Project Orange

by Kate Clifton

Finers Stephens Innocent is a London-based UK law firm, which provides legal services and advice in the Property, Corporate, Commercial Dispute Resolution, IP Media, Employment, Personal Injury, Private Client and Family practice areas.
When Judith Prime joined the firm as business development director two years ago, she immediately began business planning and conducting research with Finers' staff and existing clients, as a premise to launching a full rebrand. In her own words, 'You need to know where the firm is going before you can begin talking about whether or not your brand fits.'
During client service reviews and internal staff surveys, Prime's team asked people which words they would use to describe the firm; what they thought the firm was known for and what they would like its reputation to be. They also asked for perceptions of the firm's strengths and weaknesses.
Using the results, the business development team focused on the areas that they wanted to emphasise through the rebrand, with a key differentiator being the firm's partner-led service. They decided to build on the most popular adjectives that had been highlighted by the research, which also reflected their own aspirations. These were:

• Partner led;
• Forward thinking;
• Entrepreneurial;
• Vibrant;
• Unstuffy;
• Businesslike;
• Approachable;
• Friendly;
• Ambitious.

These brand adjectives were then used to inform everything that the team worked on with the rebrand.

Was the website working?
The next stage was to establish whether or not their website actually communicated the fact that the firm was 'friendly and approachable', highlighted its partner-led approach to service, and proved that the firm was forward thinking and innovative. 'It had to be different and needed to really stand out from other firms' websites to achieve this,' says Prime.
Time was spent researching other websites on the marketplace, examining different approaches to design (look and feel) and content (quality and presentation). This enabled Prime and her team to establish what they liked and disliked, in order to build a clear picture of how the revamped Finers website would look. The Finers website was then redesigned with the rebrand adjectives in mind, ensuring that they were projected effectively.
'It's very busy and bright, but it has to be if we want people to say that it's vibrant,' says Prime. 'If the website is too discreet it doesn't give out the same energy.'
Having used the colour orange in previous marketing collateral, it was decided to use it as the feature colour for the entire website. 'We didn't want to look like 'easyFirm', but at the same time orange is a great, vibrant colour, which really emphasises our rebrand adjectives,' says Prime.
In staff profiles, for example, each person wears or holds something orange '“ such as an orange tie or mug. This play on the orange theme, while not being too gimmicky, also helped staff to further understand the brand, as it had to be explained why they were being requested to continue the orange theme.
'People were sceptical at first, but when they see the response we've had and their clients commenting back to us, they can see the value,' says Prime. 'We've been lucky and I've had much positive feedback, but there's no point in having a brand if people can't articulate it. Every time you talk to people you're going to tweak your brand message a little, but I wanted to make sure that the adjectives came through each time, and that people would, in turn, come to use them to describe the firm.'

Outside assistance
Once a detailed specification was confirmed, Finers ran a tender process with several website developers using different platforms and methodology, before choosing web-design consultancy ClearPeople to supply a platform. The entire process was completed within six months '“ scoping began in January, ClearPeople came on board in February, then the website was built in-house. All content and pages were written and uploaded to the new platform by Prime and her team and the site finally went live in June. The project remained within its budget of £20k, which included the additional software required for the website's functionality '“ for example, software to compress video footage for the homepage.

12 days of rebrand
To secure internal buy-in to the rebrand, the business development team organised a countdown campaign, during which staff took part in a different activity each day '“ all focused on gaining a better understanding of the brand adjectives and actively promoting them.
On the first day, an information sheet was handed out to staff to explain why the firm's logo was changing, along with a chocolate bar wrapped inside the old logo, with the new logo on the inside of the wrapper. Another day, staff received homemade sweet jars, which listed the core brand 'ingredients'.
Prizes were also used to promote staff involvement and awareness of the rebrand adjectives. For example, individuals were asked to fill out a form explaining what made them friendly and approachable and, if they got a colleague to sign this in agreement, they received an umbrella. Similarly, staff were given the opportunity to show their entrepreneurial and ambitious side, by submitting an idea to improve the firm in the future.
All staff received a rebranding pack and there were presentations at department level to further explain the rebrand process and adjectives.
Prior to the launch, the firm issued a press release containing details of an 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here' themed summer party, where members of staff took part in the firm's own version of the television show's 'Bushtucker Trials'. While most of the activities were improvised with less stomach-churning props, one trainee insisted on eating real fish eyes and other such delights. As a result, the new website received approximately 20,000 hits and has proved a great success in pulling in potential clients and new hires.

Look closer
One of the main features of the rebrand is the 'Look Closer' themed message, which can be found on all the firm's outbound e-mails and on the website itself. An eye logo is accompanied by a boxout containing a message about something that is currently happening at the firm or in the legal world in general '“ for example, details of a current deal, changes in legislation or an upcoming event at Finers.
There is also a weekly video clip featuring FSI news, to further enforce the forward-thinking brand adjective and make the website stand out.
In addition, London Stock Market share indexes are placed at the foot of the homepage, to highlight the firm's presence in the corporate market.
'During the client service reviews, we felt that our existing clients knew us for the work that we did with them, but not our more rounded reputation,' says Prime. Look Closer gets them to do just that and find out something else about the firm that they might not already know. It's had an amazing effect.'
So far, the firm has received many responses as a result of the campaign, including increased click-through rates to the website.
The nature of the process, in that the content is automatically included in all e-mails, and added on by the server, also cuts down on time spent, for example, getting lawyers to approve news items or select which clients to remove from the mailshots.
The firm now has new business cards, most of which include a photograph of the member of staff, and a notes section on the reverse side, which people often comment on. 'As a smaller firm, mixing with the likes of Clifford Chance, which doesn't need to explain its branding, we have to be clearer, much more visible,' says Prime.

Maintaining momentum
Going forward, the focus is very much on building on the success of the website and keeping it as up to date as possible. 'Everything like this has to evolve, you can't keep it static,' says Prime. 'We've got to one place now, but I'm already wondering where to take us next.'
Currently, a marketing assistant updates the site daily with media coverage and news. Keeping the firm's database up to date is also hugely important '“ coding credentials to ensure that relevant news goes through in a timely manner, and making material available for pitches. The website has improved this process as it simply must be done, so there is more discipline in keeping it as well informed and accurate as possible.
The actual design of the website will also likely be tweaked as the rebrand becomes more embedded in the minds of staff and clients/prospective clients.
'We had to slap people around the face with our rebrand, so that they understood our values and what we're trying to do '“there's no point in having a brand if nobody knows what it is and what it stands for,' says Prime. 'We can probably go for a little more subtlety in the look and feel. The website will probably become a sophisticated form of itself, as people will now understand what we're about.'

Judith Prime is business development director at Finers Stephens Innocent.