The Changemakers Shaped By

Rebrand versus brand evolution. What’s the difference, and how do you determine which is right for you?
In this episode of The Changemakers, Dave is joined by Nick Levesque, Creative Director at Asana, to discuss the nuances of evolving a brand expression.


As Asana nears the end of its own brand refresh, it was a timely chat about the process. Nick and Dave delve into approaches to evolving brand image, the importance of distinctive brand assets, and the balance between maintaining consistency and fostering creativity.


The conversation covers the challenges and strategies involved in refreshing a brand, the role of audience perception, and leveraging research to guide decisions. Nick also illustrates the careful considerations needed to align visual identity with company growth and evolving audience expectations.


If you want more pearls from Nick on all things brand and his journey, follow him on LinkedIn here.


00:00 Welcome to Changemakers: A Deep Dive into Brand Evolution
00:17 Introducing Nick Levesque: The Creative Mind Behind Asana's Brand Evolution
02:02 The Essence of Brand Evolution vs. Rebranding
03:01 Insider's View: Asana's Approach to Brand Evolution
03:38 Signals and Reasons for a Brand Refresh
09:25 The Strategy Behind Targeting Different Audiences
16:17 The Creative Process and Agency Collaboration in Brand Evolution
21:59 Balancing Consistency and Experimentation in Branding
24:51 Revamping Brand Imagery: A Creative Journey
25:24 The Power of In-House Creativity and Experimentation
27:04 Navigating Internal Brand Evolution: Strategies and Challenges
28:16 Collaborative Brand Audit: Engaging Teams for Insightful Feedback
30:22 Building a Business Case for Creative Projects
35:24 Distinctive Brand Assets: Balancing Innovation with Tradition
41:37 Reflecting on the Rebranding Process: Achievements and Insights
44:56 Dream Rebranding Projects: A Creative Director's Perspective
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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In this episode of The Changemakers, brought to you by Shaped By - our creative director Tom Ovens lifts the lid on the secret art of sound design by interviewing freelance sound designer, Adam Legg. They delve into the intricacies of sound design including the definition, the process of creation, and the difference between a ‘meh’ sound, and one that’s impactful.
Sound design in a B2B space brings so much to the table. It helps to control the pace, brings emotion, and can be a real differentiator. So we unpacked it for those of you interested in how it all works.
Adam gives insight into his creative process, balancing sound design with music, and offers a glimpse into how he keeps himself creatively driven. The conversation also veers into the symbiotic relationship between visuals and sound, and how a shift in their traditional sequence can result in a dynamic output.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to The Changemakers Series
00:14 Guest Introduction: Adam Legge, Freelance Sound Designer
01:21 Deep Dive into the Art of Sound Design
01:51 Adam's Perspective on Sound Design
03:51 The Role of Music in Sound Design
05:32 Adam's Creative Process
08:12 The Challenge of Time Management in Sound Design
10:10 The Use of Libraries and Starting from Scratch
13:05 Sound Design Inspirations and Heroes
18:16 Brands Excelling in Sound Design
20:35 The Potential of Sound Leading the Creative Process
26:11 Closing Remarks and Future Collaborations


If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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Even just a few years back, you would naturally think of pretty much any fintech firm as a challenger brand. A digital disruptor to a financial sector that badly needed disrupting.
But today, fintech is fast becoming mainstream, if it isn’t already. And its “challenger brand” tag feels increasingly redundant, given the extent to which many established financial services firms are pivoting what they do to challenge fintech pioneers - especially when it comes to digital, UX and so on.

One guest wasn’t going to cut it for such an important discussion. So for this episode, we welcome three amazing design leaders - Aaron Robbs, Creative Director at Ramp, Michael Jeter, Executive Creative Director at Stripe, and Nick Farrar, Founder and Managing Director at Shaped By.

Between us, we delve into how great design can help differentiate fintech companies and build robust and memorable brand identities. Across the discussions, we also explore techniques to build trust, the power of design in gamification, and the importance of founder understanding and support in fintech.

And guess what? After two years of being an audio-only podcast, you can now watch on YouTube too! Each of this episode’s three discussions is available to view over there, on Shaped By’s brand new channel. 
Timestamps: 
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Changes
00:16 The Evolution of the Change Makers Podcast
01:16 The Role of Brand and Design in Fintech
02:43 Interview with Aaron Robbs, Creative Director at Ramp
03:56 The Importance of Design Principles and Team Dynamics
16:21 The Balance Between Brand and Performance Marketing
21:17 Interview with Michael Jeter, Executive Creative Director of Stripe
22:57 The Role of Craft, Beauty, and Culture in Branding
26:09 The Challenges of Building a Brand Around an Invisible Product
26:34 The Challenge of Branding in Fintech
27:54 The Role of Design in Branding
28:24 The Importance of Craft and Beauty in Branding
29:27 The Impact of Company Culture on Branding
30:28 Infusing Technology into Branding
33:22 The Power of Self-Serve Design Tools
35:25 The Role of Founders in Branding
35:57 The Future of Design in Fintech
39:03 Interview with Nick Farrar, Founder of Shaped By
40:30 Building Trust through Design
49:29 The Power of Gamification in Fintech
55:19 Final Thoughts on Design in Fintech


If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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Becca Chambers may be an award-winning technology brand-builder, storyteller, strategist and advisor.

