2021 in Review: Industry Dive Brand & Marketing Design
Unifying the Dive brand family and automating creative work
By Michelle Rock
From mid-2020 through the end of 2021, Industry Dive experienced a major period of growth; we completed multiple acquisitions, significantly expanded our content marketing studio and doubled our headcount (from 140 to over 350 staff). We did all of this while continuing to adjust to remote work. In response to all of these changes, the Industry Dive design department restructured and created a team specifically dedicated to brand and marketing design.
The new Brand & Marketing (BAM) Design team spent 2021 focused on projects related to three key themes:
- Unify and strengthen the Industry Dive brand
- Fold acquired brands into the Dive brand family
- Automate the production of creative assets and self-serve capabilities for other internal teams
Unifying the Dive brand
Back in 2020, we created a unique brand identity for our new content marketing studio, studioID. At the time, our strategy was to visually separate the studioID brand from the Industry Dive parent brand; we wanted studioID to look and feel more like a content marketing agency than a news publisher. We gave studioID its own logo, typography and color palette.
After working with the studioID brand identity for a year, we realized that we had made the brand assets too distinct. It was hard to tell that studioID was part of Industry Dive. The visual differences also made our design projects more challenging, because we were working with multiple color palettes; it wasn’t always clear which one we should use. This issue affected other teams; when Dive sales reps made client pitch decks, they weren’t sure which branding to apply to which pages.
To resolve these problems, we decided to pivot from our original strategy of distinctiveness and emphasize the connection between the brands; we decided to unify them.
Goal
Align studioID and Industry Dive’s visual identities to make it clear that studioID is part of Industry Dive and simplify our brand design processes
Process
Our Industry Dive and studioID brand unification process began with a focus on color. We abandoned the unique studioID palette and chose to solely rely on the colors of Industry Dive, the parent brand. Industry Dive’s easily recognizable red and indigo palette had built up strong brand equity over the years. To better match the specific hue of Dive Indigo, we slightly updated the tone of our red and grays. Within just a few weeks, we completely consolidated our corporate, editorial and content marketing brands under a single color palette.
The next challenge was typography. While our pub site typefaces were chosen for their legibility and classic editorial look, we wanted studioID’s typography to feel more artistic. We searched for typefaces that had both a creative personality and high legibility. We tested several options in mockups of our publication websites, white papers and social media posts, ultimately finding a winner in Tiempos.
Once the proposal was approved by the stakeholders, we set the brand updates into motion. We updated the studioID website, social media account headers, ads and slide decks. The Marketing and Sales teams welcomed the simplified approach. Because we no longer had to juggle different visual identities, it became much easier to apply the branding and communicate with our audience. By the end of the project, Dive designers, marketers and sales reps all saved time when creating branded collateral, and the overall Dive brand was more cohesive, refined and memorable.
Adding acquired brands to the Dive family
In late 2020 and over the course of 2021, Industry Dive acquired several new brands — CFO, Proformative and PharmaVoice.
Each brand supported unique editorial and sales strategies. The differences in strategy meant that each brand required its own visual identity. We had to create new logos, adjust brand colors and craft new marketing collateral. With complex challenges ahead of us, we needed a strategic approach to updating acquired brands.
Goal
Add acquired brands to the Industry Dive family using an effective, repeatable strategy.
Process
Each acquired brand we added to the Industry Dive brand family in 2021 required its own treatment; a ‘one size fits all’ solution did not cut it. We did, however, achieve our goal of using an effective, repeatable framework to guide updates.
Part I of our framework – Follow these three principles:
- Closely align the acquired brand with the Dive parent brand
- Preserve original brand capital, where possible
- Support Dive’s unique visions for each product
Part II of our framework – Follow these four steps:
- Determine your brand goal
- Develop your brand architecture
- Devise a visual strategy
- Design your brand assets
These principles and steps helped us systematically update the logos, color, typography and other assets of each acquired brand.
Case study: Updating acquired brands, PharmaVoice and Proformative
- Brand Goal
- Demonstrate that the two brands are stronger by association
- Boost the reputation and credibility of one another by leveraging their partnership
2. Brand Architecture — “Endorsed”
- ID brand and acquired brand work together
- Showcasing a connection to the parent brand builds trust
3. Visual Strategy — “Brand Fusion”
- Combine the two brand identities
4. Design
- Logo — (1) Unique word mark. (2) Main color must be black, Dive Red may be used for accent. (3) Icon mark may be used.
- Website — ID typography and colors
Case study: Updating acquired brand, CFO
- Brand Goal
- Remove any association with the previous parent brand
- Retain the acquired brand’s name recognition
2. Brand Architecture — “House of Brands”
- Products are not associated with the ID brand
- Ensure the visual identity can support a sponsor logo
3. Visual Strategy — “New Brand”
- Both brands retain a unique brand name and unique brand identity
4. Design
- Logo — Unique
- Website — Unique
Results
Check out the results on PharmaVoice.com, Proformative.com and CFO.com
Automating new employee welcome kits
The design department created the first official Dive Employee Welcome Kit in 2019. It included a printed “Welcome Guide” and assorted Dive-branded swag.
Following our efforts to unify and update the overall Dive brand, we saw two issues with our employee swag: the colors no longer matched our brand identity (we updated our hue of red and emphasized indigo more), and the company had outgrown our old manual fulfillment process.
Between 2019 and the end of 2021, Industry Dive doubled in headcount and grew into an international, mostly remote, workforce. This growth made our old swag fulfillment system extremely time-consuming. We used a different vendor to print each product, and each vendor had a different ordering process.
After the products were made, they were delivered to our physical office in Washington, D.C. and assembled into kits. The kits were then shipped to each employee’s house. This manual process was completely unsustainable for our company’s increasing size; we needed a new self-serve system.
Goal
Create a new self-serve process for branded swag fulfillment.
Process
Preliminary research made it clear that several vendors offered self-serve swag fulfillment. Knowing that there was a market for our exact need, we listed our unique requirements. We needed a vendor that offered:
- High-quality products available in bulk, priced within our budget
- Customizable items offered in at least one of our core brand colors
- An intuitive interface for all users (admins and customers)
- Direct-to-customer delivery and international shipping
Once we nailed down these requirements, we did demos with competing vendors to compare their products and service. Swag.com offered a wide variety of items and a simple digital fulfillment platform that met our needs.
Next, we reevaluated exactly which products we wanted in our Welcome Kit and ordered samples. Each selection was made after comparing brands, colors and customization options.
Finally, we created new graphics for a t-shirt, water bottle, postcard, sticker pack and tote bag, and wrapped it all in a custom printed box. Production began, and we trained the People Team on how to administer the platform.
Over the course of this project, we also digitized our Welcome Guide for new employees. Originally a printed booklet, the Welcome Guide was rebuilt using Webflow, includes onboarding information and has a “Get your Welcome Kit” link to our swag platform. This link leads to a form where staff fill out their personal sizing and shipping information, instead of emailing the design department or People Team.
The revamped swag fulfillment process is a huge time saver for everyone involved, and we can’t wait for new Divers to receive their Welcome Kits!
Team: Taylor McKnight, Michelle Rock, Brian Tucker, Yujin Kim, Diego Camargo
