Elevating Orion Engineering: A Modern Rebrand to Showcase Expertise and Leadership

1. The Challenge

Orion Engineering’s 360 degree understanding of client needs was a strong competitive advantage that put them in a strategic position when it came to attracting new business. Building on that, management recognized the need for a more polished, professional brand that could be rolled out across their marketing assets. Not only would this be important when it came time to persuade potential clients to work with them but it could also be used as an employee recruitment tool. They approached Blue Meta’s strategy and creative team with this request.

• There were two main objectives that needed to be achieved:
  Create compelling design and messaging concepts that could be applied to all marketing materials both on- and off-line.
• Provide recommendations and guidelines which should be followed for all new brand assets to maintain brand consistency.

The target audience consisted primarily of 35-54 year old males who typically served in the role of project managers. In addition to procuring services and managing their employer’s interests, a major focus for them was to ensure that projects were completed on time and on budget. They are well-versed in all aspects of the rapidly-evolving nature of the industries they’re in, attending webinars, workshops, conferences and courses that cover off the latest trends, best practices and innovations. They have quick and ready access to publications, reports, blogs, newsletters and podcasts.

2. The Solution

With that in mind, it was determined that the strategy’s messaging needed to reflect several key factors when speaking to this audience. Among them, it had to ensure that there was transferrable education and experience across all industries. Clear, concise language was required in all aspects of communications. To further sway potential clients, testimonials were considered important as they would bring attention to the company’s focus on customer service and highlight its ability to find solutions for different kinds and sizes of projects.

The creative team knew that the visual elements needed to be both inspiring and professional, with interesting angles, composition and lighting. Utilizing both candid and posed shots of staff and groups of people helped give the brand a more personable approach. The overall brand look itself was modern, with bold, technical-styled graphics that inspired confidence in a progressive, innovative company. To help reinforce the brand’s new look, the team also recommended using images that reflected the company’s services and industries.

Once the brand itself was locked in place, the next step was to come up with a new logo that would both capture the brand essence while captivating potential audiences. The main goal for the creative team was to ensure that the logo itself would be able to stand out while also breaking away from the obvious as it is in showing the obvious where a sea of sameness often results.

3. The Result

The existing Orion Engineering logo showed the Orion constellation which, the team felt, wasn’t just too obvious but was also too literal. They wanted to position Orion Engineering as an industry leader so they went even deeper to explore the the historical character of Orion himself – a legendary hunter often depicted with a shield and helmet. It was this latter element that they drew on, creating a strong logomark representing a Grecian/Trojan helmet. This, paired with strong, customized typography, created a bold, modern logo that spoke to strength, power and leadership – all characteristics that would best position Orion Engineering as a fierce competitor and powerhouse in the industry. To further enhance the brand’s image of strength and power while also acknowledging the origin of the name itself, the design team went further by incorporating the three stars from Orion’s belt into a celestial map ring, thereby creating another visual asset that could be used in numerous applications.

Following the logo completion, the client rolled out additional marketing assets with the creative and digital teams. These included a new website, brochure, updates to their LinkedIn business page and proposal deck. They also relied on the team’s strategic and creative recommendations when it came time to showcase their game-changing project management tools, CheckMate and OpenAir.