ExactTarget : (Re)Defining a Brand

ExactTarget is one of the world's largest and fastest growing email marketing service providers, helping clients increase sales, optimize marketing investments, and strengthen relationships through integrated, on-demand software that powers one-to-one communications.

While undergoing explosive growth and preparing for an IPO, ExactTarget asked Kristian Andersen + Associates to lead a re-branding campaign for the entire organization.

ExactTarget's product and customer portfolio had become increasingly more sophisticated and diverse. As their staff and network of partners continued to grow, ExactTarget had begun to grapple with the challenges of delivering a consistent brand experience to customers. Increased growth and visibility in the marketplace led to complexities in managing their corporate identity and product brands.

Kristian Andersen + Associates began the branding engagement by leading corporate stake-holders through our “BrandSpring” discovery process. After conducting in-depth interviews with ExactTarget leadership, it became clear that there was significant disparity among the internal and external stake-holders regarding how the organization was best understood in the marketplace.

The varied responses we received generated curiosity and concern for ExactTarget's leadership. They agreed with KA+A's recommendation to expand the corporate identity conversation into a more strategic look at how ExactTarget understood its own brand, and what that brand had come to mean among existing customers and associates.

KA+A conducted an extensive audit of ExactTarget's portfolio of products, services and communication systems and crafted a simplified brand architecture system for the organization. The system was applied to every facet of the organization, including: marketing and communications, product development, media relations, and human resources.

The full engagement involved brand strategy and identity development, and it extended into product positioning, corporate communications, standards development, website design and event staging.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, ExactTarget unveiled its new identity and brand platform in preparation for taking the company public in 2008. The reinvigorated ExactTarget brand received a spectacular welcome and is now the foundation upon which all future communication and product innovations are based.