The MPWRSource Squad was recently enlisted to begin a branding evolution on one of our business sidekicks—ProActive Information Management.  An IT industry leader for well over a decade, its techs have over 75 years of IT experience. And with that experience as a foundation, the past few years have found ProActive Information Management growing and its CEO and founder, Dennis Kao, wanted its branding to reflect those changes.  After all, as companies evolve and expand, and as market needs shift, good branding should reflect that.  For this rebrand, we have developed a new logo and are in the process of rebuilding their website, messaging, and collateral by the end of 2020.

When building a brand, a marketer will ask the following questions:

• Why does your company exist?
• What is your unique selling proposition?
• What does your company value?
• What “personality” does your brand have? Serious? Nerdy? Trustworthy? Playful?
• How do you want your customers to feel when they interact with your company?
• What does your company stand for?

Effective branding is authentic, consistent, and communicates the answers to all of those questions, and it is most identifiable in a logo.  A well-developed logo is the by-product of months of conversations, meetings, sketches, and presentations and is part of a larger brand strategy.  A brand’s strategy encompasses the who, what, when, where, why and how a company plans on communicating its messages.

OLD PROACTIVE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT LOGO

The former ProActive Information Management branding used a wave and the tagline “Ahead of the curve” to reflect the company’s ability to proactively help companies with their IT needs.  However, the IT industry has changed dramatically in the past few years.  The needs of the marketplace no longer demand proactive solutions but PREDICTIVE MEASURES. The old ProActive logo felt dated and stodgy. Furthermore, competitors in the IT industry tend to have blue, very conservative logos despite the market wanting IT partners that are approachable and can speak their language.

So the MPWRSource Squad set to work to start ProActive’s evolution. To begin with, we knew we wanted ProActive to stand apart from its competitors and to build upon the demand for predictive IT solutions.  We noticed that employees and even clients were already calling ProActive Information Management “pim”, so we decided to take the company’s nickname to the next level and include it in the company’s branding.  Perhaps inspired by Ant Man’s Pym particles, our love of superheroes, or just the idea that everyone nicknames that which they love, calling ProActive Information Management the quippy “pim”  AND having it be in all lowercase letters instantly added approachability.  This is an IT company you have a relationship with.  You have a pet name for it—pim.

We also wanted the branding to reflect pim’s methodology of strategy then plans then people then process then technology and tools.  We swapped out the old tagline of “Ahead of the technology curve” (get it? The logo was a wave?) for a new one that better reflects the company’s why and better addresses the needs of its target market: “we sync people, process, and technology”.

The logo also needed to succinctly reflect all these things.  We chatted with clients and folks within the pim organization and found that pim was approachable.  It was evolving.  It was knowledgeable and geeky, not unlike our favorite nerds in “The Big Bang Theory”.  And for many clients, pim and its services were the center of their small business sphere.

So how does a logo communicate all of these things?

A pyramid denotes strength, energy, and change. Pyramids are a historical and technological marvel and triangles are the strongest shape. The transparent sphere encircling the pyramid was chosen to denote that change and strength are the center of the sphere because, in fact, pim’s core belief is that pim is the center of our client’s sphere. The sphere is transparent, depicting pim’s transparency and honesty. Blue was kept as a nod to the previous brand, but orange was added to evoke approachability and amiability.

Approachability and professionalism:  yes, these two things can exist, and small businesses seek those qualities in their partners and resources. We plan for the revamping of pim’s website to equally reflect those qualities.  It will be more streamlined and user friendly.  Approachable and communicative. With a touch of “Big Bang Theory” vibes because, let’s face it, we all like a little “Bazinga!”