Why we decided to refresh our brand

When I started The Marketing Collective, I never really knew where it would end up. It was born out of a passion for helping others. A time, which resonates with what the world is facing at the moment.

I had been made redundant and the company I was working for went into liquidation. I wanted to continue serving the clients I was working for and nurturing the relationships I had made. I had three choices - Fight, Freeze or Flight. 

Very similar to now. 

I chose to fight. I set up on my own with the determination to make a difference to the small businesses I was working with. I pivoted, much like now and put a focus on delivering collaborative marketing where I encourage businesses with a similar goal and aim to work together to achieve more. 

The focus for The Marketing Collective was that of being the cog which keeps everyone connected and to symbolise how marketing drives the many areas of the business. Without the marketing cog, you can’t have sales, without the marketing cog, you won’t have customers and without the customers and sales, you don’t have a business. 

Therefore the natural identity for our brand was a set of cogs. I worked with designer Tina Scahill, who was a colleague at the previous company. We had worked together on publications and campaigns and I am proud and happy to say that we have worked together ever since. Tina has always understood my thinking - she often knows what the vision is for a piece of design without me saying too much. We have always worked intuitively together which has allowed projects to hit briefs, time and budgets. 

Knowing me well and my personal style (and how I like a bit of a clash), a bold brand of purple and orange was applied to our cogs. 

Over the last 10 years, our logo has served us well, however, in 2019, with the growth of the business and many changes, including additions in staff and services, it felt only right to address our brand identity and whether it was still a visual interpretation of our vision and mission.

We came to the conclusion that:

• We have grown up a fair bit in 10 years. No longer feeling like the toddler in the area or even the teenager just having a go at something. We needed something a little bit more mature but still with a sense of fun.
• The font and colours felt a little dated. The boldness of the font almost had a 70’s vibe to it. 
• The colours, whilst we enjoy bold, felt a little too much like a children’s colouring pallet. 

We went to the drawing board but nothing felt ‘right’. 

I fell victim to being too close to my own project and needing to step back. It is something we are constantly advising clients of when we work through briefs. What you may think might work, doesn’t because it involves your own biases. So we agreed that the input from an outside creative mind was needed.

Having followed the work of James Martin from Baby Giant for a while, I loved his style and his process for thinking through a brand’s identity. I felt he would be able to take the story of The Marketing Collective and evolve into something more ‘now’ and which would resonate with our sector. 

I gave him the brief with the focus on evolving our cogs to feel more here and now but still with the focus on collaborative marketing.

His thought process was absolutely spot on and our new identity was born.

We had planned to roll out the new brand identity with a big bang and event during English Tourism Week, which would also launch a number of campaigns and events linked with our 10th anniversary. However, with the current pandemic challenge, and the devastating impact it is having on businesses particularly within the tourism and hospitality industries, which is where our marketing specialism is, we thought: ‘Why wait?’ 

We wanted to show that we are still very much present, here for our clients and open to new business. So similar to when the company was launched, there is an option to flight, freeze or flight.  We have remained calm, assessed our situation, and decided now is the time for us to keep showing up and going above and beyond.

What we have done is pivoted and used the time to work on our dreams. All the little ideas, lightbulb moments and brainwaves we’ve had on what more we want to do, who we want to serve and how we want to do it - they are all coming to life and to reality. 

Out of challenging times, always comes opportunity. Our new brand is now out there and it already feels like home.