Process
The AEC rebranding process.
Branding your AEC firm isn’t just a task. It’s the beginning of your legacy. Our DRIVE brand strategy process was created specifically for professional services firms.
DRIVE, phase by phase
- 01
Discovery
We start inside your firm: leadership interviews, goals, history, and the honest state of your brand. What do you want to be known for—and what would make this rebrand a failure?
- 02
Research
Then we go outside: client and stakeholder interviews, competitor and market analysis. What clients say behind your back is the most valuable brand input there is.
- 03
Insights
We synthesize discovery and research into the gaps, the overlaps, and the sticky gold—the positioning territory only your firm can credibly own.
- 04
Voice
Your brand voice and messaging platform: how the firm sounds, what it says first, and the words your people will actually use.
- 05
Essence
The distilled brand essence and positioning that everything else—name, identity, website, video—gets built on.
What it asks of your team
Less than you’d think. A typical DRIVE engagement runs three to four months and requires only two to three internal meetings of about two hours each. We do the heavy lifting; your leadership makes the decisions that matter.
Phase II: Brand identity & standards
Strategy locks before design starts. Phase II translates the DRIVE outputs into your visual identity—logo, color, typography, brand imagery—plus the brand standards your team and vendors need to keep it consistent. Naming, when it’s called for, happens here too.
Fair warning
We believe if the process doesn’t bring you at least a moment of feeling a little bit uncomfortable, you probably aren’t differentiating yourself.
Want the full methodology? It’s in the book: Bold Brand 2.0 on Amazon, or start with the free chapter.
Ready to get started?
If you’re doing great work but losing projects and talent to firms that just look bigger, let’s talk about what a bold brand could do for you.
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