When the Goobers were conceived in the 3D birthing suite of the OOTS studio, level 7 at 5:15pm on a wet and humid Tuesday, the first response wasn’t the applause it deserved.
There was a version of the OOTS rebrand without them. Clean. Structured. Strategic.
Three years in the making. No one wanted to add another “thing”. (Not after three years of deciding if we will change the fonts or not.)
It was more like: “Do we need these?” “Will clients understand it?” “Is this adding complexity?” All fair questions, probably.
I know when you’ve spent years refining a system, the instinct is to protect it. Keep it tight. Keep it rational. And some plump, gummy-looking objects named “Goobers” doesn’t scream “professional, serious business” to the management team.
That was the problem.
Pictured: Some of the OOTS team fighting for their ideas in the ‘war room’ ft. goobers.
They’re the weird bit of friction inside a glossy and polished brand system.
Logically, the industry loves clarity. It loves things that can be explained in an 11 word elevator pitch. But distinctiveness often lives in the part you can’t fully justify. That’s why the Goobers almost didn’t happen.
They took conversations. They took convincing. They took the uncomfortable cringey moment of saying; “They aren’y random, they are the OOTS culture and energy.”
And yes — at one point we had to answer the uncomfortable question:
“But why do we need them?”
Totally fair.
But the same question could be asked about a lot of the most distinctive things in branding.
Take Mailchimp for instance. Technically, they didn’t need Freddie the chimp. Email software works perfectly well without a slightly mischievous automation loving cartoon monkey.
But remove him and that ‘something’ disappears.
The warmth, the humanity and the permission for a piece of software to not feel like it was designed in a boardroom wearing a tie.
Freddie isn’t just decoration. He’s the tiny crack in the system that lets personality leak through. Also, a language app doesn’t logically require a slightly unhinged green owl that threatens you for missing your lesson. But Duo isn’t decoration either. He’s the reason the brand lives in culture instead of quietly existing in the app store.
Pictured: A couple of the OOTS team members pointing at a UX design on the window ft. rocket goober.
Sometimes the thing that feels the most unnecessary is actually the thing doing the most distinctive work.
And that’s the role the Goobers play.
Personally, I feel they stop the brand from behaving “too” perfectly.
And no, not everyone immediately understood them and thats a great thing. If everything is instantly understood, it usually means it’s already familiar right?
Sometimes the difference between safe and extraordinary is the willingness to add something that doesn’t need to explain itself.
So, if you want to know “why” they work. Forget it! They were a wild card. The Goobers can now just exist.
Even if I had to do the Brand Olympics through the Valley of “But Why?”
And she goes for it — full commitment.
Triple rotation through Strategic Doubt.
Sticks the landing.
The Goobers are in!!!
