ACOUSTIC
IBM Marketing becomes Acoustic, aiming to unleash creativity in digital marketing at the intersection of art & science.
Blah. Mediocre. Uninspired.
That's how our client described the state of marketing in 2019. As a function, marketing had become more about data science than creativity. Marketing jobs had become dull. the art side of marketing was quickly fading. Big-name martech products, too, were mediocre at best. Most competitors in the space felt "techy" but lacked humanity and didn't truly understand what marketers needed to be successful.
Acoustic would be different.
We helped our clients articulate a bold ambition to disrupt entrenched mediocrity by empowering man and machine to interact new and fascinating ways: art and science working together in harmony. A new name, Acoustic, celebrates our clients' commitment to creating environments that draw people in, inviting closer and more personal connections. Instead of emphasizing the technology itself, Acoustic's brand is about helping marketers unleash their own brilliance so they can do their best work ever.
The creative concept captures what happens at the intersection of art and science, visually represented through playful interactions of circle and square.
The interplay of these whether through touching or overlapping, are the moments of brilliance that happen when man and machine collaborate to achieve better results. Starting with such basic forms allowed us to create a flexible visual system that ranges from understated and simple to play and complex - reflective of solutions offered by Acoustic. Beyond shapes, a highly emotive portraiture style that's highly emotive without getting too whimsical is paired with bright neon focus frames and a vivid color palette. All these elements live harmoniously to create a brand identity that feels human, fresh, vibrant and optimistic. The primary typeface used is Tiempos - an elegant, high-contrast, unexpected and very distinct in the category, paired with National, a more humanist and functional typeface from the same foundry.
IBM Watson Marketing cutting-edge martech/adtech platform that uses advanced AI to help marketers and advertisers dramatically improve their workflow and deliver significantly better business results. In the summer of 2019, IBM decided to spin off this business. Our clients knew that without the IBM Watson brand, they would have to tell a new story. Leaving IBM also presented a unique opportunity to signal change and disrupt established players like Salesforce and Adobe. A new employee culture had to be born as well-with a scrappy startup mentality that would help 1200 employees leave the world of Big Blue behind. We created the new brand in just 2 months using an iterative process and parallel pathing. From strategy and culture to naming and design, we created the entire Acoustic brand from scratch and designed a new website to showcase the new company.
At launch, the new brand made a splash - receiving coverage in 101 publications with a reach of over 23 million. This included positive articles in Adweek, AdExchanger, and Direct Marketing News. According to Google Trends, branded searches for terms related to Acoustic's business increased by 514% after the brand's launch date. The industry took notice. Acoustic was recognized as a leader in the Gartner 2019 Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management. The Forrester Wave Q3 2019 evaluation named them a leader in Cross-Channel Campaign Management with the highest score possible in "user experience," "business technology and vision," and "measurement and optimization." Allyssa Vitrano, Head of Brand for Acoustic, shared that "employees and clients love the new brand." Launch celebrations are ongoing around the world, visible on their social media channels. The brand is off to a great start as an independent leader generating buzz as they change the industry.