Challenge
When Penn Capital decided to reposition itself to further grow its business, it faced two major obstacles: reimagining its identity while maintaining the industry reputation it had spent decades building, and translating its expertise into the digital sphere to attract and retain clients. Rebranding every aspect of the company in an authentic and transformative way became a mission-critical task with literally everything riding on it.
Solution
Marker Seven was initially brought in to manage only the digital strategy and website redesign aspects, but we quickly became a trusted advisor throughout the course of the project. We were instrumental in recognizing opportunities with millennials (as both clients and employment prospects), as well as promoting the long-term, community-based philanthropy work Penn had done for years with little public exposure. Ultimately, we helped guide Penn through the rebranding project for more than a year before the digital work even began. Sometimes Less is More After major rebrands, clients typically want an over-the-top experience to make a strong impression. But Penn saw things differently. There was internal concern that designing a site too far outside of ‘industry standards’ might, in fact, harm the new brand. Because asset management is a conservative and highly regulated industry, Penn perceived stability and comfort in having a site that had synergy with its peers. To validate this approach, we engaged our discovery process by interviewing key stakeholders and Penn’s customers to make sure everyone was on board. Then, we began our agile process. After presenting Penn with different strategic options they chose a direction that was understated, streamlined, and easy for viewers to comprehend, while addressing their own competitive, long-term digital needs. From Point A to Point Z After months of strategic discussions, visible change was underway as Penn engaged a prominent Manhattan agency, Addison, to develop a new brand identity system including a new logo, color palette, and collateral. Penn also relocated its offices to one of Philadelphia’s most desirable office locations – The Navy Yard – and developed a stunning, highly-branded workplace. It’s an environment that will not only help it engage clients, but will also act as a world-class recruiting tool for prospective employees. When it came time to focus on the website, Marker Seven had already been immersed in the rebrand for over a year and we were able to quickly move into design and development , having served as a natural extension of the Penn team during the full project process. Our focus was not only to present the firm’s new identity and product offerings, but to showcase the new workspace and the philanthropic work it does with local youth. Many Experiences, A Singular Focus The Financial Services industry is a strong part of Marker Seven’s client portfolio. Our clients have included investment banks, consumer banks and venture capital firms. But we also maintain clients across a vast sector of industries, ranging from biotech to e-learning, consumer products, media and more. This approach allows us to build a wealth of cross-industry ideas and trends we can draw on for every project, giving our clients unique perspective and advantages. When Penn made a choice in selecting a digital agency to manage their project, they had a wealth of financial services specialists to choose from, but they saw the broader picture. Penn recognized the immense value in partnering with a firm that not only had financial experience, but also deep experience across other verticals. Bringing a diverse set of ideas to our clients is part of our company DNA.
Results
Marker Seven’s work for Penn Capital extends well beyond a freshly launched public-facing website. Anticipating the trends ahead, Penn strategically chose to invest in an elevated look while putting even more thought into what comes next – and what goes on behind the scenes. To stay competitive, and ahead of the curve in a changing digital environment, we built Penn’s site to incorporate analytics and marketing automation, and are exploring tools like AR, VR and other innovations that can be seamlessly integrated on the back end.
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