Tax + more = A fresh new brand

What did the existing TaxAssist brand mean to people? What does it tell them about the services offered? And what elements should potentially change to support the business’s growth ambitions?

Our in-depth 360i approach helped us answer these questions through stakeholder workshops with internal marketing and leadership teams, focus groups and one-to-one interviews with existing franchisees, end customers and prospects.

Digital listening, a YouGov survey, and market and competitor research also helped us gain insights into our different audiences and the brand’s potential to connect with each one.

As part of the discovery process, we also considered new naming options for both the TaxAssist master brand and suite of potential sub-brands, as well as evolving the brand architecture (vision, mission, values, brand promise and positioning statement) to show a strong commitment to providing the resourcing and future investment needed to support their expanded offer.

Everything we learned from the research helped evolve the brand identity to help land their new positioning and highlight their key message: ‘We can do more for you’.

The well-established brand colours were retained but updated, while a new suite of complementary colours expanded the palette. This helped the brand feel fresher, work better in digital and adhere to important accessibility guidelines.

The main font was modernised and a unique ‘+’ brand identifier woven into the logo. This also works as a stand-alone icon, to highlight the ‘more for you’ proposition.

A signposting framework was created to highlight the wider products and services on offer and make it easier for clients to navigate to the right solution for their needs.

Finally, we tested the new look and feel with a prospect group from our initial research phase, to ensure that it landed well before we rolled out the new design.

The new design assets were shared with the client for their in-house design team to activate across channels.

The new brand hit the high street on 21 March 2024, following an exclusive franchisee launch event at Silverstone. The client has been blown away by the response, having received a wide range of positive comments from franchisees, colleagues and clients.

The new brand has been described as “a very significant moment and a welcome refresh”, and “clever yet simple”. It also made franchisees “feel certain it will enhance our relationship with existing clients and potential new ones”.