No one ever said branding was easy.
And rebranding? That’s also a decision not to be taken lightly. As a highly experienced marketing agency having recently undertaken a rebrand, we know first-hand the challenges and the pain this can present.
As is the case with many agencies, the focus is always on the client accounts, often meaning our own needs become neglected. This has always been the case for Zool, up until very recently when we felt we really needed to take the bull by the horns and approach our own brand identity in the same way we would a client.
Zool established a website in late 2016 including a brand refresh as a starting point to our ‘next chapter’. During this period, we experienced rapid growth within our team, our client base and subsequently the business evolved: our digital-only presence began to develop into a full service agency.
Fast-forward to early 2018 and Zool had reached a turning point. It was felt a new website was imperative to deliver the message of who we were as a company, as at that time the website – and company name – did not accurately portray what we were all about, with our busy team up until then unable to give it the attention it needed. At this time, however, there was still some debate as to whether a full rebrand was needed.
We began to explore new design concepts which reflected the company goals, values and history, alongside an in-depth content analysis. We researched other brands and how they communicated who they were and the services they offered. How did their approach differ from ours? How could we better convey who we are?
Team meetings were crucial in really eking out the details and allowing us all to understand the full picture of who we were. Our brand presence at this point was tied closely to our existing colour palette, logo and imagery. This was a striking red, black and white colour palette, alongside our ‘infinity’ logo and lightbulb imagery, and we were keen to retain these assets which had been embedded for a number of years.
As the development continued, though, we were forced to reconsider and look again at the meaning – if any – behind the branding choices that were currently used. Effectively, we had to switch to a client approach, and view Zool from the outside looking in, listen to the constructive criticism from the team, friends and clients during many brainstorming sessions – alongside informal conversations – and make some tough choices on our direction.
Leading on from this, it was agreed that the existing branding made it difficult to push away and for others to perceive Zool beyond its historical focus on ‘digital’, and being too cautious about stepping away from our old identity was only going to dilute any changes in our messaging. We had, after all, been crowned Best Digital Agency at The Talk of Manchester awards for three years running, from 2016-2018; our digital expertise was what we were known for. However, the complex mix of values – amongst them, historical and sentimental – attached to our existing brand identity were deemed less important than the urgency to redefine ourselves as an evolved, rapidly growing and forward-thinking full service marketing agency.
This was the key moment, through the summer of 2018, that we realised we needed to adopt a complete brand refresh alongside a new website launch.
As is often the case when a company pushes for a rebrand, there will always be some resistance and an almost nostalgic connection to the old brand that is hard to let go of. Not to mention the nervousness and apprehension stepping from the comfort of established brand identity into something completely new, in order to evolve into something bigger – and better.
Further to our opening question; whoever said a rebrand was easy? But we were unanimous in our decision. As a close-knit team, it was important to ensure that all voices were heard, so the rebrand was managed as a company-wide collaboration. This meant we were in it for the long haul and it was a slow process, to be managed alongside our client accounts. It was a process where every step was analysed and considered carefully, as it was imperative we made the right choices, to reflect the business as it is now, and to reflect the company we envisaged going forward.
Initially, we decided to lay the foundations of change through looking at the sectors within which we had specialist knowledge and those we were expecting our business to encompass. This was considered alongside services we now offered, and those we anticipated to offer in the future, which was considerably vast in comparison to our digital-only history. From this input, we would allow a logo and palette to evolve, reflecting those sectors and services. This is where the first of many drafts were born, and the seed of ‘Zool 2.0’ began to germinate.
A full brand refresh takes into consideration many elements, including – but certainly not limited to – the development of tone of voice, messaging, colour palette, photography style, fonts, graphical assets and many other elements which together form a ‘Brand Bible’ of sorts.
During the development process, many of these elements began to form almost organically alongside the primary objectives of our brand identity. To a certain extent, it was a form of symbiosis, with one element not able to progress without the development of another.
In the same way, as a client rebrand would develop, we found ourselves often looking at different avenues to explore, and occasionally stepping back to revisit another pathway. This is a common – but necessary – practice, within a company where there is an element of subjectivity in determining what the right choice is, and to ensure a team or company are collectively happy with the brand outcome.
Sometimes the wrong path can ultimately lead us to the right road. Determining what those wrong paths are should lead to the logical conclusion of which one is right. This is where Zool found themselves in the spring of 2019. We’d taken many paths, developed ideas, concepts, and even moved into website development, but something just wasn’t quite right. And then, an almost ‘lightbulb’ moment: we found the sweet spot – the right road – where the months of development, research and collaboration fused together.
Our new logo was born. Our strapline, science of marketing, came soon after. Then everything else swiftly followed. Due to the adoption of the processes we undertake when managing client branding or rebranding projects, the end result came easily – and beyond all our expectations. The Zool ‘standard’ with our clients is to go the extra mile; our own rebrand proved no exception.
The final bold statement, embodying the journey we’d undertaken, was to move from zooldigital.co.uk, to become, simply:
zool.agency
So here we are, wrapping up an eventful 2019, and looking forward to an exciting 2020.
Zool. Full service marketing agency.
And if that wasn’t an exciting enough end to this incredible year, we were honoured to have received the ultimate early Christmas gift, categorically marking our transformative milestone: winning Best Full Service Agency 2019 at The Talk of Manchester awards.
Give us a call now and see how we can support you through your own brand evolution.
