SITUATION

Two companies in the online annuity sector merged under the name of Info-One. The flagship product line of one of the companies  was the cornerstone of the new company brand.

CHALLENGE

Re-brand VARDS as the “better than ever” product line now offered by the new larger company, Info-One. Protect the existing equity of VARDS,  create a VARDS product-line brand that is synergistic with new Info-One company brand, and  create ownership among former Pivot employees (who did not sell VARDS before the merger).

SOLUTION

Through a branding workshop, The Hayden Group developed the overall brand for the VARDS product line. We named all of the products in the VARDS product line, and created  a series of integrated icons for each VARDS product. We developed sales presentations, trade show booths, and direct-mail pieces to drive traffic to the events. We created graphic branding standards for the marketing  materials (brochures, data sheets, case histories) to be developed/produced by in-house staff.

RESULTS

A little more than a year after The Hayden Group re-branded VARDS, Info-One was acquired by its largest competitor, Annuity.net.  VARDS has been bought yet again by Morningstar. 
Five years later the VARDS branding system we created endures.