Unifying the customer experience around a strong, authentic brand.
Articulate the brand
The Situation
When Glenn Gaudet interviewed for a CMO position in 2010, he suggested the company use a software platform to promote marketing content through employees’ social media accounts. To his surprise, he found out hours later that no such software existed. Instead of coming up with a different strategy and pursuing the position, he decided to start his own company to make this software, and GaggleAMP was born.
“As the company grew in scope and size, the articulation of our brand became inconsistent,” Gaudet said. “Brand identity is not something that can be left up to interpretation as the velocity of new employees and customers increases. Different interpretations lead to different voices and messaging along with a lot of inconsistency.”
That’s when he asked brand strategy consulting firm Spencer Brenneman to help articulate the existing brand in a way to achieve consistency.
When Glenn Gaudet interviewed for a CMO position in 2010, he suggested the company use a software platform to promote marketing content through employees’ social media accounts. To his surprise, he found out hours later that no such software existed. Instead of coming up with a different strategy and pursuing the position, he decided to start his own company to make this software, and GaggleAMP was born.
“As the company grew in scope and size, the articulation of our brand became inconsistent,” Gaudet said. “Brand identity is not something that can be left up to interpretation as the velocity of new employees and customers increases. Different interpretations lead to different voices and messaging along with a lot of inconsistency.”
That’s when he asked brand strategy consulting firm Spencer Brenneman to help articulate the existing brand in a way to achieve consistency.
The Approach
Spencer Brenneman President Douglas Spencer met with GaggleAMP executives, staff, and customers to understand how each views the company. He systematically asked employees a number of questions including, why they do what they do? What is the purpose of the company, and what does it do like no one else?
“The process Douglas walked us through was extremely comprehensive,” said Bradley Yeater, marketing manager at GaggleAMP. “He made sure to explain why we were doing each exercise and how each piece fits into the overall makeup of our brand. He interviewed not only the key stakeholders but frontline employees as well, to make sure he had a complete picture of what everyone envisioned in our brand.”
Spencer Brenneman President Douglas Spencer met with GaggleAMP executives, staff, and customers to understand how each views the company. He systematically asked employees a number of questions including, why they do what they do? What is the purpose of the company, and what does it do like no one else?
“The process Douglas walked us through was extremely comprehensive,” said Bradley Yeater, marketing manager at GaggleAMP. “He made sure to explain why we were doing each exercise and how each piece fits into the overall makeup of our brand. He interviewed not only the key stakeholders but frontline employees as well, to make sure he had a complete picture of what everyone envisioned in our brand.”
The Result
The GaggleAMP Brand House. “Nothing felt alien,” Gaudet said. “All we were doing was better articulating the brand that we had already built, rather than coming up with a different brand. It was consistent with the direction I have been taking the firm.”
From this process, Spencer Brenneman identified the traits that give GaggleAMP its uniqueness such as transformative and playful. The project went on to create a new brand promise as well as what makes GaggleAMP relevant and competitively differentiated from all the other choices people have.
The GaggleAMP Face. Spencer Brenneman Senior Art Director Kim Vanni updated the logo of the company, its font, its color palette, and the types of photos the company uses to tell its story.
“Having an official brand strategy will help our entire company stay in step and help us deliver a uniform brand experience,” Yeater said. “Whether someone is on our website, visiting our booth at a conference or speaking with a sales representative, our customer experience will be aligned no matter what.”
The GaggleAMP Voice. The brand voice guidelines Spencer Brenneman created for GaggleAMP include defining rules of how the company should articulate itself in blogs, social media posts, and even in conversations.
“The verbal guide gave me real ideas about how to be more authentic and engaging,” said Glenn Donovan, director of clients at GaggleAMP. “It let me really let out my genuine affection for people and clients. In a way, it gave me permission to just enjoy interacting with our clients and focus on helping them achieve their desired outcomes.”
The GaggleAMP Brand House. “Nothing felt alien,” Gaudet said. “All we were doing was better articulating the brand that we had already built, rather than coming up with a different brand. It was consistent with the direction I have been taking the firm.”
From this process, Spencer Brenneman identified the traits that give GaggleAMP its uniqueness such as transformative and playful. The project went on to create a new brand promise as well as what makes GaggleAMP relevant and competitively differentiated from all the other choices people have.
The GaggleAMP Face. Spencer Brenneman Senior Art Director Kim Vanni updated the logo of the company, its font, its color palette, and the types of photos the company uses to tell its story.
“Having an official brand strategy will help our entire company stay in step and help us deliver a uniform brand experience,” Yeater said. “Whether someone is on our website, visiting our booth at a conference or speaking with a sales representative, our customer experience will be aligned no matter what.”
The GaggleAMP Voice. The brand voice guidelines Spencer Brenneman created for GaggleAMP include defining rules of how the company should articulate itself in blogs, social media posts, and even in conversations.
“The verbal guide gave me real ideas about how to be more authentic and engaging,” said Glenn Donovan, director of clients at GaggleAMP. “It let me really let out my genuine affection for people and clients. In a way, it gave me permission to just enjoy interacting with our clients and focus on helping them achieve their desired outcomes.”
