Financial Services

Marketing - Brand Development

Situation

Znet Financial is an Atlanta-based mortgage lender whose mission is to deliver low-rate, low-fee mortgages to customers via e-commerce and personal service. Using the Internet to improve productivity and lower costs, Znet offers consumer loans at wholesale rates - and customers have embraced the concept. In less than four years, Znet has grown exponentially, and consistently provides some of the most competitive mortgage rates in the country.

Challenge

As the company was formed during the height of the dot-com boom, its original marketing strategy mirrored other Web-based companies. However, after the dot-com crash in 2001, the company found that it needed a more stable, traditional brand to continue competing with brick and mortar mortgage lenders. The company also planned to develop new lines of service, and needed a brand that was flexible and could grow with the company.

c21 Solution

After evaluating the image Znet wished to project, as well as analyzing its competitors' images, c21 partnered with a graphic design firm to develop a variety of logo concepts, each demonstrating the company's desired image as a friendly, successful and stable firm. More than 50 iterations of logos were developed, reviewed and revised. c21 then presented Znet with 10 logos, describing the reasoning behind each design.

Results

Znet and their financial partners were so thrilled with the choices, they had a hard time selecting. The final logo selected can be manipulated with different colors to represent new lines of service Znet may create, such as Znet Securities and Znet Bank. The new logo also incorporates earth tones to demonstrate the firm to be solid and reliable, while also service-oriented and friendly, and removes any reference to the dot-com era previously exhibited in the company's original red and black logo. The logos will be incorporated into company's new sales materials, stationery system and Web site.

"When we formed Znet Financial in 1999, we went through a lengthy process to build our identity, and found that many designers weren't thinking in the direction we were. Throughout the re-branding with c21, we felt confident that our team was on the same page from the get-go, and would come back to us with an image that will allow us to play on the same field as the nation's largest mortgage lenders."

Dennis Hodges, President, Znet Financial.