning, and messaging framework built around the archetypes and audiences uncovered in the workshop.
- Brand guide: Logo, colour, typography, tone of voice, and imagery guidelines the team can apply consistently, without needing a designer for every touchpoint.
- Communication pack: A one-pager and pitch materials, translated into the live seaweedvalley.com one-pager site, ready to share with researchers, funders, and industry partners securing the launch of the Seaweed Valley foundation.
Final Brand Book
A collective effort: who else was on this project?
Edwin Mwai: logo and brand asset design
Edwin created different logo directions based on two different archetypes we considered to base the branding on. Eventually, we chose a direction fitting the audience most, designing the logo in a professional way.
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We see every challenge like a collaboration. Your story. Our strategy.
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