Professional Services

Marketing - Brand Development

Situation

Mauldin & Jenkins is a Georgia-based accounting firm that offers a broad range of expertise in auditing, accounting and tax services. In late 2004, the firm opened its first Alabama location in Birmingham, but by July 2005, the new office had made no formal announcement of its existence and had no marketing materials to distribute to potential clients. Mauldin & Jenkins saw this need as an opportunity to redevelop the firm's entire marketing strategy, which until then consisted of purchasing pre-published generic marketing pieces.

Challenge

With a history of more than 80 years, Mauldin & Jenkins had an established reputation, but had lower visibility than some of its competitors. The new company image needed to speak to a variety of audiences, including employees, potential employees, clients and prospective clients.

c21 Solution

After analyzing Mauldin & Jenkins' existing marketing materials and speaking with the firm's executives, c21 created new marketing materials that embodied the company's focus on personal service and creating partnerships. We began with a tag line and worked with designer Lee Thompson to create "Numbers Matter. People Count."

Next, we designed a color palette to help Mauldin & Jenkins zig, where other accounting firms zagged - by getting them to break away from the standard, conservative dark blue. We selected a range of yellows and gold-tones, as well as various complementary blues - giving the company ultimate flexibility in creating visually appealing pieces that could be used by different practice areas - yet still remain consistent with an overall design standard.

Finally, c21 recommended a phased process for collateral development that not only paralleled the company's trade show schedule, but also would not over-burden the firm's leadership. In this way, we were able to create a variety of marketing materials, including trade show banners, a pocket folder, specific brochures, such as recruiting and governmental services, as well as more than 10 practice area inserts, in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Results

The re-branding program unified the various practice areas and created a sense of pride in the firm's new look. Many divisions have requested additional marketing pieces with the new brand image. In fact, at the 2005-2006 recruiting fairs, many students told the Mauldin & Jenkins' representatives that the bright colors and the tag line drew them to the booth to learn more about the firm. We are now expanding the re-branding to extend to the company's advertising campaign.