Realizing that you need to rebrand your business is both exciting and intimidating. There’s so much opportunity, but it’s a big undertaking. More than just changing the name and logo, a rebrand includes the story of your organization and impacts the images, language, and design used to tell it.
Before we became Hello Amigo, we were Viva + Impulse Creative Co. We originally built Viva + Impulse Creative Co. around award-winning design and brilliant web development. However, the expansion of our team and improvements in technology allowed us to refocus our services to provide a comprehensive approach to our clients’ internal and external communication strategies.
As we reflected on our growth over the last few years, we sat down to discuss our marketing strategy. The conversation gave us an opportunity to reevaluate and define our values and services. And while we had adapted our services to better serve our clients, our marketing and branding strategy didn’t reflect the changes. We had to ask ourselves: “does Viva + Impulse Creative Co. really encompass all that we do?”
The value we had in a recognizable name was overshadowed by fragmented awareness among our customers and a name that was, quite honestly, a mouthful. Very rarely did someone use the whole name and it was often chopped into something like Viva Group, Impulse Plus and other funny names. And for the record, the plus is silent. But, more importantly, the name no longer felt like it fit who we were, what we did and how we wanted to grow. With this in mind, we decided it was time to pursue a rebrand.
We made it a point to treat ourselves like a client and committed to using the same process on ourselves that we use for our clients. Individually, we each completed a questionnaire and then discussed our responses as a team. While our areas of expertise and different thought processes were clearly discernible in our responses, distinctive themes began to emerge across the responses.
There is no such thing as being overambitious. We believe in exploring all ideas and always looking for something better.
One size fits all doesn’t work for us. We appreciate the unique challenges each client brings and the opportunity to create something truly custom for them.
Relationships are important to us and we want to help our clients build genuine relationships with their customers.
Conversations are key to building relationships and we focus on helping our clients start conversations with the people who matter to them.
These themes shaped our approach to finding a new name, developing our voice, and creating the visuals of the new brand. We began compiling words and phrases that resonated with our team and felt linked to our goals and values. Hello Amigo made its way onto the list and we kept coming back to it. Fun and inviting, the name was just different enough to stand out and the whole team loved it.
The playful name is a nod to our beloved border town and gets to the heart of who we are: a friendly group of creatives working to help organizations start a conversation with the people who matter most to them.
With the name decided, we dove into creating the brand identity. Our service lines are independent, but connected. We create digital solutions that are adaptable and can be adjusted in response to changes in strategy or targeting. Through our exploration of ideas and concepts that conveyed these characteristics, we came across research about octopus behaviors and characteristics.
We discovered that octopuses are very curious creatures, capable of solving problems and adapting to their surroundings by changing their pigmentation to match the colors and textures around them. After learning this, we knew we’d found the inspiration for our new identity and the Hello Amigo octopus began to take shape.
With the identity nearing completion, we turned our attention to developing the voice of the agency. We started with the website copy because the website is the central location of information regarding our services, our team, our project processes and completed projects. We pursued a significant number of ideas and went through countless drafts until we cultivated a voice that’s both conversational and knowledgable.
We then moved on to designing the website layout and building the portfolio pages. The success of our work plays a big factor in winning new projects, so showing off our work was a crucial piece of the new site. Instead of showing boring website mockups and digital ad collages, we focused on highlighting the elements, illustrations, and details that bring our projects to life. Our custom content management system makes it easy to add new projects and share our work.
As the big pieces of the project neared completion, we focused on developing our strategy for announcing the rebrand including a simple explanation for why we rebranded, the story behind the name, and what exactly we do at Hello Amigo.
Why rebrand? We rebranded to Hello Amigo to put conversations first. We create communication strategies, in English and Spanish, to get people talking.
Why Hello Amigo? Hello Amigo is a nod to our beloved borderland home and our ability to develop bilingual communication solutions.
What does Hello Amigo do? Every conversation starts with hello and we create communication strategies to get people talking. More specifically, we conduct market research, create brand identities, develop websites, and manage digital advertising campaigns.
These explanations gave our team direction and a clear starting point for conversations with new connections and prospective clients. The same messaging can be found on our website, and social media accounts and in proposals and quotes, ensuring a cohesive presentation of our services, no matter the source.
Confident in our new branding and communication strategy, we sent a personal email to our clients, featured it on our social media accounts, sent out a press release to local media, and proudly announced it at networking events. The responses were positively enthusiastic.
“Congratulations to all of you - I love the new look! Look forward to learning more…”
“This is great news. Looking forward to working with Hello Amigo! Thanks for the update.”
“This is awesome news! Sounds like a very important step to a better future!!”
“The story behind the rebranding makes a lot sense, especially in a constantly changing marketplace for digital services. Onwards and upwards!”
We are Hello Amigo. Behind the cheerful salutation is a talented team that focuses on providing clients with custom communication strategies. Contact us to get the conversation started.
See what success looks like.
