Aardvark Swift
A new brand identity has provided a solid platform for diversification which has helped the business grow despite the economic downturn
Background
Aardvark Swift is a recruitment specialist based in Rotherham. The business was launched as Aardvark Swift Consulting in 1989 and grew to become Europe's market-leading recruitment specialist for the video games industry.
In 2005 senior consultants Ian Goodall, Colin Walsh and Pete Aunins completed a management buyout from the previous owner. Following the MBO the business changed its name to Aardvark Swift Recruitment and plans got underway to diversify the business beyond the games industry.
Problem
The business wanted to break into new markets, but its brand identity was games industry-focused, featuring Manga-style cartoon images. As the company had grown, meanwhile, the consistency of how this identity was applied across marketing materials had declined.
‘One reason why we wanted to buy the business was that the previous owner had come to take more of a backseat role in later years which, in turn, had led to staff becoming demotivated and turnover falling - from £1.2m to £600,000 in just five years,’ Aardvark Swift director Ian Goodall explains.
‘We wanted to diversify to grow the business, and we wanted to look more professional and up to date. But while we wanted to re-brand, none of us had any direct or relevant experience of anything like this.’
Response
Aardvark Swift's new management team turned to Designing Demand for advice about re-branding the business in late 2005.
After the business joined the Generate service, the first step for Design Associate Lesley Gulliver was to lead the management team through the Generate framework. This involved a half-day session to identify key aspects of the business - its market presence, its strengths and weaknesses, its ambitions - that would underpin the re-branding exercise.
The analysis was incredibly useful, Goodall says.
‘We were a new management team, young and relatively inexperienced,’ he explains. ‘Although we all had hopes for where we could take the company, we had no clear idea about how to achieve that. In the early months following the MBO we planned month by month. Generate forced us to be far more focused on the longer term.’
Gulliver then worked with the management team to hone the conclusions from the initial session into a detailed design brief for the design agencies who would pitch to undertake the re-branding project.
‘It was clear that the name Aardvark Swift should remain, given the track record already established in the gaming market,’ Gulliver says. ‘But the brief set out in detail the style and tone the business needed to achieve its goals, and how the new identity would be used across a broad range of materials.’
The management team saw presentations from four design agencies of differing sizes. Two were asked to come back with more ideas before one, Sheffield-based Iris Associates, was appointed in late 2005.
‘It was our first experience of this sort of beauty parade selection process,’ Goodall says. ‘But it quickly became clear who had a real feel for the business and where we wanted to go. We were also impressed by Iris's track record and work they had done for other clients rejuvenating a tired brand.’
The management team took close control of the day to day relationship with the designers and management of the design development process. Following a further briefing session, Iris came back with three ideas; two were then developed further before one was chosen.
The company established a good working relationship with Iris, Goodall says, although following the departure of a key member of the agency's design team mid-project he believes the rapport weakened.
‘By the end of the project I was aware of how small a client we were to them,’ he says. ‘If we could do this again perhaps we would have chosen a slightly smaller design agency that would have valued our business more.’
Aardvark Swift's new identity, a red on white logo combining two fonts with two names of the company linked by the swirling tail of the letter 'S', was launched in early 2006. The cost to the business of the re-branding project was around £10,000.
Impact
‘Response to the redesign was overwhelmingly positive,’ Goodall says. ‘Internally, we found staff positive and more likely to drive clients to the website, which was also re-launched incorporating the new brand identity at the same time.’
Gulliver endorses this. ‘The re-branding has worked well externally and internally,’ she observes. ‘The management team did a good job of engaging all staff in discussions and decision-making and this, in turn, helped create a real shift in company culture.’
Externally, meanwhile, existing clients welcomed the change.
‘Without doubt it gave us the confidence to move into the new markets we'd highlighted,’ Goodall adds. ‘In the three years since, we've successfully established our presence in the toy market working for major clients such as Hasbro and Mattel, and made in-roads into recruitment for the animation business.’
Turnover grew from £650,000 in 2005-06 to £900,000 in 2007-08. Although the recession resulted in a dip to £825,000 in 2008-09, Goodall remains convinced the rebranding has helped the company maintain its position.
‘If we hadn't rebranded things would have been a lot worse as the economy worsened,’ he says. ‘We've definitely moved into a better position through diversification which, in turn, was helped by better design.’
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