Top
May 11, 2022
in

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves.

Oh hi, welcome to our brand refresh. We appreciate you taking a minute to understand not just how we’re evolving as a brand but what our evolution means for you. And what better way to get to know the “new” us than from a few words from some of the people who inspired every decision that was made along the way. 

BARNEY KIRBY  |  Director of Consumer Insights AKA The Man Behind the Plan

Creating and managing a brand has grown in complexity in the time since we started as a design agency. Brands are now defined by the coherence and consistency of their experience ecosystems, the unified designed brand experiences­­ across all or any touchpoints – physical, digital, events, services. Additionally, brands are now expected to stand for greater meaning or causes, a shift in role that adds greater responsibility. As the demands on brands have evolved, so has HZ evolved as an agency to meet those demands.

RON THOMPSON  |  SVP, Executive Creative Director AKA Professor Refresh

This past year is what I call the year of RE—a renewal and revival of the entire agency. Reorganization within some departments, rebuilding of others, and the restyling of the offices. Essentially, a reset of what we want this agency to be and stand for.

A brand refresh is basically addressing cosmetic changes to your brand, like repainting the rooms of your house. You’re not tearing out walls and reconfiguring the floor plan. This initiative consisted of updating colors, refining our messaging, and amplifying photo and design direction to make everything feel relevant.

Our new, reimagined HZ logo pulls from our past brand heritage, keeping the lowercase “hz" letters and our signature orange, which is now more contemporary, dynamic, and fiery than its predecessor.

Our new palette reflects a rich, enduring class of colors that exhibits greater sophistication, while also offering the flexibility for more vibrant or reserved color combinations to cater to a variety of audiences.

KATIE HOOPER  |  President, AKA Maker of Decisions

For years we have been on a constant path of evolution as an agency. From its beginnings as a graphic design firm and 30 years later evolving into what we called an integrated creative agency, we realized that we didn’t know how to describe ourselves. And yet, we work with brands every day helping them to do just that. 

For us it was more than just an exercise to make a new cool logo and maybe some new colors. It was really about working to build a clear and modern expression of who we are as a brand. How we show up for our partners, but most importantly, how we are showing up for each other. 

And because we are committed to evolving as a company at the speed of culture, we will likely be having a similar conversation several years from now. We are a brand experience agency, which means that every single day, every single opportunity we take on, puts the brand right at the heart of it. 

And so, we needed to take a look at how we were showing up both visually, but also in how we talk about ourselves and how we declare what kinds of partners we think we can do amazing things with. 

So, we love where we’ve landed. We hope you do too. We can’t wait to do it all over again when the moment calls for it.