12 months since our rebrand. How’s it working out for us?

Last April, Propel Tech as we know it today was born. But did you know as a business we’ve been making tech possibilities happen for 16 years? 

As we came out of the pandemic, we were still Pace IT, but we realised, as a business, that we needed to reset, refresh, rebrand…

It was by no means an overnight process, with much thought, research and effort put into the look and feel of our new identity - which is designed to feel fresh, relevant and exciting, with all the knowledge, experience and expertise of a tech firm that’s been in business for one and a half decades. 

Read on to discover more about the experience, process and outcomes from a few different viewpoints. 

David Ritchie, the business owner 

“After several years of having the same branding and technical style of messaging, we felt that we needed to change our overall brand proposition.  A new look and feel were required in terms of the visual identity of the business, and we also needed to shift from what we felt was overly technical messaging to be more business outcomes focussed by speaking clearly to business decision-makers as well as a technical audience.

Another important factor in the decision to rebrand was to bring more energy and clarity to our employee proposition, which would help us to attract both graduates and experienced technical talent to our business in a highly competitive market."

Sally Chuku, the Branding Specialist 

"When I started working with Pace IT in 2020, the business had a strong heritage, a great client base and a huge amount of positivity and expertise. However, it became apparent that the existing brand positioning was not representing the business as well as it could.

To get to the right positioning and subsequent rebrand, we undertook a detailed discovery process. This involved conducting in-depth research including senior team strategy workshops, full competitor messaging and creative reviews to establish market norms and benchmarks, qualitative research, including team interviews, customer interviews, prospect and market influencer interviews, and internal team engagement sessions.

All insights were used to create a simple value proposition, vision, mission, values, personality and proposition. These brand foundations directed the creative brief when finding the new identity and name, and importantly now act as the guiding star for all communications and actions across the business. The result; a brand that is modern, fresh, relevant, motivating and real that really works to bring all aspects of the business to life."

Hannah Starkey, the HR manager 

“The new brand has been embraced across the business and has established a real sense of pride throughout the overall team.

The office refit, team values training, workshops, and brand immersion sessions helped everyone to feel part of the journey.  As such, the rebrand has injected vibrancy and momentum into the business communications and allowed every voice to be heard. 

In fact, it has created positive feedback across teams, customers and prospects and has certainly bolstered our recruitment strategy. Tech is a highly competitive recruitment market and I think the visuals of our brand quickly and effectively provide an idea of our culture; we’re not a stuffy and formal business. The candidates we’re looking for have a passion for problem-solving, so our brand purpose ‘Making Tech Possible’ is really appealing to them." 

Sally Chuku, branding specialist, breaks it down:

• “Values - The CARE values emphasise the human drive of the business and set out the key principles of collaboration, aspiration, having resolve, and always working to enhance - these values are a true reflection of how the business is run and they sit firmly across all the work the team at Propel delivers.  
• Brand positioning and purpose - our positioning, ‘Partners in Possiblities’, and our purpose, Making Tech Possible, sets an expectation and a promise to customers and support the curious problem-solving nature of the Propel team. 
• The name - Propel encapsulates our outcomes-based approach and the difference our technical solutions make for our clients.” 

A final word from business owners, David Ritchie and Andy Brown, for anyone else considering a rebrand: 

“We’d always recommend going through an in-depth process of discovery like we did to achieve complete and impactful results. This framework gives assurance that no stone has been left unturned in arriving at the right name, look, feel and proposition to help move your business forward. That said, it’s also important to listen to your gut instinct along the way. This combination certainly served us well.” 

Feel free to reach out to Andy and David with any feedback or questions.