Erik Mashkilleyson

Work / Case study

SYNLAB / LounaLab

Making the invisible visible.

We built a new wellbeing lab brand that turns health worry into knowledge people can act on.

Brand strategy · Brand story · Value proposition · Launch · 2020–2021

Client
SYNLAB / LounaLab
Project
Brand strategy, brand story, value proposition and launch
Year
2020–2021
Sector
Health and wellbeing
My role
Brand strategy, positioning and launch
Themes
Behaviour, Growth, Trust
Sheet
30
Fig. 01
A woman smiling with closed eyes, her hair lit by the sun, in LounaLab's ultramarine duotone.
LounaLab. Making the invisible visible.

SYNLAB was creating LounaLab, a new brand for people who want to understand and actively follow their wellbeing through laboratory measurements.

At Avidly, I worked on the brand strategy, positioning, story, value proposition and launch. We positioned LounaLab as a promoter of individual wellbeing and a progressive values leader.

The brand essence became “Herää elämään”, or “Wake up to life.” Its mission was “We open a window into your inner wellbeing,” and the brand promise was “Näkymättömästä näkyvää,” or “Making the invisible visible.”

01 Customer insight

Turning the category's feelings upside down

The audience was healthy, active people aged 25 to 54 who invest in their wellbeing and want to stay informed. Health talk around them ran on anxiety. Many people guessed at their health, felt guilty about every treat and worried they were doing too little.

Regular measurement gave us a way to reverse those feelings. Precise numbers replace guesswork, so a person can see they are doing fine and decide for themselves where to focus.

Feelings in the category:
Worry. Something is wrong.
Guilt. Why haven't I taken better care of myself?
Uncertainty. I don't know what is happening in my body.

With LounaLab:
Confidence. I take care of myself as well as I can.
Responsibility. I want to own my wellbeing.
Knowledge. I know where I stand and can follow it.

02 Brand strategy

A brand built from values and from the customer

The platform had two sources. Internally, values, essence and mission described who LounaLab is. Externally, customer attraction factors and positioning described what makes it relevant. Both meet in the brand promise, which every touchpoint of the customer experience reflects.

Values:
Vitality. We free people to live without fear, through our own example and by supporting the vitality of others.
Balance. We value natural, harmonious being and meeting people genuinely.
Expertise. We are truthful and measurable in everything we do, and our worldview is based on science.

Essence: Herää elämään. Wake up to life.
Mission: We open a window into your inner wellbeing.
Customer attraction factors: encourages self-reliance, of its time, full of joy for life, simple, supports an active lifestyle.
Positioning: a promoter of individual wellbeing and a progressive values leader.

Brand promise: Näkymättömästä näkyvää. Making the invisible visible.

What used to be unknown and uncertain is now easy to measure. Knowledge leads to a sense of control, which leads to peace of mind and confidence.

Knowledge → Control → Release from guilt and worry → Peace of mind → Confidence → Enjoying life → Waking up to life

Fig. 02
LounaLab logo over a man in a misty forest, in ultramarine duotone, with notes about values that should not be too high or too low.
Copy plays with values that can't be too high or too low, and values that find their balance.

03 Positioning

From neutral service to awakener

We mapped the Finnish health and wellbeing market on two axes. One ran from reactive care to proactive, personalised data. The other ran from a neutral service delivering results to a guide that helps people act on them.

Vital guide: expert advice for life.
Neutral knower: factual, neutral service.
Carer: reactive care.
Awakener: proactive, personal data.

LounaLab took the upper right corner. It produces personal health data like a wellness tracker and gives the expert guidance of a healthcare provider. The ambition was to make knowing your blood values as routine as a dental check-up.

04 Brand story

Wake up to life

It's time to wake up. Open your eyes and let the light reach your retinas. Remember why you get out of bed. Breathe.

Life is a heartbeat, creaking bones, millions of cells flowing like butterflies from head to toe. Everything from tiny cells to small wishes that keep you alive and make you who you are.

We have a window into your wellbeing. Let's open it together. Know yourself.

Wake up to life.

05 Marketing concept

Arvot kohdallaan

The launch concept used the double meaning of the Finnish word arvot, which refers both to personal values and to measurable health values. Personal values and the values from the lab became one creative world. The concept invites people to explore their own values and their balance, so they can live a life that feels good to them.

LounaLab owns the word arvo. The concept scales across channels and also commits the brand to ethical conduct: fair, trustworthy and respectful of the customer.

Lab values: ferritin, magnesium, cholesterol, glucose, vitamin B12, thyroxine, testosterone, oestrogen, cortisol.
Life values: good sleep, an alert mind, family, plant-based food, performance, peace of mind.

Balance in your values gives peace of mind and the freedom to enjoy the life you want.

