BRAND REPOSITIONING & MARKETING PARTNERSHIP
“Album consistently delivers the perfect solution. Their strategic approach and creative brainpower make them a great extension to our internal team.”
Jared Smith
CFO
Established in 2003 with a small investment and big dreams, PICS organically grew into the largest provider of contractor audits in North America - yet their brand positioning and identity was still reflective of their humble beginnings.
AN INTROSPECTIVE AUDIT
For a company all too familiar with auditing, PICS recognized the value of Album's strategic Brand Tuning process. The repositioning exercise brought clarity to their brand vision and outlined the distinct differences from their competitors. Key takeaways included the separation of two target audiences (business owners and contractors) and the establishment of brand personality characteristics. The outcome: It was obvious PICS needed to appeal to big businesses - Fortune 500 companies to be precise. They needed an image and refined messaging to be taken seriously by the big guys.
MASSAGING THE MESSAGE
With a strategic foundation in place, “The Contractor's Choice” tagline was developed, which reinforced an overwhelming fact, but was also very relevant to both target audiences. Unique names were selected for PICS' services to simplify client communication and build brand equity through recognizable terms. Since administrative efficiency was chosen as the primary benefit to business owners, a recurring theme of simplicity was introduced in the copy to support this claim, such as “It's Simple. Your Contractors Prefer PICS.”
INSIDE THE IDENTITY
PICS needed a logo with a simple, practical, and distinguishable mark. A logo that told their story. Our recommendation was to capitalize on existing brand elements (the square and colors) to ensure continuity of the brand, but remove the hard hat and introduce a more subjective mark with multiple layers of meaning. The solution was a logomark that represented both sides of the PICS equation (bringing business owners and contractors together), with PICS in the middle. The squares form a subtle "P" when viewed right-side-up or upside-down and appear in a screen-like arrangement, representative of the careful screening approach.
CAREFUL CONSISTENCY
A complete redesign of the marketing website and a facelift of the software was necessary to reflect the new brand identity, but also brought the websites up to speed from a technology standpoint. Supplemental offline materials followed, such as a tradeshow booth, brochures, business cards and other marketing materials. This persistent strategic and visual approach has helped support +50% sales growth year over year.