The evolution of a brand
Brand Strategy Branding Campaign Development / Dec 27, 2019
No one ever said branding was easy.
And rebranding? That’s also a decision not to be taken lightly. As a highly experienced marketing agency having recently undertaken a rebrand, we know first-hand the challenges and the pain this can present.
As is the case with many agencies, the focus is always on the client accounts, often meaning our own needs become neglected. This has always been the case for Zool, up until very recently when we felt we really needed to take the bull by the horns and approach our own brand identity in the same way we would a client.
Zool established a website in late 2016 including a brand refresh as a starting point to our ‘next chapter’. During this period, we experienced rapid growth within our team, our client base and subsequently the business evolved: our digital-only presence began to develop into a full service agency.
Fast-forward to early 2018 and Zool had reached a turning point. It was felt a new website was imperative to deliver the message of who we were as a company, as at that time the website – and company name – did not accurately portray what we were all about, with our busy team up until then unable to give it the attention it needed. At this time, however, there was still some debate as to whether a full rebrand was needed.
We began to explore new design concepts which reflected the company goals, values and history, alongside an in-depth content analysis. We researched other brands and how they communicated who they were and the services they offered. How did their approach differ from ours? How could we better convey who we are?
Team meetings were crucial in really eking out the details and allowing us all to understand the full picture of who we were. Our brand presence at this point was tied closely to our existing colour palette, logo and imagery. This was a striking red, black and white colour palette, alongside our ‘infinity’ logo and lightbulb imagery, and we were keen to retain these assets which had been embedded for a number of years.
As the development continued, though, we were forced to reconsider and look again at the meaning – if any – behind the branding choices that were currently used. Effectively, we had to switch to a client approach, and view Zool from the outside looking in, listen to the constructive criticism from the team, friends and clients during many brainstorming sessions – alongside informal conversations – and make some tough choices on our direction.
Leading on from this, it was agreed that the existing branding made it difficult to push away and for others to perceive Zool beyond its historical focus on ‘digital’, and being too cautious about stepping away from our old identity was only going to dilute any changes in our messaging. We had, after all, been crowned Best Digital Agency at The Talk of Manchester awards for three years running, from 2016-2018; our digital expertise was what we were known for. However, the complex mix of values – amongst them, historical and sentimental – attached to our existing brand identity were deemed less important than the urgency to redefine ourselves as an evolved, rapidly growing and forward-thinking full service marketing agency.
This was the key moment, through the summer of 2018, that we realised we needed to adopt a complete brand refresh alongside a new website launch.
As is often the case when a company pushes for a rebrand, there will always be some resistance and an almost nostalgic connection to the old brand that is hard to let go of. Not to mention the nervousness and apprehension stepping from the comfort of established brand identity into something completely new, in order to evolve into something bigger – and better.
Further to our opening question; whoever said a rebrand was easy? But we were unanimous in our decision. As a close-knit team, it was important to ensure that all voices were heard, so the rebrand was managed as a company-wide collaboration. This meant we were in it for the long haul and it was a slow process, to be managed alongside our client accounts. It was a process where every step was analysed and considered carefully, as it was imperative we made the right choices, to reflect the business as it is now, and to reflect the company we envisaged going forward.
Initially, we decided to lay the foundations of change through looking at the sectors within which we had specialist knowledge and those we were expecting our business to encompass. This was considered alongside services we now offered, and those we anticipated to offer in the future, which was considerably vast in comparison to our digital-only history. From this input, we would allow a logo and palette to evolve, reflecting those sectors and services. This is where the first of many drafts were born, and the seed of ‘Zool 2.0’ began to germinate.
A full brand refresh takes into consideration many elements, including – but certainly not limited to – the development of tone of voice, messaging, colour palette, photography style, fonts, graphical assets and many other elements which together form a ‘Brand Bible’ of sorts.
During the development process, many of these elements began to form almost organically alongside the primary objectives of our brand identity. To a certain extent, it was a form of symbiosis, with one element not able to progress without the development of another.
In the same way, as a client rebrand would develop, we found ourselves often looking at different avenues to explore, and occasionally stepping back to revisit another pathway. This is a common – but necessary – practice, within a company where there is an element of subjectivity in determining what the right choice is, and to ensure a team or company are collectively happy with the brand outcome.
Sometimes the wrong path can ultimately lead us to the right road. Determining what those wrong paths are should lead to the logical conclusion of which one is right. This is where Zool found themselves in the spring of 2019. We’d taken many paths, developed ideas, concepts, and even moved into website development, but something just wasn’t quite right. And then, an almost ‘lightbulb’ moment: we found the sweet spot – the right road – where the months of development, research and collaboration fused together.
Our new logo was born. Our strapline, science of marketing, came soon after. Then everything else swiftly followed. Due to the adoption of the processes we undertake when managing client branding or rebranding projects, the end result came easily – and beyond all our expectations. The Zool ‘standard’ with our clients is to go the extra mile; our own rebrand proved no exception.
The final bold statement, embodying the journey we’d undertaken, was to move from zooldigital.co.uk, to become, simply:
zool.agency
So here we are, wrapping up an eventful 2019, and looking forward to an exciting 2020.
Zool. Full service marketing agency.
And if that wasn’t an exciting enough end to this incredible year, we were honoured to have received the ultimate early Christmas gift, categorically marking our transformative milestone: winning Best Full Service Agency 2019 at The Talk of Manchester awards.
Give us a call now and see how we can support you through your own brand evolution.