But when it comes down to the impact that her work has on the people that it touches, her tireless work as a neurodiversity champion and advocate is up there with any of those achievements.

Becca has ADHD. She describes it as “a catalyst for my success in the creative world of brand, communications, and messaging”, and one of the driving forces behind her “scrappy get-sh*t-done attitude”.

But for every Becca in the workplace, there are countless others who know their neurodivergence is a creative superpower, but don’t have the support or tools they need to thrive in their unique way. Why? Because despite all of the great strides that companies have made around diversity awareness, neurodiversity is rarely included in these conversations.

Becca is on a mission to change all of that. As a parent of an autistic child, Changemakers host Dave Corlett is a huge admirer of what she’s doing to make workplaces more accessible to current and future neurodivergent colleagues. So join Dave and Becca as they deep dive into:
Becca’s journey to executive level as a neurodivergent individualthe strengths that neurodiverse people bring to the workplacehow Becca has personally influenced and driven positive change at the organisations she’s worked athow the hiring process needs to change to better support neurodiverse candidates…and much more.

You’ll love Becca’s infectious enthusiasm from the first minute. The best way to get more of it, and follow her journey as a neurodiversity champion, is to follow her on LinkedIn here.
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

✌️

“I don’t need much sleep. And I love to take on a good challenge.”

Take one look at Christian Flaccus’ resumé, and it’s clear to see that both of these things are very true indeed.

He founded his first business, an e-commerce startup, in 1997 - then swiftly went and set up his own agency (whilst still remaining on his startup’s board). Not content with that, at various points during his agency life Christian also started a record label (Brave & Dizzy Records), opened (and closed) one of the first global street art online shops, and co-founded an incubator and house for dedicated dev teams for cloud-based SaaS projects called co.brick.

Brave & Dizzy and co.brick are still Christian’s side-hustles. But since early 2021, his main focus has been spearheading brand design excellence at Celonis - Germany’s most valuable startup, and a pioneer in the hugely exciting and fast-growing field of process mining technology.

As the company’s Chief Design Officer, Christian has taken the Celonis brand on an epic journey of disruption. But voyages like this aren’t undertaken alone. Disruption is uncomfortable for some people, and downright scary for others. So how do you bring everyone along on the journey, in ways that don’t just help them to understand why the company needs a disruptive brand - but gets them to fully buy into it, so they carry the torch as well?

Join Dave and Christian as they go deep into why game-changing technology needs game-changing branding to match - and how to get your team to tune in and enjoy it in the same way that you enjoy crafting it.

For more info on Celonis, check them out at celonis.de. And make sure you follow Christian on LinkedIn - he’s a really top guy and well worth connecting with. 
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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Ari Yablok is the Head of Brand at Island, the Enterprise Browser. If that sounds like a pretty simple description of what Island does, then there’s a very deliberate reason for that. And it’s a reason that has seen Dave fall completely in love with the brand strategy, identity, narrative and messaging that Ari has created for this Israeli startup that is going global pretty rapidly.

Everything about Island exudes simplicity. The idea behind the product. The product itself. The experience of using it. The problem it solves. It’s easy, clear and stress-free. And this is all reflected perfectly in the simple, clean, zen-like brand experience that it’s all wrapped up in, and which entices you with its beautifully uncomplicated and supremely confident attitude.

But don’t think for a second that the process of developing it was simple. It took a serious investment of strategic work, along with a heavy dose of boldness from Island’s founders to choose a path so unlike any other company in their space.

Dave has been a long-time fan and admirer, both of Island and of Ari’s approach to crafting strategic narratives, end-to-end messaging and brand identities for tech companies in general - which he did for 50+ firms during his previous role at the B2B agency Atreo.

So join us for another episode of fanboying as he chats with Ari on:
the story of Island’s brand development, from first conversation to nowthe thinking behind its distinctive ethos and visual identityhow he and the Island team bring it to life in a differentiated way at live eventsthe challenge of evolving the brand as the company evolvesthe role of Island’s founders in the whole processThis is more than a story about an interesting brand. It’s an inspirational journey into the magic that happens when visionary founders and brand experts team up before a company has even launched, and build the brand alongside the product.

Find out more about Island here, and follow Ari’s work on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ariyablok.
If you enjoy the chats then there are more ways to quench your thirst for creative inspiration in the world of B2B tech.

👉 Watch episodes on YouTube
👉 Follow us on LinkedIn for regular snippets in your feed
👉 Visit our website for more in-depth thinking on topics
👉 Subscribe to Beyond our monthly collection of insight, opinion and inspiration

And finally please rate our podcast on Apple if you enjoyed it!

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