The Takeaway
“Nothing felt alien. All we were doing was better articulating the brand that we had already built, rather than coming up with a different brand. It was consistent with the direction I have been taking the firm.”
—Glenn Gaudet, GaggleAMP, CEO
“Nothing felt alien. All we were doing was better articulating the brand that we had already built, rather than coming up with a different brand. It was consistent with the direction I have been taking the firm.”
—Glenn Gaudet, GaggleAMP, CEO
Project Assets
Full Case Study
The Situation
When Glenn Gaudet interviewed for a CMO position in 2010, he suggested the company use a software platform to promote marketing content through employees’ social media accounts. To his surprise, he found out hours later that no such software existed. Instead of coming up with a different strategy and pursuing the position, he decided to start his own company to make this software, and GaggleAMP was born.
In the early days, the Boston-based company consisted of two co-founders, their website, and almost no customers. Today, it has hundreds of customers, ranging from medium-sized businesses to large multi-national corporations, and just moved to a larger office to accommodate its growing employee population. But the same way it grew into its new office, it also grew into its brand.
A company’s brand plays an important role in the success of any business. It distinguishes how a prospective customer, partner, or applicant thinks of a company without even directly interacting with it. But Gaudet, GaggleAMP’s CEO, wanted to articulate the company brand that was created organically over the past seven years.
“As the company grew in scope and size, the articulation of our brand became inconsistent,” Gaudet said. “Brand identity is not something that can be left up to interpretation as the velocity of new employees and customers increases. Different interpretations lead to different voices and messaging along with a lot of inconsistency.”
That’s when he asked brand strategy consulting firm Spencer Brenneman to help articulate the existing brand in a way to achieve consistency.
The Approach
Spencer Brenneman President Douglas Spencer met with GaggleAMP executives, staff, and customers to understand how each views the company. He systematically asked employees a number of questions including, why they do what they do? What is the purpose of the company, and what does it do like no one else?
He asked customers what their first impressions were of GaggleAMP, and what do they like best about working with them? How would they describe the people who work there, and what makes them different from competitors?
“The process Douglas walked us through was extremely comprehensive,” said Bradley Yeater, marketing manager at GaggleAMP. “He made sure to explain why we were doing each exercise and how each piece fits into the overall makeup of our brand. He interviewed not only the key stakeholders but frontline employees as well, to make sure he had a complete picture of what everyone envisioned in our brand.”
Off of the commonalities between these answers, Spencer created a base-level brand strategy, which included attributes of the company and its messaging. He then held an open debate between GaggleAMP executives to identify how each viewed the company’s key messages and attributes.
The Result
“Nothing felt alien,” Gaudet said. “All we were doing was better articulating the brand that we had already built, rather than coming up with a different brand. It was consistent with the direction I have been taking the firm.”
From this process, Spencer Brenneman identified the traits that give GaggleAMP its uniqueness: transformative, open, nurturing, and playful.
“We also spent time articulating what makes GaggleAMP relevant and competitively differentiated from everyone else in their market,” Spencer says. These are:
- Engaged Alignment
- Activate Digital Citizens
- Independent Free-thinking
- People First, All Else Second
All of this discovery supports GaggleAMP’s new brand promise which is at the core of what the company does:
“Unleashing the power of people’s passions to transform, engage and grow.” This new brand promise is intended to grow as GaggleAMP itself does by leading the industry.
The GaggleAMP Face. Spencer Brenneman Senior Art Director Kim Vanni updated the logo of the company, its font, its color palette, and the types of photos the company uses to tell its story.
“The original GaggleAMP brand included foundational elements that were working pretty well,” Vanni says, “but needed refreshing to align the company’s look with the newly identified brand pillars and to better meet the needs of their marketing plans moving forward. The logo was updated with a more contemporary typeface and narrower footprint; and the color and fonts palettes were enhanced to allow greater consistency across a variety of materials and needs.”
“Having an official brand strategy will help our entire company stay in step and help us deliver a uniform brand experience,” Yeater said.
“Whether someone is on our website, visiting our booth at a conference or speaking with a sales representative, our customer experience will be aligned no matter what.”
The GaggleAMP Voice. The brand voice guidelines Spencer Brenneman created for GaggleAMP include defining rules of how the company should articulate itself in blogs, social media posts, and even in conversations. It gives examples of how GaggleAMP wrote different types of content before the process began, and how they should be rewritten under these guidelines.
“The verbal guide gave me real ideas about how to be more authentic and engaging,” said Glenn Donovan, director of clients at GaggleAMP. “It let me really let out my genuine affection for people and clients. In a way, it gave me permission to just enjoy interacting with our clients and focus on helping them achieve their desired outcomes.”
The entire strategy – including the verbal and visual guidelines – are now documented in the GaggleAMP Brand Guide and is available to all current and future GaggleAMP employees. Everyone is encouraged to embrace it and infuse it into their work.