But their online efforts to recruit new talent — essential to the bank’s ongoing evolution and success — were hampered by an online presence that had grown as complex as the institution itself. More than 60 separate recruitment sites, tailored to specific regions and geographies, lived under the Credit Suisse umbrella, causing career-seekers to get lost in the labyrinth of a frustrating navigation structure.

Credit Suisse challenged Sequel to make it better — and make it fast, with a mandate to launch the reimagined site before the 2016 college recruiting season.

Our information architects got to work, reducing redundancies and complexities in the content, and consolidating them into a single, seamless digital experience designed to serve the client’s needs both globally and locally. Then Sequel led all design and photography efforts, including the creation of engaging infographics that let potential employees glean big-picture facts about the bank’s business and culture, all at a glance. In addition, our creative team visually aligned the offline recruiting vehicles to deliver a fully integrated campaign.

A bold image style focused on the individual strengths and personalities of current employees, putting a tangibly human face on an otherwise impersonal institution. Sequel directed and captured photos of Credit Suisse employees across the globe within a very tight time frame.

The resulting site, applauded widely within the client’s global recruitment community, makes it much easier for potential hires anywhere in the world to learn about the bank’s culture and opportunities, discover open positions that match their skills, and apply for specific jobs — all within one friendly, integrated and informative experience. For Credit Suisse, it achieves the business objective of dramatically simplifying the ceaseless, ever-evolving task of talent acquisition in a competitive and fast-paced financial recruitment environment.

Visit Credit Suisse Career Site

The Urban Dictionary echoes that, adding, “a distinctive emotional atmosphere.” So when a project manager at a large global brand consultancy handed out a project status sheet with lots of narrow columns and rows, along with dates and acronymed deliverables that, in the abstract, meant nothing at all, I was skeptical. Until finally, one of them spoke to me.

“Stacy, what’s a V.I.B.E.?” I asked, having had one sip of coffee at most. She calmly stated that it stood for “Visual Identity Basic Elements.” That was the aha moment for me. You see, when you work as a brand consultant, clients typically see you as solely focused on the logo. And to a large extent that is true — I've worked with brand guys over the years who couldn’t care less about the right fonts or images used on branded communications, but were really more focused on the logo, on the tail fin of the 747 or the flag in front of the corporate offices. More simply put, that means most folks in this industry think “brand = logo.” I always bristled at this commonly accepted, misguided notion. Yes, logos are important. They mark your marketing territory. And yes, brand is about an experience and a set of expectations with a customer, employee, blah, blah, blah.

But the visual system, the graphical stuff, the elements that are there to support the logo (more commonly referred to as “secondary graphics”), to me, are the real players delivering your message. You know these character actors by name, don’t you? — typography, color palette, imagery and secondary graphics, or what we lovingly call “unifying graphics,” as, at the end of the day, these are the components that are the glue for your branded experience. When it comes down to it, you want your customers and prospects to receive an email, pick up a piece of collateral or experience a store or office space and say, “I know which brand is delivering to me this amazing experience” — all without seeing the logo at the bottom of the page! That’s why I call it VIBE or Visual Identity Basic Elements. They are much more than a supporting cast for your logo. They are the key messengers for why your brand is relevant and engaging, and holds a distinctive position in your relative marketplace.

Think of Starbucks’s illustrative and painterly wall murals and textures that touch everything from their store design to their product packaging. Think of Burberry’s signature tartan pattern. One glimpse, and you know exactly whose trench coat, blazer or umbrella that is. Think of Google’s generous use of white space, along with simple, primary colors in type and action buttons. These are the visual cues that together create a personality, an experience — better yet, they conjure a certain vibe.

What are the VIBE components?

Color
Think of this beyond “If all my competitors are blue …” (which is often the case) to “Which color captures our personality and extends where we came from generationally?” Also, with digital and environmental applications being more critical to marketing and sales, ask: “How well will our corporate colors perform consistently across different color spaces, media and technology?”

Typography
I describe this as “visual voice.” If every brand has a tone and manner, or way of speaking to your audience, shouldn’t they also convey a spirit or feeling in the way those words are set in type? Whether it’s smart, accessible, creative or simple, your choices in typeface and typography either help or hurt in conveying your brand personality.

Imagery
If a picture says a thousand words, then need I say more? Images convey that which is important to your brand and the feeling or spirit you want your key audiences to take away. Example: If a financial services house uses stock images for its advertising, website and marketing communications, and one of those same images shows up on a feminine hygiene–product billboard in Grand Central Station, who wins? Be authentic to who your brand is as a persona and don’t go on the cheap just because you can, when selecting or commissioning new imagery.

