BRAND WORLDA NEW

2009 ANNuAL RevieW

In our recent “Marketing Hope” survey, 100+ professional

service CMOs signaled that the chilling effect on marketing

brought on by the Great Recession is thawing. Amen. Adios,

Great Recession! RIP.

Many plan to grow their marketing investments and re-engage

with key markets in 2010 and are excited by the prospects.

However, they are re-entering a new brand world in which the

rules of engagement are now more and more interactive:

n Web sites are more important than ever as branding tools

(and most fail at this task).

n Getting found on the Web requires a mastery of search

engine optimization and search-marketing tools.

n Social media adoption offers reward and risk.

n Thought leadership is being consumed in new and varied

ways—think blogs, podcasts and virtual tradeshows, for

example.

So the smart B2B marketing money is going digital, following

the lead set by B2C marketers, and will be concentrated on

attracting and persuading the interactive buyer. But even savvy

digital marketers like Google, Zappos and Nike understand

the need to find the right mix of on- and offline efforts. The

challenge is finding that balance in our new world.

What follows are the stories of nine courageous firms who

have a head start on 2010. They used 2009 to define and

roll out brands for the times. Take a few minutes to read their

stories and experience their work. See the positioning they’ve

staked. Note the blending of media. And glean ideas that will

help you attract the marketplace attention you’ve grown to

deserve.

— Joe Walsh, Gayatri Bhalla and Burkey Belser

BRAND ATTRACTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE

PROSKAUER

P rospering in last year’s economy was a world-

wide challenge, but at least one firm sustained its momentum. Proskauer has been growing steadily over the past several years through skillful acquisitions of practices and individuals. That dynamism is reflected in the firm’s new logo and (even further) abbreviated name. But, more importantly, clients value momentum—sustaining, gaining and accelerating it. Business doesn’t cheer yesterday’s numbers so much as look forward to tomorrow’s! That message is at the core of the Proskauer brand. Beyond the identity, you’ll also see a dramatically different Web site—changing from black and red to blue and lots and lots of white.

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VeerVeerTo maintain confidentiality, case study information deliberately blurred.

The digitally printed materials reflect the overall brand. But smartly. These materials can be produced by the firm on the fly through a system we call Practice Made Perfect. Foregoing the printing press but looking just as good, brochures can be customized for individual clients. But even the promise of keeping brochures current is enough to make most communications directors salivate.

Proskauer 3

Sometimes it’s difficult to get behind the wall of an

organization. The discreet nature of the legal business can make it even harder to

peer through the shades. We thought students would enjoy seeing exactly what’s on the

laptops of other associates like themselves. This brochure was

designed as a laptop (albeit a small laptop), revealing the real-time documents on each individual’s desk. Now that’s

getting in the door!

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U.S. MILITARY HIV RESEARCH PROGRAM

Now this is a great story! And, trust us, you haven’t heard this before. The U.S. Army is the leading HIV research

organization in the world. Well, they’ll force us to back off from that claim but we’re not far off. Why? Because U.S. soldiers are in “harm’s way” and the U.S. government is committed to protecting them with the full might of its $670 billion budget. Actually, the Army took the lead 80 years ago in identifying the vector (mosquitoes) for yellow fever when digging the Panama Canal. The medical officer involved? Walter Reed of the eponymous hospital. The Army, however, is singularly self-effacing, in the tradition of scientists everywhere. Even the slightest scent of promotion was not perfume to the officers and staff. And yet they were justifiably proud of their accomplishments, so we chose simply to reflect those achievements in a clear, well-designed new Web site and messaging platform. Heads up: We want to introduce you to a new tool Greenfield/Belser appropriated, through which we identify key brand messages in the form of a blog tag cloud. It’s artificial (in other words, no computer algorithm calculates the visual relationships) but it’s proven to be a welcome tool for firms trying to capture a world of information in four square inches.

