Rebranding a gorilla

Our journey to rejuvenating our tired brand identity, and strategy

At Silverback?, we work with a range of clients across different industries, every day advising them and steering them on their brand journey. So when we decided that it was time to give our own brand a refresh, we thought it would be easy – wrong! All of a sudden we found ourselves in our clients’ shoes, having to make important decisions about our brand that could potentially make it or break it. With a room full of talented designers and design critics who all hold Silverback? very close to their hearts, we knew we had to get it right.

The story so far

Silverback Studios Ltd. was founded in 2010, by Malcolm Gilbertson . At the time, there were a lot of agencies out there that he felt fell short of what a client would expect from an agency. He wanted to run a company that did things the right way, gave two hoots about producing great, original work every time, and treated staff and clients well. He was determined to throw off the shackles of the traditional client/agency relationship instead focusing on building trusting, fun and effortless partnerships.

This still rings true today and sits at the core of what the agency is all about, building relationships and in turn creating powerful, intelligent design. It is testament to this way of working perhaps that our clients tend to stick around – some have worked with us for as long as we’ve been here!

Malcolm bravely stepped into the unknown and started working with his first client out of his spare bedroom (a concept that we are all too familiar with at the moment!). Quickly, he realised he needed an office space to invite clients to and found our first studio space in Loxwood, West Sussex. Soon Mal took on apprentice, Jake Harris, who has stayed with the Troop and is now a rather talented, fully-fledged digital designer! Jarrett Owen joined shortly afterwards to help head up the digital side of the business. Mal and Jarrett had worked well together previously and saw an opportunity to create a unique creative and digital parallel service. Over the years, the agency has grown steadily to a multi-disciplined design agency, with four main areas of expertise – branding, creative, digital and copy.

At the beginning of 2020, we moved into a beautiful barn conversion in the Surrey Hills, our new home coinciding with 10 years of business. Little did we know that our time there as a troop would be short-lived due to Covid-19. Like millions of other people, Zoom became our new normal. A few months on, we are gradually returning to the barn and it’s so good to be together again.

Today, we offer a full design service including brand strategy both off and online. Our clients range from small start-ups and boutique companies to large high street retailers and global, professional service firms. The variety is what makes us tick and has made us specialists in several fields. We’ve created everything from marketing campaigns, promotional materials and product brochures, through to training apps and bespoke websites.

The challenge

With our 10 year anniversary approaching, we all agreed that it was the right time to refresh our branding, to reflect the company it is today and to match our vision for the future. Some initial research with clients and our team showed that the agency needed to establish a stronger sense of identity to appeal to the types of clients we want to work with, as well as attracting the right type of talent to join our troop. The company already had the basis of a distinctive and characterful image but we needed to draw on the positive connotations associated with the name and build an engaging and ownable brand. We needed to practise what we preach!

Speaking to our clients, overwhelmingly the feedback was that 99% of the time, we ‘get them’, we have an instinct for what will be right for the client, we don’t try to steer them down a creative route that will win us design awards (although it’s always a bonus!), instead we work closely with them to do the right thing for their brand.

The website had evolved incrementally over time but we felt that it could do more to show the real Silverback? and to be a more useful tool for prospective clients. So we set about looking at every aspect of our brand.

“I knew as the agency approached its 10th Birthday that it was the right time to take a close look at our own brand and consider a refresh. I’m not one for change for change’s sake, so one of the first things we did was to ask our trusted clients, old and new, what they thought of our branding. The feedback from them and our staff in the studio has been invaluable and has helped shape the brand as we embark on the next chapter. I am immensely proud of my team and all that they have achieved, especially through Lockdown. I hope you like our new branding as much as we do!”

Malcolm Gilbertson , Creative Director and Founder, Silverback?

Our approach

What’s our purpose?

We kicked off the brand refresh with a series of workshops internally to pick apart our brand – to revisit our purpose, our reason for being and to map out our vision for the company. Part of this process meant revisiting our internal brand values as we knew that these would underpin our branding and would become even more important as we grow.

It was no mean feat articulating our brand strategy but we got to a place where we felt it truly reflected who we are now and where we want to go.

We also established our brand purpose and promise for our company to keep us on track. We wanted to ensure that our cause was achievable but aspirational at the same time.

Our brand purpose and promise

Powerful, intelligent design – built on trust

Silverback? comes from a place of respect for the work and our people, both clients and the Troop alike. We have built a culture of genuine, down to earth people with a common goal to produce excellent work whilst having fun! We are not afraid to take risks sometimes, to be courageous and challenge conventions. We pride ourselves on building trusted and effortless partnerships.

Our brand values

As part of the process, we revisited our brand values to be more relevant to who we are today. They are:

Bold

We are not afraid to take risks, to be courageous, to stand up for what we believe in and what we feel is right.

Collaborative

With our clients’ knowledge and our expertise and creativity, together we believe we create strong and differentiating communications.

Genuine

What you see, is what you get. We are down to earth, honest and sincere. We genuinely care about everything that we do.

Instinctive

This is the bit that makes us different. We are a talented group of specialists that instinctively know what is right for our clients and the brands we work on.

Playful

We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We like to have a bit of banter in the studio and with our clients (where appropriate!).

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