D U N L O P S P O R T
B I O M I M E T I C
Dunlop's sales had recently suffered. Its design cosmetics were outdated, while competitors were winning market share with stories about benefit-led technology, and with modern cosmetics and packaging. The new Biomimetic technology needed a story, a way to make sophisticated racket technology understandable, believable, tangible and desirable to players of all levels.
The idea was to look to nature as the source of performance, and to turn that into a narrative that could carry the technology across the whole range. One example was AeroSkin, inspired by the microscopic structure of shark skin, which smooths the flow of water over the animal's body. We applied the same principle to airflow, using it on specific areas of the racket, much like the dimples on a golf ball. It reduced drag by up to 26%, a result backed by an independent study from Loughborough University, and helped players generate faster swing speeds.
My role was to create the identity and narrative for the technology. The technology itself had already been agreed, so my job was to build the story around it: working out how to explain it, what to say, how to say it and what it would look like, then carrying it consistently into every place a player might encounter it.
The story was delivered as a full campaign across every touchpoint. On the product, the narrative was carried onto the rackets through cosmetics and graphics, and extended to luggage, clothing and accessories. In print, it covered advertising, brochures, labels and packaging. Online, it appeared in website graphics and third-party banners and adverts. In store, it shaped the point-of-sale communication, where the story had to work at the moment of purchase.
Keeping one idea consistent from a magazine advert to the face of a racket on a shelf is what turned the technology into a recognisable brand story. The campaign achieved record product sales, and its success meant the technology was developed further and continued for four years longer than originally planned.