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CENSEO CONSULTING GROUP

T he supply chain consultants at Censeo

hail from the largest and most respected global firms, like Booz Allen and Deloitte, but are bringing a different problem-solving perspective and business model to market. In short order, this approach has earned Censeo a five-star client list—from the Department of Defense to a Fortune 50 mining concern. It has also put the firm on Consulting Magazine’s Small Jewels list. The secret to Censeo’s success? A full-circle connection between framing big-picture improvement opportunities and delivering programs that provide immediate, quantifiable results. We’ve dubbed this approach the 360-degree perspective. A new pitch book and Web site target a mix of large government agencies and large public companies. They feature dramatic imagery —capturing the big picture— paired with detailed case studies that demonstrate actual results. Missing are the elaborate process flow charts and long narrative descriptions that reinforce perceptions of large firms as more focused on “what clients should do” than on “how to get it done.”

U.S. Military HIV Research Program / Censeo Consulting Group 5

The firm’s new Web site will launch in the first quarter of

2010. Like the company itself, it breaks the big supply chain

consulting mold. It’s clear about who Censeo serves and how the firm makes a difference.

It’s more focused on the buyer than the firm. And it positions

Censeo as important, confident and a leader—something its expanding list of clients have

already figured out.

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PARKER POE ADAMS & BERNSTEIN

Parker Poe has offices in the Carolinas but draws its

clients from all over the world, particularly those companies seeking a foothold in the business-rich, warm climate of the South. At the same time, Parker Poe lawyers are likely to be on a plane headed west, north or east, serving regional clients who find Parker Poe’s strong skill sets, cost-effective rates and charming personalities to be a plus at the negotiating table.

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP 7

The collection of ads to date are leveraged from the pages of the Web site and wisely integrate on- and offline efforts: one for economic expansion, another for public-private partnerships, a

third for community service and one more for diversity.

Some of us grew up in the South and recognize—as a Carolina business paper opined—“It’s not bluegrass and country gravy that are drawing and keeping the likes of Boeing, Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW, DuPont, General Electric and Honda—to name a few.” So, our goal was to present Parker Poe as serving the future direction of “Business South”—intelligent, progressive, sharp and expansive.

The new logo forms an abstract compass and ties a promise of direction (sound, clear, solid, etc.). The imagery is not only “smart,” it’s also “art.” Notice the Careers page at the bottom right. Information graphics identify law students as saplings, law clerks as young growth and partners as career timber. For anyone who’s been working a while, that has to bring an inward smile.

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BODMAN

I t is hard to imagine a tougher challenge than

surviving this economy in Michigan. Detroit is, after all, a company town like Washington (politics) and Los Angeles (film) and the poster child for hard times. Yet quality will win out. The very best in their category continue to lead through thick and thin. Bodman is one of Michigan’s anchor firms. It grew up with the success of Henry Ford and still represents the Ford family and is recognized as the state’s leading financial services firm. The Web site and biennial review provide a radical new look for this storied firm.

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC / Bodman LLP 9

STEPTOE & JOHNSON

No headline news here, but the economic times

have brought the value all professional service firms deliver to clients into sharp focus. Example: organizations like the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) have given new voice and clarity to the conversation about value. In fact, the ACC’s Value Challenge issues a clarion call and explains the elements of value as defined by in-house buyers of legal services. In response, West Virginia-based Steptoe & Johnson, a major player in the energy and other critical sectors across KY, OH, PA and WV, is rolling out a new brand program that puts the challenge at the heart of its internal and external communications.

The new Web site takes its cue from the biennial review. The firm has focused on six key industries and celebrates its accomplishments in this latest review. The copy platform is built on words that stand alone and as a pair. Thus, the cover says “Adapt” but inside the full pair is “Creative Adaptation.” “Power” becomes “FirePower.” “Force” becomes “WorkForce.” The pages fold in, hiding the second word, encouraging the reader to keep interacting with the text as well as turning the pages.

A “re-skinned” Web site, internal training and supporting new-business

pitch materials are organized around the ACC’s essentials of value: relationships, communication, budgeting and staffing, knowledge sharing and results. In the end, Steptoe is conveying its assertion that value is a fairly simple proposition if you listen closely to the market and have the talent and business model to deliver against expectations.

