Image Credit : Photography: David Dixon
Project Overview
After nearly 20 years in operation, digital agency formerly known as 'Get Started’ realised it had outgrown its brand identity. Collaborating with Melbourne based branding agency Seesaw, the united team embarked on an intense 18-month strategic rebranding process which resulted in Get Started emerging as Luminary in July 2018.
The Luminary brand is encapsulated in their positioning statement:
We’re bright. We’re talented. We are the beautiful nerds who love the way digital can solve real, human problems. We care deeply about our team, our clients and the experiences we create.
We strive to listen, understand, and deliver. Over two decades, we have evolved dramatically as an organisation – in what we offer, who we work with and how we do what we do. Our ‘why’ though, hasn’t changed: To work with awesome people to create awesome stuff for awesome clients. I mean really, who wouldn’t want to do that?
But Get Started, as a name, didn’t represent who we are today. It did when we began. And it did for a long time. But we evolved. We learnt to harness the Force and our name couldn’t keep up.
So it’s time. Time for a change. Time for a name that represents who we are today, and will be tomorrow.
We’ve taken inspiration from our commitment to bringing together the brightest minds we can muster. True experts in their field. Who love making other people stand out.
We are Luminary.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Seesaw:
Creative Strategy Director: Anita McArthur
Creative Director: Matthew McKenzie
Design Director: Larry Vila Pouca
Lead Designer: Merren Spink
Account Manager: Tess Younger
Account Manager: Alexandra Meadowcroft
Copywriter: David Mandara
Luminary:
CEO: Marty Drill
Managing Director: Adam Griffith
CTO: Andy Thompson
Design Director: Warren Everard
Design Director: Tess French
Project Brief
After nearly 20 years in operation, the digital agency formerly known as 'Get Started’ realised it had outgrown its identity. Creative agency Seesaw was engaged to reposition and rebrand the agency for the next 20 years.
As part of the rebranding journey, Seesaw undertook detailed market research. After crafting the company's strategic positioning, the new values and relative research confirmed that the name 'Get Started' was no longer relevant. Get Started had grown dramatically as an organisation and it was time for a change. The name and current brand were dated and did not position the company as a leader in an ever-evolving industry.
Great consideration was given to finding a name that would truly represent the digital agency’s experience, quality of offering, and market position. The name needed to not only encapsulate the brand values and vision, but also needed to be something that team members could proudly stand behind.
The new name was supported by a completely new visual identity. This new visual language permeates every aspect of the rebrand – from the studio space, digital experience, sales and marketing collateral and branded merchandise.
This project was an intense 18-month rebranding process, which resulted in the emergence of Luminary in July 2018. The aim of the brand revitalisation exercise was ‘to attract and retain great clients’ and ‘to attract and retain great staff’ – and the brand has delivered well beyond expectations on both fronts.
Project Innovation/Need
The first stage was to address the strategic positioning by crafting the brands guiding brand pillars:
Real – representing authenticity and honesty.
Solid – being our solid experience and proven results.
Human – our focus on putting people first.
Bright – a commitment to bringing together the brightest minds in digital.
After nine months of research and deliberation – with 186 names considered and 412 possible domain names registered – as a united team, we uncovered the perfect name - Luminary.
The definition of Luminary is one who inspires or influences others, especially one prominent in a particular sphere. It is also a natural light-giving body such as the stars or the moon.
The resulting visual brand identity became centered around leadership and allowing clients to shine brightly. This concept was creatively explored using the idea of star clusters - groups of glowing individual stars that are drawn together with a common goal of shining even brighter together.
Playful design elements complement a simple type based logo that was designed to feel friendly, contemporary and creative. The secondary logomark references the star-inspired concept, while also creating an abstracted ‘L’ icon. These identity elements were further enhanced by an adaptable colour palette, confident fonts and a huge element of fun.
Design Challenge
The core design challenge was repositioning, renaming and rebranding an established and highly successful business.
Staff and a wide selection of existing and prospective clients were surveyed via electronic questionnaires, in-house workshops and qualitative interviews. With so many engaged stakeholders, managing expectations was a welcomed design challenge.
Seesaw, undertook an extensive review of the digital agency landscape in Melbourne and other key markets in Australia. This research included reviewing the naming, brand colours, brand positioning and service offerings of current and potential competitors. A thorough understanding of the market landscape was required in order to differentiate the new brand and stand out from a very crowded marketplace.
Effectiveness
The rebrand has been an outstanding success in relation to all four of the core objectives.
1. Attracting great clients:
The calibre of clients attracted since the rebrand has increased substantially. Actionable sales-qualified leads increased by 45% in Q1 of 2019 compared with the same period last year (pre-rebrand). Since the rebrand, revenue has grown by 40% compared to the previous year.
2. Attracting great staff:
The impact of the rebrand has also been reflected in a notable increase in job applications. Since July 2018, the average number of applications received for advertised positions has increased by 25%.
3. Retaining great clients:
With close to 20 years of market experience, Get Started had built up long list of clients that didn’t quite fit with the current and future agency positioning. The rebrand allowed Luminary to ensure focus was on clients that aligned with the brand positioning. Having achieved retention of like-minded clients, they have also been able to increase the revenue from those retained clients by more than 30%.
4. Retaining great staff:
Rebrands often have the effect of losing some staff as organisational change tends to lead to a degree of natural attrition. Not a single staff member has left Luminary since the rebrand. Of the 55 team members they now have working at Luminary, eight have been there for over a decade. With an average tenure of 5.6 years, their retention rate far exceeds the industry average.
Graphic Design - Identity and Branding - Corporate
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience.
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