Olet mitattavan arvokas. Launch campaign: you are measurably valuable.
Minun arvoni. Influencers open up their own values.
Jaa jos arvostat. Social: share appreciation with others.
Anna arvo toiselle. Offer: two tests for the price of one.
Hyvää arvon päivää. An open invitation to get tested.
Arvostetut. Internal launch for employees.

Fig. 03
A man walking in a misty Nordic forest in ultramarine duotone, with the LounaLab logo and the words Arvot kohdallaan.
Arvot kohdallaan, roughly “values in balance”. The visual world pairs people in Nordic nature with the brand's ultramarine duotone.

06 Launch

Olet mitattavan arvokas

The launch campaign, roughly “You are measurably valuable”, encourages people to value themselves and their wellbeing, now and in the future. Every execution pairs a measurable blood value with the life value it supports. An animated ring, borrowed from the language of health tracking, reads the values on screen.

Fig. 04
A smiling woman in blue duotone inside a ring reading Olet mitattavan arvokas, with ferritin, good sleep, energy and strong hair around it.
Key visual. The ring names ferritin next to the life values it affects: good sleep, energy and strong hair.

07 Launch programme

First a phenomenon, then a booking

The launch was designed as a multi-channel programme spanning PR, influencers, digital advertising, native content and continuous marketing. The goal was for the audience to first think “what is this, I keep seeing it everywhere” and then act: read more and book a test.

Phase 1. Make it a phenomenon. Strong PR on the growth of health data in Finland and abroad, a start backed by several influencers and hundreds of micro-influencers, and native articles.

Phase 2. Bring interest home to LounaLab. A broad advertising campaign to reach the masses, plus tailored ads for chosen lead products and segments.

Ongoing. Continuous marketing. Tactical digital, PR stories, influencer marketing, visible partnerships and native advertising.

Fig. 05
A message in a bottle resting on stones by a lake at dusk.
Guerrilla. “Olet mitattavan arvokas” messages hidden in bottles, on trails and in treetops, with a treasure hunt shared live on social media.

Selected artefacts

Fig. 06
A man paddling a boat on a still lake, with two rings reading testosterone and Olet mitattavan arvokas.
Film · LounaLab melonta. Video ad from the launch. A paddler on a still lake, with the rings measuring the values behind performance and calm.
Fig. 07
A woman smiling in blue duotone inside a ring reading D-vitamiini + ferritiini 30 €.
Product ad. The same ring carries a product offer, here the vitamin D and ferritin test package.
Fig. 08
A man in a knitted hat looking up at a rock, with a ring reading testosterone, peace of mind and heart rate.
Social. Testosterone sits on the same ring as heart rate and peace of mind.
Fig. 09
A man stepping out of a wooden sauna, with rings reading heart rate, ferritin and alertness.
Video. Animated infographics read heart rate, ferritin and alertness in everyday Finnish moments.
Fig. 10
A hand holding a phone with a LounaLab chat that helps choose a test, in front of a black and white landscape.
Chat ad. Banner traffic lands in a conversational ad that helps choose the right test and books it.
Fig. 11
A man in a misty forest in blue duotone, with a ring reading testosterone and Olet mitattavan arvokas.
Feed ad. For men over 50: performance and muscle strength, measured.
Fig. 12
A laughing woman with curly hair inside a ring reading kasvissyönti, plant-based eating.
Feed ad. Plant-based eating as a value, paired with vitamin B12 and ferritin.
Fig. 13
Feet walking along a fallen tree in a forest, with rings reading Olet mitattavan arvokas and ferritin.
Feed ad. Energy and stamina, with ferritin tests available without a doctor's referral.
Fig. 14
A wide banner with a person leaping by a lake and four rings for men 50+, women 50+, plant-based eaters and exercisers.
Display. “What is your most important value?” Alertness, exercise, good sleep or plant-based food.
Fig. 15
A wide banner with four rings presenting test packages beside a woman in blue duotone.
Display. Product-led banners present the test packages and their benefits as infographics.
Fig. 16
An ice swimmer lowered into a hole in the ice, with the LounaLab logo and a cortisol test offer.
Film concept. An ice swimmer lowers into the water, calm and steady, while the rings read heart rate, cortisol and alertness.
01What we created
  • Brand strategy
  • Positioning
  • Brand story
  • Value proposition
  • Marketing concept
  • Launch
02My role

I worked on LounaLab's brand strategy, positioning, brand story, value proposition, marketing concept and launch at Avidly.

03Brand platform
  • Essence: Herää elämään. Wake up to life.
  • Mission: We open a window into your inner wellbeing.
  • Promise: Näkymättömästä näkyvää. Making the invisible visible.
See also