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BKD

10 2009 ANNUAL REVIEW BKD LLP 11

BKD is a top-10 U.S. accounting and advisory firm with more

than 2,000 professionals in 30 offices across 12 states. It sits astride two competitive markets: 1) The large national and global accounting firms, including the Big Four and 2) the strong regional and local firms in each of BKD’s major locales. The branding challenge includes awareness creation—amid lagging perceptions of the firm’s top-tier emergence, locally and nationally—and preference creation; that is, crafting a brand message that differentiates BKD from its strong and savvy competitors. The solution begins, ironically, with a more client-focused twist on “The BKD Experience,” a time-honored service manifesto deeply embedded in the culture. Flipped, it becomes a benefit, not a feature, and accommodates an expansive list of advantages clients get from BKD. Partners and managers, featured in up-close and personal photography, are the stars of the brand. Their inclusion responds to research that says clients value the relationships BKD delivers as much as the firm’s top-tier resources.

The attention-grabbing iconography in a series of firm print ads can be tailored to local offices with local contacts. The idea is to make the firm-wide brand ads double as local awareness- and relationship-building tools. Imagine that!

Complementary icons combined with substantive, quantitative measures round out the brand tool kit and reinforce key selling points beyond the firm’s personal touch. They appear in firm collateral pieces, including a scannable overview brochure and several industry brochures—all printed on demand. At the center of the branding effort is the firm’s new Web site, produced in-house, which puts the firm’s messaging on the marquee.

GESMER UPDEGROVE

12 2009 ANNUAL REVIEW Gesmer Updegrove LLP 13

The pioneering Boston-based law firm Gesmer

Updegrove has worked with “serial entrepreneurs” since its inception in 1985. Gesmer clients are the big idea-driven founders and CEOs of start-up and emerging companies who develop and bring new products and services to market. They aim to make their ideas commercially viable and exit the business in a five-year window with a financial transaction. A new positioning campaign and Web site make Gesmer’s unique role as advisor to these companies clear through character sketches of its intriguing client leaders. On the Web, Gesmer attorneys take on the client’s serial persona with a “Usual Suspects” team navigation tool. The firm also adopts the visual portfolio vernacular of the important venture capital community that typically funds emerging companies.

Since Gesmer is focused on client goals, a flight of three ads is built around the three broad stages of an emerging company: start-up, expansion and financial transaction. The creative offers a tapestry of evidence that Gesmer understands what drives its clients and has the credentials to help them realize those critical objectives and milestones.

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2009 ANNuAL RevieW

This brochure was printed by Mosaic, a 100% wind-powered print communication solution provider, using 100% FSC certified post-consumer recycled paper.

gonegreen

This brochure was printed by Mosaic, a 100% wind-powered print communication solution provider, using 100% FSC certified post-consumer recycled paper.

Be sure to connect with the latest thoughts on brand strategy, research and design—in all media —at gbltd.com/blog.

MID-ATLANTICBurkey Belser, President1818 N Street, NW Suite 110Washington, DC 20036202 775 0333 f 202 775 0402burkeyb@gbltd.com

NEW ENGLANDJoe Walsh, Principal15 Monument SquarePortland, ME 04101207 553 9030jwalsh@gbltd.com

Meet Gayatri BhallaNow that the Great Recession is receding, we’re

being asked by our clients, “What next?” The

answer is simple: Master the art and science of

connecting with your targets in a digital world,

but do so in a way that integrates online with

offline. Okay, not so simple. In order to help

our clients navigate this new brand world, we’ve

hired one of the best in the category.

Grounded in Major Business Initiatives

Gayatri (pronounced “guy-three”) Bhalla

graduated from UC Berkeley and received her

MBA from Yale. She began her career with the

House Subcommittee on Telecommunications

and Finance, but subsequently moved to

Digitas, one of the world’s leading interactive

agencies, now owned by Publicis. While there,

Gayatri led teams and digital engagements for

major investment banks, health care concerns

and retailers. She also consulted on strategy

for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A Power Player for Today’s Tomorrow

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Gayatri is

a perfect match for Greenfield/Belser’s clients.

She understands the industries that drive global

business, the professions that advise them

and the politics that surround them. She’s a

power player in the digital space. If you’ve been

wondering where to turn next for your interactive

marketing strategy, look no further.

GOING INTERACTIVE IN A NEW BRAND WORLD