Silk Road

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE

Cryptocurrencies have, in recent years, emerged to become a new store of wealth and increasingly a new method of exchange. Many of the new emerging varieties have come to compete among more established “coins” such as Bitcoin. More recently, LGR Crypto bank of Switzerland—a leader in B2B digital money movement and end-to-end trade finance—established their very own cryptocurrency. Their aim with this move was to better support supply-chain finance in the Central Asian “Silk Road” economies — such as Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as modern-day India and Pakistan. More importantly, their aim was to develop a cryptocurrency for general online trades for Iranian traders wanting to trade with China. The bank’s “coin” offering is known as Silk Road Coin, and they approached us at Zigma8 to help better communicate this new enterprise. Their challenge for us was to create an understanding and a reassurance that would inspire initial investors to help fund the enterprise. To do this, we’d firstly need to create an understanding of its unique differentiator — that it caters to the oil and gas industry. Then, secondly, we’d need create reassurance that the coin is trustworthy.

COMMUNICATION SOLUTION

The name Silk Road derives from the ancient passage of trade connecting the East and the West, passing through Iran. Its long-standing existence served as just one reason why the coin was named as such, beside the obvious location for our client’s enterprise. We chose to highlight these distinct and attractive points, but did things a little differently. To compete with other offerings, we chose to stand out, by representing heritage, contrary to common visuals found within the cryptocurrency community. We used a visual style that borrowed from symbols of historical trade, such as usage of early typography. Our top Iranian branding team used the story of the Silk Road to brand the coin visual, adding iconography to represent aspects of the historic route. To help cement reassurance we also helped the enterprise by creating their communications material, paying extra special attention to their online identity. To top it all off, and to truly stand tall beside other cryptocurrencies, we created the enterprise’s white-paper and provided video production to help promote Iran and other neighboring nations.

COMMUNICATION RESULT

As a result of our brand identity development we were able to help Silk Road Coin achieve its all-important first step. This was to inspire confidence among investors so as to set the coin on the path of being an establish cryptocurrency. In fact, the coin offering by LGR Bank of Switzerland (known as SRC) has come a long way since we’ve helped them. They are now listed on many online exchanges — known as being a new player in the field of cryptocurrency. In conclusion, the Silk Road Coin is a unique offering, in a unique location and providing for a unique business situation, so we were proud to be able to provide a unique creative solution.