PROJECTS
Client Background:
In 2021, Vance Street Capital brought together Calculex, Argon Corporation, and FDS Avionics to form Spectra, later adding Galleon Embedded Computing. Each company brought decades of credibility in rugged avionics and electronics, and together they covered the full mission data lifecycle.
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Challenge:
Spectra needed to decide whether to unify its four legacy companies under one brand or preserve the legacy names. The market opportunity was clear, but internal stakeholders worried consolidation would risk decades of customer trust and equity.
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Insight:
Our research revealed that external audiences valued different aspects of each legacy brand but were ultimately looking for a more integrated, future-ready partner. Spectra would be best positioned for growth not by preserving silos, but by unifying under a single brand that synthesized the strengths of its parts into a stronger whole. This clarified that brand architecture wasn’t just a naming decision; it was the foundation of Spectra’s ability to scale.
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Solution:
We rebuilt Spectra as a unified brand, creating a clear messaging framework and visual identity system to capture both its technical depth and its integrated value. To ensure adoption, we paired the external launch with structured internal communications that gave employees clarity, confidence, and ownership of the new identity.
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Approach:
Our work with Spectra included:
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Market and audience research
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Brand architecture
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Brand positioning, narrative, and messaging framework
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Visual identity system and brand guidelines
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Internal communications strategy
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Internal and external brand launches
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Brand health tracking
Challenge:
​The American Nurses Association had been a loose association of the trade organization, credentialing organization and charitable foundation. They found they were losing membership from the confusion.
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Solution:
After extensive audience research, we realized ANA would be best suited to be a strong branded house led from what would be referred to as the ANA Enterprise. We worked with stakeholders across the three organizations, leading townhall workshops with dozens of stakeholders to sell in the big shift in organizational strategy and to pull out the salient messaging for each sub-brand.
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Approach:
Our work with the American Nurses Association was a full-scale re-brand, to include, determination of how the brands fit together. The following are the services performed:
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Audience research and trendspotting
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Executive and leadership workshops
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Brand architecture
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Brand positioning
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Brand messaging
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Brand narrative
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Visual identity system and brand guidelines
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Brand launch
Challenge:
The future of aging in the U.S. is under rapid transformation as Boomers and younger generations arrive in their senior years. And a name like the Assisted Living Federation of America wasn’t going to connect with important audiences.
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Solution:
By re-branding to Argentum, we helped the organization redefine what it meant to age well in the U.S. With new messaging, the association was able to better connect with relevant audiences.
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Approach:
Our work with Argentum is an example of a brand building project, where we employed the following services to successfully rebrand the association:
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Audience research
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Brand positioning
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Naming
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Brand messaging
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Visual identity system and brand guidelines
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Brand launch
Challenge:
​Amgen was running paid and earned media campaigns based literally on some quantitative research they had fielded. But they found they weren’t gaining traction with their key audience of specialty doctors.
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Solution:
Through focus groups we pulled together, these specialty doctors indicated the functional attributes of Amgen biologics weren’t resonating. The doctors told us they saw no differentiation between Amgen and competitors and we realized that was the problem. While we had the group together, we started to ask about science and the scientific process and unlocked what would be a critical part of a new marketing campaign that allowed Amgen to position itself as the scientific leader, thus winning the hearts, minds and prescription pads of these specialty doctors. The campaign has been so successful, it has been in market for eight years.
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Approach:
In this brand campaign, we worked to optimize Amgen's marketing:
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Audience research
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Go-to-market strategy
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Brand messaging
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Marketing campaign
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Thought leadership platform
Challenge:
To address infant mortality rates, the DC Department of Health needed to connect with young women and mothers, many of whom face significant barriers to seeking prenatal care in the first trimester.
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Audience Insight:
We found that many DC mothers lacked relatable role models and trusted sources of information. They were often hesitant to rely on institutions like clinics or local government, turning instead to family or friends for guidance.
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Solution:
We leaned into the audience insight across both the creative and media strategy, casting real local women and couples in the campaign and opting for a hyper-local media buy.
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The campaign, called StrongerTogetherDC answered the call to be more neighbor to neighbor, rather than city to citizen by meeting mothers where they were.
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At the heart of the campaign is a call to action, "Show Your Love", which encouraged women to proudly share their sonograms, their commitment to fitness and other acts of self-care as powerful expressions of love for their baby.
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Approach:
In this brand campaign, we built a central campaign from which all action took place. The following summarizes the work we performed:
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Audience research
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Brand positioning
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Naming
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Integrated marketing campaign
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HCP toolkits
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Challenge:
The ALS Association had lightning strike with the wildly viral Ice Bucket Challenge. While that provided significant donorship to the organization, it didn’t create a long-term connection to the cause.
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Solution:
We realized we could connect to a universal human truth -- that when presented with impossibility, most are incited to overcome that impossibility. So we built a campaign to challenged donors to overcome the impossible. How do we do that? By turning those buckets right side up and filling them one drop at a time because Every Drop Adds Up. ​
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Approach:
In this brand campaign, we worked to re-develop a new a brand fundraising idea:
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Audience research
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Brand positioning
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Naming
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Brand messaging
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Marketing campaign
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Executive leadership workshops
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Media training