Unifying Graphics
This can be as simple as a blue rule at the top of every communication. Or, a better way to think about it is the white Coca-Cola wave graphic against their trademark red, or the blue bands both top and bottom that letterbox every IBM TV spot. Unifying graphics are recurring characters that earmark every communication or interaction opportunity as branded separately from the logo.

Geometry
In the VIBE vernacular, “geometry” means use of space and shapes on a given communications surface. This could be, for example, every communication using a one-third to two-thirds grid from top to bottom — with the top third being white space, or the area not taken by copy or imagery. Or every piece using a circular window on it to hold imagery or content or color. Using branded geometry is a consistent way to demarcate spatial relationships to convey a consistent look-and-feel. Think Google’s use of clean, open white space to focus strictly on what's important: the information you need.

In today’s episode of Think VIBE, I am asking for those in the know to help me prove my point here. Take a look at the five examples of VIBE in the rotating banner above. Comment on who you think each of these brands are, and, if you're feeling adventurous, what that particular element says about their brand. Quick example: their signature bold red with the white graphic flourish. Could be a lot of brands, but you’d be hard-pressed to walk into a grocer or convenience store in the cold beverage section and not identify these visual cues as Coca-Cola. OK, that was an easy one, and we’ve been trained to remember what these elements stand for over the last 125 years.

Good luck, and please be sure to leave a smart comment or two. See you on the next edition of Think VIBE.

Serving more than 13,000 individuals and families through their 13 locations, HELP/PSI targets underserved communities throughout The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. As a nonprofit health services organization that initially focused on HIV, homelessness and addiction in the 1980s, HELP/PSI has grown over the years to offer full-service primary, behavioral and dental healthcare and support programs to those individuals that need these services most.

As the organization has grown in scale and services, its brand story and image need to evolve as well. Sequel participated in an agency search that involved more than 10 agencies in a multi-stage review process. Selected as the chosen partner to help guide the team on their rebranding journey, Sequel is collaborating with the HELP/PSI team to better understand the character and culture of their employees and their clients, as they help to advance the brand.

“From the get-go, the Sequel team demonstrated their passion, creativity and the ability to quickly pick up on the nature of what HELP/PSI does and how we help individuals access the care they need,” said Matthew Teter, Vice President, Development for HELP/PSI.

Sequel is working closely with the HELP/PSI team to shape a new brand story and visual and verbal identity as well as to develop launch campaigns, and print and digital communications tools, both, to bring to life all the emotional success stories that HELP/PSI clients, physicians, nurses and care managers have to tell.

“The amazing things that HELP/PSI is able to accomplish in bringing health and hope to New York’s hardest-to-reach individuals needs to be heard,” said John Nishimoto, principal of Sequel. “I know I speak for my partners and our creative teams when I say we are proud and extremely excited about our new role as strategic partner in guiding HELP/PSI on how best to tell this story in a meaningful way to new clients, communities and donors across the New York City area.”

Under the banner of “When David Out-Markets Goliath,” Wendy and Peyton will share insights and ideas on how a small player can better compete — and win — against big super-regional and national brands. The bottom line is that reinventing the “community bank” model can be a winning proposition if you combine the right blend of competitive products and services with a high-touch level of service and a disruptive brand and marketing strategy.

The symposium will be held on September 17-18, 2014, at the Crowne Plaza Times Square.

To learn more about the Financial Services Marketing & Innovation Symposium, visit American Banker.

The new logo is a symbol of two forces — one orange, the other gray — representing two strong entities coming together as one. Its tag line: “Your World. Worth More.” represents the new firm’s relentless pursuit in building a customer-centric culture.

“The unique factor in this is that this is not a rebranding,” said Prager Metis’ Director of Marketing, Diane Walsh. “It is a full branding from start to finish. We have created a brand for a Top 100 Firm from scratch. Usually when you have a merger of this size, there is a dominant brand that one organization hopes to retain, but this was not a simple refresher — it was a new creation.”

“We brought in five partners from Prager and five partners from Metis, along with Diane Walsh, [Glenn Friedman] and myself,” says David Neste, Co-Managing Partner. “We included partners who were equity but also considered it equally important to include non-equity partners. Prager Metis values everyone’s voice and wanted all employees to feel confident about the firm’s new identity.”

Prior to the start of defining the new organization, Prager Metis consulted with Sequel, a top branding agency headquartered in New York City, to ensure the branding efforts developed efficiently.

Since the official brand launch in August of 2013, Prager Metis was recently ranked as the number one “Firm to Watch” and a “Top Accounting Firm in the Mid-Atlantic Region” by Accounting Today.

Press release excerpts courtesy PRWeb, to read the article in its entirety, visit PRWeb.com.