Broadcasting Your Identity
Challenge
Creating a unified brand family
What happens to brands when companies merge? This was the decision International Datacasting was facing when it merged with two other broadcast technology companies to form Novra Group. The group decided on a strategy that embraced and harmonized the corporate marks, product brands, and marketing strategies.
The timing could not have been better: all digital and marketing materials needed updating, and the purely functional look and feel of their products was causing them to fall behind in the new world of clean, intuitive interfaces. But with limited resources and a new board overseeing spending, the client had to find strategic ways to make an impact.
Approach
Jackpine proposed a high level brand strategy to unify the look and feel of the three brands and position each within their respective verticals. The visual strategy was first rolled out to the IDC website, where we created a flexible template to make it easy for each company to update their own site. We then worked with IDC to build out the brand across product logos and labels, technical user interfaces, trade show booth experiences, digital marketing materials, signage and office design, and sales presentations.
Website
IDC culture is nerdy, technical, and deeply focused on quality products and customer service. We went with an earnest and user-friendly feel for the website to convey that character. We helped reorganize the site to demonstrate that IDC develops both complete systems and individual products. All this while developing a template that the other companies in the family could use.
GUIs
IDC feels strongly that networks should be easy to set up and manage. But the purely functional user experience of the MAP and Mistiq interfaces did not scream ‘easy.’ So we cleaned them up to be more user friendly, better organized, more intuitive, and more branded. Why shouldn’t customers expect the product backend to be clean and beautiful?
Tradeshows
You don’t want existing customers to walk by your booth without recognizing you. Our updated brand had to walk the line: it could not be a complete departure from the original International Datacasting brand, but it had to incorporate and balance the three corporate brands plus Novra Group.
Product Brands & Labels
Harmonizing the brand system across the three companies’ product labels created more consistency in products and lines. We also designed a series of unified product logos for featured products.
Office & Signage
International Datacasting wanted to extend the updated brand into their office space to attract talent and inspire innovation. Jackpine researched spatial factors that inspire creative collision and new ideas. With functionality key for engineers, the space could not be too off the wall. In our new office concept, we designed spots for casual gathering that encouraged play and experimentation through tech toys and tools. We proposed a custom reception desk to immediately communicate to visitors what the company is about. And we designed a divider to separate offices from open meeting space that doubled as a planter, bringing green life into the space and allowing a porous visual connection between the spaces.
I’ve worked with designers in every job I’ve had, and I’ve never seen someone take a design brief and come back with something that’s usable immediately.
- Diana Cantu, VP Marketing & Sales at International Datacasting
Outcomes
Through a cost effective and cohesive approach to the brand family and website refresh, we helped give form to the Novra Group corporate restructuring and strategy. The company has since been able to win key new accounts because of the product design that our team developed for aging interfaces. We’re still working with IDC as they continue to extend the brand across new products and touchpoints.
More to Explore
Are you an organization that has always focused on product functionality, but feel it’s time to build a brand that your customers can connect with? Your new brand doesn’t have to abandon established values like excellent customer service: it can highlight your mission while boosting client satisfaction and loyalty. Is your brand merging with other brands and seeking a consistent look and feel while maintaining individual identities? Jackpine can help you unify disparate brands into a new concept and express the brand across multiple touchpoints.