Toronto agency The BrainStorm Group has completed a brand overhaul for its new U.S. client Open Solutions, a Connecticut-based company that provides software solutions for small- and medium-sized banks and credit unions.
BrainStorm won the assignment in January. It was the sole Canadian agency in a review conducted by Lovallo Communications Group that initially included 10 agencies. Three made the shortlist.
The revamped brand identity includes a new positioning statement, “There’s Power in Community,” as well as a new visual identity defined by a stylized green “O.” The new visual identity has permeated most of the company’s assets, including its website and collateral materials.
Bob Froese, president and CEO of BrainStorm, said the client brief was to create the perception among current and prospective clients that Open Solutions was more than simply a technology provider.
The new company slogan, said Froes, is intended to be representative of both Open Solutions’ business model and its client base. “We’re dealing primarily with community-based banks and credit unions; these are businesses that are active in their own community and recognize and value the idea of a community.”
The green “O,” said Froese, is intended to signify inclusion and embracing the power of a group of people.
While the BrainStorm Group has AOR status with clients including Canon and Popeyes Chicken, Froese said the agency is increasingly devoting additional resources to its growing brand identity practice.
“We’ve always done a bit of it, but we started to get really serious about it about four years ago,” said Froese. “In creating advertising communications campaigns, we also found ourselves digging backwards, looking for the core of the brand, and almost informally approaching the status of a rebrand.”
One of the first rebranding assignments BrainStorm undertook was for longtime client ADP Payroll Services. Since then, said Froese, the agency has brought in branding experts and started pitching pure branding assignments. They now account for about 25% of the agency’s overall business said Froese.
