corporate identity case study
The Client: PortWise
The Requirement
PortWise is a rapidly growing software company with the vision to become the leading vendor of products for secure remote access. The company was founded in Sweden in 2000 and in 2004 a new management team was brought in to re-focus the company and rapidly increase sales. The new team included the appointment of Phil Bousfield as Chief Executive Officer and Jonathan Martin as Chief Marketing Officer.
After analyzing the situation, Martin felt that PortWise needed a stronger corporate identity and suffered from seemingly disjointed products with poor sales and marketing material. He also felt that the company needed to appear more international as it was preparing to move into broader markets.
A new strategy was therefore developed that brought all the products into a single product set to be marketed simply under the company name ‘PortWise’ with a new logo. With a software revision due out in a couple of months, Martin wanted to use the opportunity to completely re-launch the company and products to its customers, prospects and partners and set aggressive target dates for events in London and New York. The re-branding meant that all marketing material needed to be re-designed in time for the launch events. This included all collateral, presentation templates, event banners, press packs and product packaging.
The Solution
With less than two months to go, and invitations still to be sent out, Joanne Harris from Plan-b-Marketing was brought in to help ensure that the re-launch was a success.
A project plan was quickly developed and distributed, and weekly project calls with the launch team ensured that everything was kept on target. All the marketing materials were re-designed with a clean, modern look to underline the new corporate image. Target customer and business partner lists were drawn up and invitations were created and sent out. Personal letters were delivered to the most important customers and partners and all registrations were followed up by telephone.
‘We had a lot riding on the success of these events and with such a tight deadline there was little room for error. Joanne ensured that I was kept informed and was given regular status updates’ says Martin. ‘Her experience also meant that she was able to make decisions independently and work with little guidance which was necessary as I was travelling much of the time.’
Understanding that it was important for the sales people to be able to use the event to talk with their customers, Harris advised PortWise to change the event format to allow for a seated three-course lunch. This also helped to ensure the attendance of many of the more senior level customers.
The Success
All materials were delivered on time with everything from datasheets to the product packaging designed to reinforce the new branding. The launch events were also well attended and PortWise exceeded its target numbers in London by 20%.
‘The events ran smoothly, were well attended and gave us an excellent opportunity to speak to our customers and partners and explain our new direction. The new corporate image, branding and cohesive marketing materials also helped reinforce the message that we are a sizeable company that is here to stay’ says Martin.
And Beyond
To help PortWise continue to build a strong corporate identity, Harris felt that it was important to ensure that the PortWise brand was represented consistently at every occasion from the launch date onwards. This was especially critical as marketing heads were planned in the Europe, US, and Asia which would mean a rapid increase in marketing activity. Corporate identity guidelines and document templates were therefore created covering everything from the logo usage to advertising and collateral layout. A library of suitable images was also purchased for distribution to the sales and marketing teams.
Corporate Identity Guidelines (PDF 972KB)
‘Joanne quickly fitted in and become part of the team. We’d definitely use Plan-b-Marketing again in the future’ said Jonathan Martin.
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