“Marshform” characters live within insurance company’s new graphic system

Ragged Edge has rebranded insurance company Marshmallow, with a suite of graphic characters inspired by the logo mascot.

Marshmallow targets customers who are underserved by traditional insurance companies, such as migrants and expats, whose circumstances are hard to price. The company looked to Ragged Edge  to help “refocus their offer” and accelerate growth, according to the studio’s co-founder Max Ottignon.

To realise Marshmallows vision of becoming “the go-to insurance company for people on the up”, Ragged Edge was tasked with carrying out a full rebrand, from brand strategy through to visual and verbal identity, says Ottignon. The company also wanted to rally its internal team “around a singular mission”, he adds.

The new brand was built around the idea of “valuing difference”, which Ottignon says is “relevant to an audience who are consistently penalised for their diverse backgrounds, experiences and circumstances”. Designing an identity that could communicate Marshmallow’s unique ethos “in clear, inclusive and empathetic way”, while being “unmistakably distinctive” was a challenge, he reveals.

The “Marshforms” which were devised from the company’s new logo, seek to differentiate it from its competitors. Ottignon describes the logo mascot as “distinctive and full of warmth and character”, which is why the studio used it to inspire the wider graphic system.

The characters are made from a variety shapes, in a bid to convey “the breadth of different experiences that Marshmallow considers when pricing a quote”, says Ottignon. He explains how the graphic approach “flexes from those individual characters, right through to the underlying graphic system”, as the studio sought to make the brand infinitely scalable and coherent across all touchpoints.

Marshmallow Youth – the company’s new bespoke typeface – is a customised version of the rounded Youth font by AllCaps foundry. It was chosen for its “bold, playful character”, which Ottignon says “felt perfect for the tone of the brand”.

Ragged Edge worked with All Caps on the modifications to increase readability, making it as accessible as possible for people with varying English proficiency levels, according to Ottignon.

With the view of creating something as “hugely flexible but immediately recognisable” as the visual elements, Ottignon says the studio devised a new tone of voice that expresses “empathy and understanding for the varied journeys of the Marshmallow audience”.

Marshmallow’s new identity has rolled out across all physical and digital touchpoints, from the app and website to ads and communications.