Ghost Branding, Stealth and Whisper Messaging

Ghost Brands and the Principle of Palimpsest

I was thinking about the notion of a “ghost business,” that—in imagery—could be seen as something hidden, transparent and diaphanous.

Towards the conception of ghostly-related design, and, for example, my simple detailing on the logo design for Ricky Gervais’s film, “Ghost Town” a comedic narrative of his in-human distaste, and later his deathly transformation where
he “dies” for a minute or two and becomes a ghost seer.

That would be—in one instance—
the conception of ghost brand storytelling, however comedic that tale might be.

But in brands—this becomes the idea of a ghosted rendering.
People find out about the ghost brand in a largely un-marketed expression.
You might think, “wait, what’s a ghost brand that I might know?”
Think about a brand that you learned about unconventionally.
That might be that ghost coffee shop that everyone’s talking about, but you can barely even find it on the street?
Like Arcane, Brooklyn—a unique hand-crafted conception that came, literally, out of nowhere. But now it’s a somewhere.

What of Ace Hotels, Alex Calderwood’s hospitality innovation?

Back in the beginning, Ace was a Seattle brand that simply popped-up in place of a halfway house, then in later national and international locations. And the compelling spin was, for early guests, making the discovery as a cascade of unique experiences. This would be reckoned as a casual, and causally tactical, set of guest passage touchpoint and room details that would be more artful, inventive collateral, room details and messaging interplayed.

Brands that grow up out of nowhere might be called ghost brands, where the message is a whisper.
It’s a referral—one quieter, susurrant voice to another. And like a ghost, it might be hidden, yet discoverable.

In our history, we’ve designed dozens of brands that are hidden—they are built in stealth, oftentimes for years, as a concealed and protected development—and held uncover for a later launch date—as a strategic revelation. That might be one side of ghost-branding, a notation of a secret and protected technology, like our brand strategy and design collaborations with the founder of Pattern, Mark Anderson and his team, building a proprietary pattern search tool, analytical information-insight discovery engine, XAI digital and hardware system.

Given the uniqueness of the IP, we built under
an operational parlance, using a
codename—a ghost.

Another ghost—the launch of the RISC microprocessor—for IBM, Apple and Motorola.
A year of work with Lineene Krasnow and Nobuo Mii,
in seclusion, in building the
PowerPC™ and PowerPersonal™ brands.

And GIRVIN’s brand design of the PowerPersonal™
Hardware Platform—built in seclusion.

Other forms of ghost branding?
Perhaps that could be the whispered expression of an artful experientiality in retail.
Like the layered narratives of Gentle Monster—as a start-up, again, whispered in the beginning.
Now a global brand. Selling eyeglasses.

The branding is understated, retail is artful, sculptural, and complexly theatrical.
The question, for an eyeglass brand, the “branding” is quiet. Whispered.
A theatrical guest journey that might say, “wait, what is this?”
It’s unexpected.

Photographs by Dawn A. Clark, AIA LEED AP, Seoul, Korea.

Reminds me, too, of the understatement of a 800 year old brand legacy,
now—and then—very quiet.
Mysterious.
Santa Maria Novella, Officina Profumo e Farmaceutica

The labeling—while, some might say is over-branded—
might actually almost be seen as a retro rendering of currency.
Or, perhaps, the question might be: “what is it?”

And mysterious it is—I had to research simply to find it [here you go.]
And it seems almost intentionally ghosted. Or perhaps better said, palimpsest—a brand that has to be uncovered in the layers of what exists before. And what has been laid over, like a fine manuscript exemplar.
Architect, retail designer, and strategist, Dawn Clark reminded me that some seek ghost brands, like Jon Bresler, who’s brought obscure brands to the US, like SMNOPeF among other brands,
as well as creating his own unbranded products.

To the expression of ghostworks in other branding programs, expanding on the quiet substrate of presentation,
we consider the idea of messaging—brand visioning—that finds
a presence in whispered reminders of enterprise mission and action.

GIRVIN mnemonics in a scientific laboratory.

Stealth speaks to motion picture branding, always undercover in development, IP-protected—scripts only read onsite in a locked room, studio security regulations, file controls, with design inside special, locked and inspectable servers. In our history, stealth would be any Marvel brand, all of our StarTrek brand logo projects, all Mission: Impossible design programs—and, more recently, our design programs for Amazon Studios and Citadel. Strictly secret.

Sometimes a whisper is all that is needed.

Tim | GIRVIN
West Queen Anne Studios
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Tim.Girvin | Wanderer

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The narrative could be silent, a quiet “only you know,”
community relationship in brand legacy.

Title page from Girvin’s copy of “Ghostland.”