Based in bustling Liverpool, digital agency IGOO tasked The Co-Foundry with creating a refreshed brand that would help revitalise their sales pipeline, encourage better quality leads and bring in more of the work they love and excel at delivering.
The feedback’s been nothing but positive, and I think it’s also re-energised the team. This is the first time we’ve seen something that we look at and go, “yeah, that’s representative of and unique to us”. We’re 20 years old this year, and I think, you know, changing the name, it’s a bold thing to do.
Jack Donnelly, Co-Founder, Dock
Challenge
Despite being much loved by clients, IGOO had a low profile and was aware that their brand identity didn’t capture their personality or play to their strengths. A lack of clarity on positioning meant their brand messaging lacked confidence and cut-through.
It quickly became apparent that there was a need to not only refine the brand’s visual and verbal identity but also to redefine its market positioning.
Approach
Taking a deeply collaborative approach, we worked closely with the founders Gav and Jack and reviewed the competitive landscape. Sue then interviewed clients and ran a wider team workshop. One thing that repeatedly came up in client interviews was that the IGOO name was universally disliked. Clients found it hard to remember and pronounce, and it suffered from a lack of meaning. Sue presented this finding along with a full strategy for moving the brand forward.
You really did challenge us in good ways – ways that got us to think differently.
Jack Donnelly, Co-Founder, Dock
Solution
The redefined positioning was focused around three pillars. The first pillar homed in on IGOO’s sweet spot – what they do best – design, development and management of business-critical sites (for ecommerce and progressive businesses reliant on their websites to trade) that enable clients to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving world.
The second pillar focused on their ‘how’. We mapped their proprietary process and articulated it as the Momentum Method – a method that involves continually referring to the client’s business strategy and coming up with innovative, detail-focused solutions.
The final positioning pillar captured the way they love and are always championing their home city of Liverpool. A place that’s vibrant, resilient and possessed of a unique wit, Liverpool is the source of everything that makes the agency special and its spirit is woven into their personality.
Armed with research findings around the brand name that couldn’t be ignored, Sue and Co-Foundry collaborator Kendra Futcher led an exercise to find the agency a new name that would reflect its redefined positioning. The upshot of the process saw the founders unanimously agreeing on Dock Studio, a name that plays into its Liverpudlian roots and connection to the city’s maritime and commercial history.
The new name was chosen as a verb, ‘to dock’ – communicating the agency’s alignment with its clients’ business goals, the importance they place on connection and relationship-building, and reflecting their ‘Liverpool through and through’ sense of place and affinity with commerce. The name also references some apt maritime metaphors – how Dock sets a course, a North Star, for their clients to follow and sends them out into the world with everything watertight and taken care of.
We brought the new name and brand identity to life – first with a new brand typeface (TWK Everett)
A colour palette inspired by the Royal Albert Dock and other industrial landmarks in Liverpool.
And a brand language composed of various graphic devices and motifs.
The verbal identity was crafted to be confident, empathetic and grounded, enhancing the agency’s approachability and professionalism.
The brand assets were then handed over to the creative team at Dock Studio to be rolled out across all touchpoints.
You gave us a confidence in ourselves and with the decisions we made. Previously, we’d never really had that confidence. From identifying our strengths to showing us how they would be presented in practice, we now have a confidence and a platform to showcase it on. Perhaps we’d always hid behind the couch with our own stuff. Well, now we’ve definitely emerged from behind the couch. We’re really proud of it and excited by our brand in ways we hadn’t been before.