What It Means to Re-Brand

Since 1934 we have strived to provide value to our clients while staying relevant in an ever-evolving market. This commitment to excellence has required some strategic changes along the way. The last few years have seen some of these changes.

Marketing is telling a story; ours is changing. Once a traditional media company, we are now able to offer comprehensive marketing solutions to our clients and help them market to the entire conversion lifecycle of their customers.

How could we tell this story effectively? What would introduce our new identity?

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Before and After

We knew part of our transformation story needed to be told visually through an extensive rebranding. A strong brand can communicate value and paints a picture of vitality. Tasked with communicating our company’s story through strong visual elements and color, our designers began this arduous process of consolidating our brand into a cohesive message.

Julie West
Julie West, Marketing Art Director

Julie West, the lead designer on the project had this to say. “We first had to establish a baseline to see where we were with our current branding. To put it lightly we had a long way to go. There was no coherency between the verticals. Our logos and brands manifested themselves without any consistency.”

Julie set out to define the color palette that would tie our brand together while still communicating the breadth of what we do. “Colors have meaning and tell stories just like words. For me communicating with colors is more organic than working in prose,” said Ms. West.

Randall-Reilly Brand Color Palette
Randall-Reilly Brand Color Palette

Once colors had been chosen, the design team began designing logos and coordinating the horizontal aspects between the verticals. Before long our new story was starting to be told through shapes, colors, and typeface. “Our new look is simple and clean. I think it communicates our core values well,” said Ms. West. “The new designs work well as a whole or in parts.”

All this change would be rendered meaningless if our new brand was not guarded and held sacred. Strict guidelines were needed to ensure all facets of our company were being presented harmoniously. “We set out to define exactly how we wanted to look in every aspect of our company’s visual communications,” said Julie Arsenault, Director of Marketing. Everything from standards for logo use to appropriate email signatures were established.

Julie Arsenault
Julie Arsenault, Director of Marketing

“With our new look and guidelines in place, we feel confident our story is being told visually throughout our company and feel as though we have an identity that everyone can buy into, Arsenault continued. Branding is an ongoing process and as we expand and tell new stories, new designs and looks will be established. Now, we have the designers and foundation to welcome these expansions with open arms.”