Unlikely - Bespoke digital experiences for brands
Storyblok is the first headless CMS that works for developers & marketers alike.
Unlikely is a technology studio creating bespoke digital experiences for brands, combining cutting-edge technologies with great design to deliver apps that are fast and good-looking.
To achieve this they have a team of over 20 experienced developers and project managers who work with brands, helping them navigate the complexity of building and maintaining online presence and enjoyable shopping experiences.
The Unlikely vision
What sets Unlikely apart as a creator is the focus they set on tech. While it’s common to see tech simply as the end of the production pipeline with no strategic impact, they believe it should be at the center stage of any digital project and have full weight in any valuable business driven decision-making.
Their exceptional approach led them to work with renowned international brands as well as smaller local upcoming brands they believe in, providing them with a sur mesure “tech as a service” approach that helps the brands innovate and focus on the bigger-picture while Unlikely takes care of the details.
The way they handle projects isn’t spread out over numerous internal processes, but rather focused on efficiency, avoiding overthinking things. The size of the team enables them to be flexible and agile, to keep things simple and laid back, taking on projects with a high level of complexity. This brings us to the other unique thing about Unlikely: the people. The developers and project managers form a highly talented and experienced team with a great mindset that just feels like a second family. Their working motto is: You can only achieve so much alone or in the wrong work environment; but bring in a tightly-knit team and you can do just about anything!
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Client relationships and brand identity
When it comes to client relationships, Unlikely sets a goal to elevate all projects they work on, helping their clients to make the most out of it. They take special care in adding value to any project they develop, by not focusing only on the execution itself but also by advising and putting their shared experience and knowledge to work on all linked topics.
More than that, any client relationship starts with a long-term goal in mind. They forge long-lasting relationships with one simple question: How do we leverage technology to make things even better? This means the project doesn’t end with the first release, but it continues to be improved.
Although the team at Unlikely is highly involved in each detail of a project, they recognize and respect the fact that each brand has its very own and distinct universe. As such, they try to keep a minimal footprint in the projects they work on. However, even if, from a visual perspective, the sites they work on can be radically different and non-recognizable, you will always find their signature behind the curtains, in the way it’s been developed. Their trademark is to pour their entire knowledge and experience into creating reusable components and utilities following best practices that they improve over time. Furthermore, whenever they find a way to make it better, it’s not just for one customer, it’s for all of them!
Headless promoters and Storyblok enthusiasts
In their recent experience Unlikely has noted an increasing demand for modern techs and headless builds. At the same time they realize that not all clients understand the value a headless build could bring. Consequently, moving away from legacy setups is not always an easy task to achieve. From this perspective, the team at Unlikely is 100% transparent, taking each case individually, sharing their insights and trying to shine a light where they notice technical opportunities for their clients. At the same time, true to their transparency policy, they don’t always recommend headless solutions, if it’s not the right move at that point in time.
With this strategy, Unlikely does themselves a favor, by not presenting headless architectures as a magic formula that works for everyone and exponentially increases a business. They are helping the clients understand what the capabilities of headless solutions are and whether these solutions would bring added value to their projects. By managing their clients’ expectations and guiding them in taking the right decisions for their projects, Unlikely is raising awareness and helping all parties involved in the headless solutions space. In their own words: Awareness is the best lever to develop the market further!
On their continuous journey of improvement, Unlikely came across Storyblok. Of course, it wasn’t happenstance! In tune with their general strategy, they listed and tested a dozen CMSs and settled on Storyblok as their best option.
The first reason for their choice was the developer experience. In their experience things just click with Storyblok, you can replicate your app’s component architecture in the CMS and it just works. In other words, build once, re-use anywhere!
Secondly, they were convinced by the flexibility and power that comes for editors. Namely, Storyblok comes packed with a series of power features, like bulk editing, copying/pasting components, folder organization etc.
Even if something is missing, you can build it yourself! Oh and the visual editor of course… Seeing your changes right from the editing room is pretty neat!
After working with Storyblok for a while, Unlikely has achieved a simplification of their development workflow.
Storyblok is always on point or at least really close to how you’d expect a CMS to work as a developer. You know that feeling when you’re thinking “shouldn’t be that hard to do” and then you hit a wall and end-up building complex solutions for simple issues. I’d say the team doesn’t really feel that way anymore! The support and partnership team is also top tier, that makes a huge difference!
They also found a nice balance between an easy-to-use and client friendly SaaS product that abstracts a lot of the complexity away, and a developer focused tool that is still flexible enough and extendable when you need it. With most solutions in the market they felt that they were always leaning on one side or the other. In their own words: we think we can finally have both!
A short case study
Herbarium is a French pioneer in the creation of customizable herbariums. The brand also offers a variety of unique objects for delicate and floral home decoration: dried flowers, linens, stationery & books, posters, tableware. Unlikely built their eCommerce website using Storyblok, Next.js (Typescript), Vercel and Shopify Plus.
Partner of the Month
A drive for continuous improvement, a straight focus on tech and client relationships, and headless solutions promoters. With this approach, Unlikely is highly successful in creating bespoke digital experiences for brands, combining cutting-edge technologies with great design to deliver apps that are fast and good-looking.
We are happy and proud to announce that they are the September Storyblok Partner of the Month!
You can get in touch with them by visiting their website or writing them an email. You can also find them on our partners list.
