Rorschach Devices is a guitar effects pedal brand that Stealth Creative helped develop and launch. Based in the St. Louis area, Rorschach’s goal is to provide players with a high-quality, “boutique” product that boasts features not typically found in other makers’ devices.
What Problem Were We Trying to Solve?
In a nutshell, Rorschach Devices was a brand-new brand—with no logo, no web or in-store presence and only a couple of prototype pedals to launch with. But, driven by passionate musicians and music-gearheads (a passion shared by some of Stealth’s team members), Rorschach’s vision for their brand and their ideas for new, original pedals were solid. So, we enthusiastically jumped in to start turning a dream into a reality—and prepare to become a serious challenger in a market saturated with already-established brands and opinionated customers (otherwise known as “guitarists”).
What Was Our Approach?
Working collaboratively, Stealth developed an all-encompassing go-to-market strategy while Rorschach finalized the design of their first product. Our target audience was made up of experienced players with disposable income (professionals who are more likely to purchase “high-end/boutique” audio equipment).
We began defining the brand’s identity, knowing it needed to be eye-catching to stand out in the market, yet refined enough to justify the higher cost that hand-made products demand.
Rorschach wanted visuals and copy tone that evoked their namesake in the technical, psychological sense—but with a taste of “80’s arcade!” Turns out, the juxtaposition of Dr. Hermann Rorschach’s famous ink blots and some pops of neon make for a rad logo:
Once we had defined the look, we took a multi-phased approach to launching the brand on social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok). We began by generating buzz for the brand itself, later moving to more promotional content once the first pedals became customer-ready:
Coming Soon Social Post
Now Available Social Post
And in the meantime, we’d been working on RorschachDevices.com—the main hub and virtual storefront for the brand. Team Stealth wrote, designed and developed an engaging, easy-to-use (and easy-to-build-upon) website with full ecommerce functionality:
In the gear game, what you hear is just as important as what you see. To promote Rorschach’s flagship pedal, the Apophenia Delay, Stealth Creative produced a heavily branded product launch video, featuring well-known local guitarists:
With Rorschach now benefiting from initial social buzz, a clean website and strong audio/visual content, we launched our digital paid search and display efforts to build high-level awareness and drive more traffic to the new site:
Display Ad Examples
But one of the most critical elements of our strategy was to tap into the power that musical influencers have over this market. Getting the pedal in the hands of professional gear reviewers, content creators and even local musicians helped to legitimize the brand and get potential customers excited about Apophenia’s unique selling points.
RESULTS
Over $3,700 in Sales
within a month of launching the website.
372.5% increase in followers
across social platforms since launch.
5-Star Product Reviews
from customers and influencers alike!
