Europe's leading quality acoustic-guitar maker chooses Kind

Furch is a European acoustic guitar maker with an incredible focus on quality and constant innovation. When this leading producer of premium-quality instruments wanted to revitalise its nearly 40-year-old brand, it turned to Kind.

Based in the Czech Republic, the Furch name has been synonymous with high-quality acoustic instruments for almost four decades. Its guitars are used by a diverse roster of major artists worldwide, including the legendary Suzanne Vega, hitmaker Per Gessle of Roxette, former Dire Straits rhythm guitarist and now solo artist David Knopfler, plus Oscar-winning Irish singer/songwriter Glen Hansard.

'Creative rebellion'
The desire to create is at the heart of all musicians - and the story behind the Furch brand is an exceptional tale of creative rebellion.

The company's founder, Frantisek Furch, was frustrated in the 1970s at the lack of quality instruments available in the then socialist Czechoslovakia. His solution? To build his own. By the 1980s his reputation amongst local musicians had spread and demand for his creations was so high, Frantisek decided to bravely defy the authorities. At that time, all private enterprise was banned. Frantisek, however, went 'underground', building and selling his instruments out of his garage in secret.

In the 1990s, following the fall of communism, Furch was able to move to much larger premises and produce his guitars without fear of reprisal. Although up until the 1990s the company's market was exclusively Czech, today Furch enjoys an enviable reputation internationally, selling on five continents and manufacturing approximately 6,000 guitars a year.

'Natural evolution'
Kind's first task was to enhance the Furch logo with a subtle update; essentially the client wanted a slightly refined, more modern and cleaner take of the logo that guitar players have been accustomed to for decades. Petr Furch, who joined the management team of Furch in 2006 and is now CEO of the company that his father created, said: 'The refinements are subtle when it comes to our new logo, but this was a challenge that Kind worked with us closely on and they respected our desires and needs. It was very much a case of showing a path of natural evolution. The logo change reflects our commitment to continuing technological development and the high quality of Furch guitars.'

'Aspire to perfection'
In addition, Kind has created a bold, distinct advertising campaign for the brand which will feature in a host if international guitar publications in 2018 and beyond. To complement this, Kind was also commissioned to produce a short video - which the agency christened 'Aspire to perfection' - to capture the soul of Furch. This film now forms a central role on the company's website, www.furch.cz

Such was the response to the film, that Furch ended up using the line 'Aspire to perfection' as a key element in its communications.

'Reputation'
General Manager of Furch, Petr Furch, said from the company's headquarters in : 'We have planned 2018 to be a major year for Furch in terms of building brand recognition globally. Our guitars already enjoy a fantastic reputation amongst players around the world. However, we know that we have to communicate the things that separate us from our often larger competitors more effectively.

'To help us get where we need to be, I chose to start working with Kind - and the results of our collaboration so far have been world class. Right from the start they showed an incredible enthusiasm for the products themselves and, with a number of musicians on the Kind team, they had a genuine understanding of our target group.

'Quality'
'The print advertisements, Aspire to Perfection video and the subtly refined logo, all successfully convey what we stand for as a company - quality and constant innovation in all aspects of what we do.

'I look forward to working on a number of future projects together in order to build the Furch band even further globally.'

'Exciting'
Tom Emil Olsen, founder, CEO and Creative Director at Kind, said: 'We are delighted that Petr and the team at Furch chose to use Kind as they ramp up their branding activity to new levels in 2018. We very much look forward to continuing out collaboration with this exciting, innovative and highly respected guitar maker.'