The Client
Mark Stipic Consulting (now re-branded as Tactium) are THE experts when it comes to WorkCover insurance. They work with senior decision makers from companies with 20 to 200 or more employees, assisting them with the prevention and management of workplace injuries and the mitigation of WorkCover claims. They also assist with all other types of business insurance.
The Challenge
When Mark Stipic reached out to me (about five years after we had met at a networking event!) he told me he was ready to make a major change in his business. Pleased that Maja Creative was top of mind for him when it came to branding, we quickly established that Mark needed to completely transform his brand, including his brand name. When he launched his company 8 years prior, he was a solopreneur looking to make a name for himself. And the name was appropriate at the time. But today, the company has grown significantly. When the team expanded to 8 members, it was evident that it was ‘no longer the Mark Stipic show’, nor did Mark want it to remain that way.
Mark and I identified four main challenges when it came to branding in his business:
- The brand name Mark Stipic Consulting, wasn’t doing the business any justice. It didn’t clarify or suggest what line of business they were in and this hindered their positioning in the market and slowed down their sales process.
- The brand name (being Mark’s name) suggested the business was small, and that it was still only Mark working in the business. Clients and prospective clients still had an expectation that Mark would be involved in every aspect of the consulting work, which was no longer the case with his expanding team.
- The website was a temporary site that was out of date and didn’t reflect the full service offering of the business.
- The branding and other marketing collateral was outdated, inconsistent and key tools and brand touchpoints didn’t exist.
“Having gone through the brand strategy process, I fully get it now that that you really need to know what your direction is before you actually set sails. It also helped me understand the logic when it comes to choosing a good brand name.”
– Mark Stipic, Managing Director, Tactium
The Approach & Brand Strategy
We took a deep dive into the business through our comprehensive and collaborative Brand Strategy Workshop. This process helped us thoroughly understand what the business was about, who the ideal client base needed to be, and where Mark envisaged the business growth in the future. We also uncovered a clear picture of the current service offering and prioritised customer goals. This strategic framework set the foundation for the creative direction of the brand.
Next, we came up with around 40 brand names for Mark to consider. While Mark was initially a little skeptical at our suggested list of names, and explored other options, eventually he trusted our expertise and settled on a name we had put forward – Tactium.
Tactium was inspired by the word tact – which is a skill in dealing with difficult and delicate situations; and the word tactic – which is any mode of procedure for gaining advantage or success. Given the complexities of dealing with WorkCover insurance issues, we felt this name was aspirational and very fitting for the company, and sounded unique to be memorable. We enlisted the help of a trademark consultant to do the due diligence on any copyright issues and trademark the new brand name.
With a new chosen name, we were finally ready to create a new logo and brand identity. We designed a fresh timeless logo that included a slight nod to the history of the original icon. We chose bright orange as part of the core colour palette and create a look and feel that resonated with the brand personality which was polished, energetic, reliable and trustworthy.
We then worked extensively to create a cohesive look across multiple customer touchpoints. The deliverables included:
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Brand Naming
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Logo Design & Brand Identity
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Brand Style Guide
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Brand Photography & Imagery
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Business Development Kit including Presentation Folder, With Comps Slip, Thank You Card & Company Brochure
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An 8 page Company Brochure
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2 x A4 Service Brochures for WorkCover Consulting Services and General Business Insurance
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A 15 Page Branded PowerPoint Presentation
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Business Cards, Letterhead and HTML email signatures
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Branded Facebook & LinkedIn Banners
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Internal Collateral including branded reporting documents and Excel spreadsheets
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A comprehensive 8 Page Company Website Design
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Copywriting for website and brochures
The Outcome – How the Project Was Received
Mark was very excited to report that he has seen some immediate results from the re-branding project.
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Consistent collateral across all brand touchpoints gives team Tactium a lot more confidence.
