When I first joined eXegeSys, a medium-sized enterprise resourcing planning (ERP) software company, I was given the task of remaking their brand, redesigning their web site, and increasing traffic through search engine optimization (SEO). The company was looking to draw the attention of investors, and clarify their software’s differentiators to customers in the ERP industry. Here’s a look at the original web site and brand.
My first step was to understand the company’s story and self-image. I conducted interviews through-out the company, starting with the company’s founders, and the head of the marketing department. The unifying complaint was that our customer’s didn’t understand what eXegeSys meant, they didn’t know how to pronounce the word, and they didn’t understand what made the software unique – it’s ability to be customized on all application levels.
Turning to the American Heritage Dictionary for inspiration, I recreated the logo with the company name written out using pronunciation keys as if taken out of a dictionary. Through my interviews and product research, I distilled their marketing tagline to “Adaptable software” which lined up with the decender in the “y” character of eXegeSys. The company’s secondary tag line took this simple and powerful concept one step further – “Software that adapts to your business.”
The screen shot below shows the new logo and taglines.
The screen shot above also shows the custom designed and developed content management system built using ASP.NET, and Microsoft SQLServer. At the time, content management systems were just in their infacy, and many medium sized companies had web designers attached to their marketing departments and/or IT departments. I fit this role with great results by demonstrating my skills in branding, web design, web programming, search engine optimization, and online marketing writing.
The effective transformation of the eXegeSys brand, and web site were important factor in presenting the company in a way that attracted a group of investors, and soon after, eXegeSys was bought out by another larger ERP software company.
