Framing the brief
Elevating employees as ambassadors of digital potential to transform the brand
Transforming legacy into future potential
Industry Context
Defining and embarking on a transformational IT strategy is something that cannot be approached in a cookie-cutter fashion. Yet, that’s how many of the Cloud and IT Managed Service companies across North America approach these massive challenges. Not Centrilogic. Over nearly 15 years, Centrilogic has become a premier global provider of multicloud management, cloud-native application development solutions, and strategic end-to-end digital transformation services. Centrilogic has intentionally evolved itself, recently bringing the expansive capabilities of ManageForce and the mind-bending competency of ObjectSharp into the fold to reimagine what’s possible. Centrilogic knew how to help their customers undergo digital transformations, but they were in need of a transformation of their own: a new brand that let their passion and big-picture expertise shine through.
Strategy
When you think of IT, you think of the technology, don’t you? It’s easy for clients to forget to put a face to the transformation they crave. They forget that there are insanely intelligent, highly-strategic and obsessively passionate individuals that are designing and driving these systems. With diverse, tech-agnostic expertise, the desire to roll up their sleeves and dig in, and fine-tuned EQ that allows them to understand the intangibles of an organization, human power is what makes Centrilogic’s approach different. Our strategy centers on the people behind the digital transformation, elevating the role of each Centrilogic employee to that of an ambassador for digital potential.
Challenge
In the past 15 years, Centrilogic had purposely grown through strategic acquisitions. With a portfolio of new people, products and customer possibilities as a result of the ManageForce and ObjectSharp acquisitions, they needed to use brand to unite everyone under one Centrilogic umbrella, both internally for employees and externally for clients and investors.
Not only did the brand strategy have to unify the organization, but also drive differentiation and shed former impressions of Centrilogic in the market. Many IT companies become known for the technology they work with—e.g., ”the data warehousers”. Centrilogic wanted to convey a story that transcended any one capability or offering. We were challenged to move past the specific technology perceptions that clients had and demystify the complexities of two new acquisitions to tell the story of the transformations that Centrilogic makes possible.
Results
The result is a brand that is purpose-built, determined and always advancing. No longer is Centrilogic associated with the technology it works with, but rather with the employees who use their mastery of almost any IT platform to empower their clients. While Centrilogic is out there helping client organizations become the best digital versions of themselves that they can be, the Centrilogic team now has its own identity as well: ambassadors of digital potential.
Brand Essence
Value proposition
Pillars
Determined
Trust our own instincts and intelligence, bringing a sense of action to every relationship.
Purposeful
Collaborate with you to make the right strategy, right move, right solution — every time.
Advancing
Able to quickly learn and transforms ideas into IT/digital decisions with far-reaching effects.
Before
After
With the new brand strategy complete, we needed to create a visual representation that symbolized the potential and passion that Centrilogic brings to the table after its acquisitions. The new Centrilogic logo is comprised of two elements—the CL monogram symbol and the wordmark.
The bold symbol paired with the orange gradient serves as the beacon for digital potential, communicating a sense of collaboration, progress and optimism.
The uncommon relationship between the symbol and the wordmark reflects our unique stance in the market as well as our mission to elevate our clients.
Verbal Expression
As we developed the verbal expression of Centrilogic, we sought to complement the unique visual identity by embodying the problem-craving, expertise-soaked characteristics of the company’s employees. We created a messaging kit that provided elevator pitches for 4 key audiences: general audiences, market audiences (investors, press, competitors), customers, and employees. Additionally, we created a phrase bank that could be applied outside of pitches. This serves as a quick way for communicators to start speaking on brand through copy/paste text and as a source of tonal inspiration to create future content.
Website Design
Centrilogic’s website needed to stand out in the overcrowded sea of sameness that is IT industry websites in order to give their audiences the message that they are a different kind of IT partner—way more than just a data center or a cookie cutter solution. To do so, we used dark mode and gradient images that are nonexistent on competitor sites. We gave life to the new brand in the digital space by replicating the shape of the logo with an image behind it. Flexibility was paramount in our decision-making process: future website editors can switch out photos, content, colors, and overlays in just a couple clicks. Relevant iconography, filterable blogs and content, and CRM integration sets the website up for satisfied visitors and editors.
Client Testimonial:“We’ve received VERY good feedback on our new platform, identity, and website – from staff, to customers, and industry analysts. Our investors and Executives are super excited. And (most importantly in my biased opinion) the marketing team is proud to stand behind the work that we have just completed to serve as the foundation for the new Centrilogic.”
-Matt Callahan, Director, Marketing
Client Testimonial:“With our new branding, we’re better spotlighting the full spectrum of our services and differentiators with clear, simple language that reflects the variety of offerings the unified Centrilogic delivers through a modern look and feel. We’re not your run-of-the-mill IT services company, so we’ve deliberately created a rebranded site that looks remarkably unlike the competition.”
Shalini Duggal, Chief Marketing & People Officer in Centrilogic “Executive Insights” Blog