The Tactium rebrand walks prospects and clients through each step of their journey with the new brand consistently applied at every single touchpoint. They see the logo, colours, fonts and imagery at every single interaction they have with the brand – from website to social media; to email signatures to presentations; service documents and reports. This helps build trust and recognition. Mark has also seen the rebrand as a value add for his employees. Team members want to work for companies and brands they are proud of, and need branded tools and assets that can confidently help them do their jobs – wether that’s promoting and selling a service or showcasing complex information internally. The new brand name and look has seen the rise of #teamtactium, lifting morale and further improving the internal culture.
“I’ve had people asking me for years, ‘Have you got a brochure?’ With our new look, we feel very proud to be able to share our collateral and previously I was of the mindset that that’s old school and you don’t actually need that stuff. But I realize now, I was just saying that to make myself feel better and that actually hard copy marketing materials have well and truly got a place in this day and age. In fact, I think if other people out there are starting to veer away from it, the more reason that it’s good for you to have it because it’ll give you an edge over the competition.”
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The perception of the brand has shifted, freeing up Mark’s time
Part of the brand strategy included not only removing Mark’s name from the brand name, but also to incorporate the language of “We” and wherever possible, replace “Mark” with “your dedicated consultant” in emails, collateral and communication to set the expectation
that Mark is no longer so readily available.
“The sort of improvement I noticed straight away is the perception that I’ve personally got to be front and centre all the time has really dissipated. I can already tell, especially with new clients as they come on board (and even existing clients now) that they can see that our two fantastic lead consultants are their main point of contact. For some reason it’s just working, and having the effect that I wanted. So certainly the rebrand solved one of those challenges that I had.”
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Brand positioning elevated
No longer seen as a one-man-band, the rebrand has helped Tactium carve out a spot in the marketplace that puts a bit of heat on the competition.
“Another thing we’ve already noticed as well is our positioning in the market has substantially elevated and appropriately so. I was frustrated before because we were perceived as being smaller than what we are. Therefore there’s other strategic partners who are taking notice and now suddenly realize “oh, actually these guys are kind of a big deal”. So certainly our positioning in the market, I can really detect that we are perceived as being at least on par with other brands in this space that are 30 years old and 10 times the size of us. Now we’ve actually carved out our spot in the market. I really have strongly gotten that sense. So that’s been a big win as well.
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Sales Process & Track Record Improved
When we looked at the company’s sales process and primary proposal & sales document, we noticed that there was a double up of content and therefore a double up of work, which delayed the sale and the client was essentially seeing the same content in different formats. Our suggestion was to revamp this as one comprehensive document that could be used as a sales tool and then also double up as the follow up proposal and reporting template.
” Another thing that’s been a bit of a game changer is that, in collaboration with you, we revamped our sales and proposal document. One thing that you worked with me on is to say, you know what, let’s just do your report in landscape. So we ended up taking the best of both formats and making a single document that works either way. That meant that we can quite often send proposals within an hour of having finished a meeting with the prospective client. And the quicker you move through those things, I honestly believe that impact improves your sales outcomes. We’ve really seen that we’ve had a better strike rate since we’ve been using that. And that’s really made my job easier as well. And also, it looks fantastic. It looks 10 times as good as it looked before. You know, we’ve got some nice stock photography. The color scheme is a perfect match. Even with the old way we used to do things, the two, the report and the presentation looked totally different. They still had our logo on it, but there was like a big chasm between the, the appearance of the two things. So now it, it all it all looks the same.”
Further Information
At Maja Creative, we couldn’t be more proud to work with Mark and team Tactium to help them achieve such great results from their re-branding project.
If you’re in business, make sure that you reach out to team Tactium to have your business insurance policies reviewed (for free). And if you’re a company that might have any concerns about workplace injuries and WorkCover insurance, contact Mark and the Tactium team to find out more about their flagship consulting service, the WorkCover Strategic Plan which can help you lower your premiums, avoid complex claims and get employees back to work faster.
