“Businesses who work together, do better individually,” is the philosophy behind the Paris-based start-up Reveal. Born as Sharework, the recently rebranded company is a software platform that helps companies compare their client intelligence, recognize opportunities for collaborative growth, and work together to win bigger deals.
Seeking to define this attitude of theirs, the company reached for branding agency Ragged Edge‘s help, asking the creatives to develop a brand that reimagines the way businesses work.
Making people shift their ideas regarding how they do business is a big challenge and thus, changing their perception on this matter was critical.
Max Ottignon, Ragged Edge Co-Founder, says: “To change the way people do business, Reveal needed to fundamentally change how people think about business. From secrecy as second nature, to who shares wins.”
The London-based agency is a place where change happens, so it came up with the idea of using visual motifs associated with secret societies and incorporating them into the start-up’s branding but with a twist. Instead of conveying the feeling of a secret society, the rebrand captures the “Illuminati in look and feel” while being “opposite in spirit.”
Having the concept of secret societies — a first in the B2B business — as an inspiration, the rebrand imagines a place where business unfolds openly, not behind closed doors. Enter the “not-so-secret society,” a place that uses mystery to highlight that when businesses collaborate, they are closer to bigger deals for all.
“The not-so-secret society flips the conventions of secret society language and iconography on their heads, reimagining them as a beacon of collaboration and transparency. The result? A B2B brand that’s a long way from B2Business as usual. From a tone of voice with actual tone to a visual identity that stays just this side of weird. Secrecy’s out, sharing’s in, and everyone wins,” Ottignon adds.
The logo, colors, and illustrations have been carefully thought out, precisely to reinforce this “secret” image. The logo resemblances a gate that simply lures members to step in and explore this world. The color palette invites us on a relaxing journey (an element highlighted by the green shades) but which feels quite mysterious (an emotion that’s unlocked by the purple color).
Developed by Itamar Makover, the illustrations, which invoke motifs from outer space combined with natural references such as flowers or diamonds, provide members with visual clues about the opportunities that may open upon using Reveal’s services: connect, compare, convert.
“As a company whose entire purpose is to facilitate collaboration between B2B businesses, we needed an agency that believed in openness and teamwork just as much as we do. Ragged Edge was just that. At every meeting, they blew us away with work that showed off the depth of their brilliance and demonstrated how deeply they’d heard what we had to say. Never in a million years would I have come up with our not-so-secret society, but I couldn’t imagine coming up with anything more perfect,” says Simon Bouchez, Co-Founder & CEO, Reveal.
