Johnston McLamb: Branding
Marketing Challenge:
Johnston McLamb, an innovative, reputable and successful business and IT consulting firm, was experiencing challenges shared by many companies at some point in their evolution. Growth had slowed, and there was an internal and external lack of clarity in both corporate messaging and service offerings. They found their value proposition and suite of offerings were not recognized outside of their client base. Management realized they needed to establish clearly-defined solution sets and practice areas. They also needed to determine targeted vertical industries. Additionally, they sought to expand into other agencies and additional commercial markets.
Like many firms, Johnston McLamb realized that a reactive approach to business development was having the long-term effect of diluting their areas of expertise and clouding their external perception. To overcome this, they sought to strategically reposition the firm—from the inside out. This would mark a major new stage in the evolution of the company. Johnston McLamb conducted an intensive search for a strategic marketing agency to help them reach their objectives. They selected The Borenstein Group to create distinct and compelling market positioning based on core strengths and market opportunity.
Strategic Solution—Message and Momentum
An important component of our strategic marketing work for business and IT consulting government contractor Johnston McLamb was employee satisfaction and retention. They have a core commitment to their employee-centric culture. Our work included ideation and visioning exercises to help team members step outside of the box to provide genuine responses and feedback on various aspects of working at the company. They sought to get a real picture of how their people felt about the company and its culture. Boasting an exceptional track record of retention, they realized the value in retaining and rewarding the best and utilized Borentein’s initiative to help that happen.
The Borenstein Group also helped redefine practice areas and vertical industries to expand into other agencies and commercial markets. Borenstein customized our Strategy Development Process (QSDP), which included collaboration with Johnston McLamb’s internal team. Borenstein conducted extensive market research that confirmed viability of the markets, predicted market revenues, the ability for Johnston McLamb to penetrate, competitive analysis of existing players, and more. Our Strategic Plan clearly presented opportunities for each solution, industry by industry.
Next, The Borenstein Group took the weeks of internal workshops, external research, and analysis to create a succinct and meaningful corporate positioning statement for Johnston McLamb. As the company was moving from purely IT consulting to business consulting with an IT underpinning, the core new messaging theme was: Visionary Leadership. Innovative Technology. Strategic IT Solutions with a Purpose. In addition, The Borenstein Group developed a working 12-month integrated marketing plan recommending programs that should be put in place to penetrate the civilian federal space and the identified commercial markets.
The final stage of the process was the new Johnston McLamb brand. The creative approach was based on showing the fast pace of technology. But by working with Johnston McLamb clients keep pace and better enable their business. The logo chosen by Johnston McLamb conveys technology, upward mobility and balance. It is tightly aligned with their philosophy and methodology. Immediately following the logo selection, The Borenstein Group began working on the look and feel for all materials that would be visible to internal and external audiences. This entire program was successfully completed within four months, which was on time, within budget and to the satisfaction of the company.
We also helped them unveil their new brand identity, focused on the logo we created for them, in their milestone annual meeting. This entire program—research to rebrand—was successfully completed within just four months and within budget.
Johnston McLamb then called on The Borenstein Group to develop a best-in-class corporate website that conveyed the dynamism and professionalism of their brand. We also provided SEO and keyword research and implementation for that website.
