JAB journal

Zohan

2025-04-20 16:24 Projects
In Israel, marketing is very specific. In the vast majority of cases, in the full understanding of the term, it does not exist at all.
Marketing is a set of measures to attract, retain and increase customer loyalty.
Customers come somehow on their own and leave the same way. Clients are used to businesses being largely indifferent to them. The question of retaining them is rarely raised.
That’s why it’s more valuable to find exceptions, one of which was Zohar’s barbershop, whose competitive advantages include a downtown location, multi-lingualism and an online appointment system that is rare here.
Upon talking, we encountered a rare indifference and eagerness to develop, so we did a little audit and presented to the owner, and now we’re going to share it with you.

Brand

The term "Barbershop" defines the specialization in cutting men’s hair and beards. This is a kind of male territory. At the same time every fifth client here is a woman. The brand is a set of emotions from the contact. It is naive to believe that just as it is pleasant for men to come to a man’s territory and see a woman there, it is also pleasant for women to get a haircut in a barbershop. It’s not right, we need to fix it.
In addition, the range of services has recently been expanded with the introduction of a tanning booth. Now the positioning is even more compromised.
The logical solution would be to build an umbrella brand with a division into specializations.
An umbrella brand is a single entity that unites different services. At the same time, the credibility earned by one of them increases the credibility of the entire range.

Name

We realize that "Zohar's barbershop" does not reflect the range of services offered. At the same time, the name is already quite popular, so we suggested several options for a gentle renaming.

Shorten it to “Zohar's”

And for each direction to define its own name:
■ Zohar’s barbershop,
■ Zohar’s beauty,
■ Zohar’s sun lounge,
■ Zohar’s market.
In this case, the naming remains pretty much the same. Unfortunately, zohar.co.il and zohars.co.il are already registered, which is not surprising since it is a fairly popular name in the country.

Modify and give a fresh vibe

Right away we note that the owner of the salon is a young guy, active and open, ready for non-standard solutions.
The concept of the current logo implies his initials (Z and N) closely intertwining the brand with the personality:
The comedy "Don't mess with Zohan" came to mind because of the consonance with the name. When we rewatched it, we found many amusing parallels.
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan is an American film comedy about Israeli special forces officer Zohan Dvir, who fakes his own death and goes to New York to fulfill his dream of becoming a barber.
And after all Zohan = Zoha from the first name and N from the last name, i.e. in this case the connection with the owner is preserved. Randomness is not random! And an additional pleasant surprise: zohan.co.il turned out to be free.
In the end, those familiar with the movie will appreciate the new name and reference, and to those unfamiliar with the movie, Zohar or Zohan — it doesn’t make much difference.

A whole new name

Since the issue of renaming was not discussed in a personal dialog, it is obvious that we should not expect any initiative from the owner; he is satisfied with the current situation. In addition, this option is much larger and its realization will require the owner’s active participation.
At the same time, we considered a couple of options like Zohair (Zohan + hair) and Zona (the first two letters of the first and last name). The first one doesn’t fit after the opening of the solarium and the second one turned out to be a dirty word when we checked it out.

Logo

The current logo is clear, but it has a number of flaws. The grapheme "ZN" does not occur separately, only with the descriptor, as we have shown above.
Due to the size and non-contrast, the grapheme is unreadable. Five stars is clearly a hotel theme. The descriptor "Ladies & Gentlemen Beauty", as written above, is incompatible with the concept of a barbershop. Scissors and a razor whose blade is barely visible are not only unnecessary, but the latter is not at all appropriate for Ladies.
As for the grapheme, its concept is understood and accepted. It can be preserved by drawing it more prominently and endowing it with a really strong character without antiquated "insecurity" and excessive refinement.
Since this is our initiative, we did it as we saw it. We took the necessity of merging Z and N as a base.
Hair, tanning, hair care products store — just the beginning. We believe that development and expansion of products and services is coming. We decided not to be attached to the current ones, making the sign more neutral:
The same old concept, legible letters, clear and harmonious lines with a geometric twist. The strong square shape makes the sign versatile, well suited for avatars, signage and printing.
This variant can undergo changes according to the wishes of the indifferent owner. For example, it is possible to remove the accent from the "A". But let’s leave it for possible modifications.

Presentation

We compiled these considerations as well as suggestions for positioning, website, marketing and development into a document and gave it to Zohar.
May this project, which started as a pro bono, grow into something bigger with far-reaching prospects.