Brand strategy & development
Without the presence of brand, investors have nothing to hold onto.
Our branding process builds consensus around the principles that your firm promises to uphold, regardless of performance.
These are the attributes that elicit loyalty and trust from past, present and future investors.
It’s what investors talk about when you aren’t in the room.
We seek to answer the following questions:
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Purpose
Why do you exist?
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Brand Essence
What philosophy motivates you?
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Brand Promise
What promise do you make to your clients?
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Ambition
What do you want to be known for in the future?
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Values
What is it that drives your corporate culture?
This work is conducted using a series of interactive formats, including workshops, questionnaires and a number of proprietary tools that we have developed. We have experience running the process both in person and virtually via video conference.
Identity, Voice & Messaging
This is one of our core deliverables. We start by identifying all of your firm’s attributes. Next, we isolate those attributes that rise above the noise and look to build consensus; we strive for 100% buy-in. If your firm is new, or looking to be reborn, you will need a name. There is more to naming a firm than most imagine. Of course, you need to make sure you pick something available, pronounceable and easy to spell, but it is also important that the name is symbolic of something bigger. “[Street where our office is] Capital Partners” simply won’t do.
We need to push real language, avoid empty rhetoric and find new words to build messaging that makes you relevant and interesting to your most important audiences.
The end deliverable is entirely custom. We can develop a straightforward and authoritative, written value proposition and brand story, and can also parse the language into short impactful bullets and talking points, to be used in direct conversation. Whatever you need, we can provide.
At the end of the process, if a prospective investor asks you why they should invest, you will have an extremely concise, impactful and memorable response.
Visual Identity (and beyond)
Language is important, but the visual aspects of your brand can communicate a great deal and encourage a deeper emotional engagement with your firm. Our design and creative team are experts at breathing life into ideas and language.
Creative Concepts
Drawing on your brand fundamentals, we tie down the palette, typefaces and imagery to be used.
Business Cards
Business cards are still important. We recommend that you do away with any gimmicks, build something with some style and choose a significant paper weight. We can also develop a full suite of stationery, including letterheads, compliment slips and so on.
Logo Development
If you need a new logo, we can put together a fast and inexpensive wordmark (think Google) or build a bespoke mark and typeface that is symbolic of something bigger.
Brand Standards Manual
Consistency is the keeper of brand. There should be strict guidelines in place that control the form your logo takes, how images are used, limits on typefaces, the flexibility around palettes, all with sensitivity to the context.
Sensory Engagement
As an extension to the visual elements of your brand, we recommend thinking about engaging the other senses. We can create audio logos to accompany you on podcasts, video and elsewhere (think Intel). We can help with advice on the adaptation of your brand into your client experience—in your offices or virtually.
“Meyler organized a disciplined branding and communications project that helped us better understand how to explain our strategy and value proposition to a broader market. Structured discussions and brainstorming sessions were usefully supplemented by interviews with various stakeholders to give us impartial feedback. We believe we have benefitted strategically from this thinking and research process.”
“We have found MJ Hudson Meyler to be completely unconstrained by their deep experience in the investment industry. They take a deep dive into your specific business and emerge with incredible insight and creativity – different than anything you would imagine, yet completely on-point. We truly value the partnership.”