Rebranding EBM; a logo, letterhead, PowerPoint template, and website design for an in-store sampling agency.

Empowered Brand Marketing is a marketing agency that arranges everything so that brands can have people sample their products in stores across Canada.

After more than ten years in the business, their brand was looking dated and no longer fit with their cultures and values. They appeared as a discount brand when their services were premium and all-inclusive relative to their competitors.

As the studio manager of Matrix Marketing, Colin Finkle helped them update their company’s look by going through a full rebranding.

Colin took the management team of EBM through an exploratory exercise during a company off-site. They developed a list of descriptors of the company’s culture and how they would like to be perceived.

The list of descriptors was put into an online survey, and all of the employees were invited to vote on which they felt were most appropriate. The results were surprising.

The management team expected the company to be like Honda: simple, reliable, cost-effective. What they found is that their brand was more like Volvo: safe, no-nonsense, premium.

With this creative direction, Colin and his team of designers (Shannon Lewke and Lyndsey Loiacono) worked to design concepts for the company logo and brand identity.

The concept of the star / arrow was a clear standout. The star showed it as premium, and the arrow (up and to the right) showed growth and prosperity. The logo paired with a gold and grey colour scheme gave the company the look they were after.

It was clear that the new graphics would need to be paired with fresh photography. The EBM team arranged a photoshoot at a Metro store with demo stations operated by some of their most successful brand ambassadors. EMB’s staff photographer came, and Colin provided the creative direction and shot list.

Colin and his team rebranded:

• Company Letterhead
• Website Design
• Word Template
• PowerPoint Template
• New Business Presentation
• Excel Reports