The Need
After more than a decade of serving clients together, as part of the Wells Fargo network, Bryan Vowels and Troy Stovern decided to step out on their own as an independent RIA firm. They had a calling to help people with more than just wealth or retirement planning. Knowing that finances touch every part of a person’s life, they saw themselves as guides to help individuals and families maximize their wealth in order to live a fulfilling life of purpose, beyond the bottom line.
Our Approach
In an industry of regulated sameness, the firm has the potential to own a unique position in their marketplace. The challenge would be to craft an identity that speaks to the table stakes of their services, but makes room for building plans that look beyond their clients’ bottom line.
Naming
Through in-depth discovery, Frankel helped to find the essence of who they wanted to be for their clients. They saw themselves as guides, helping people find their purpose and their passion—their ‘true north’. And much like people have used stars to find their place and chart their way, the firm looks to help clients navigate challenges and steer them towards opportunities. Committed to making an impact in the lives of their clients and their community, Frankel created a name and unique qualifier that speaks to both aspects of their mission: TrueNorth Wealth & Impact.
Brand Identity
Leaning into the idea of TrueNorth as a guide and navigator for clients, the brand identity prominently features a star in all versions of the logo. The primary version sets the full name atop a solid horizontal bar—referencing the sturdy foundation of the brand’s approach—with the Impact & Wealth qualifier underneath. An abbreviated variation of the logo pairs the star with the letter N, giving a nod to the name, and a shortened version of the horizontal bar. A brand palette of rich, calming earth tones allows the logo to be used in a variety of placements.
Brand Position
The first piece is distilling that big idea into a single, ownable statement. Something that serves as the true north (pun intended) for the brand:
A future built with purpose.
This statement carries many meanings. “Future” speaks to the wealth planning we provide. “Built” conveys the many pieces taken into consideration by all parties. “Purpose” is layered with the goals, passions, and the individual purpose of each client.
Gearing Up for the Path Ahead
After developing the brand’s verbal and visual identities, we set out to work to equip TrueNorth with the core assets necessary to launch the brand. A new website, print collateral and promotional materials were developed to showcase the message and service offerings, all leading up to a grand opening event showcasing the brand and TrueNorth’s new office space.
Concept Companies
Concept Companies is a real estate developer that takes on some of the most imaginative and future-thinking projects. They came to us because they needed their new website to represent the truly unique approach of their organization.
Full Website Development
We went through our full process to develop their new website: benchmarking, SEO strategy, funnel strategy, wireframing, content development, design and development.
Custom Footer Illustrations
Insight
Our analysis of their old site during the benchmarking phase told us that most visitors to the site viewed the Projects and People pages. This meant the site was being used as a legitimizer for future clients. So our strategy hinged around creating something that spoke to the diversity in their portfolio and expertise in full scale projects.
James Moore is a professional accounting and consulting firm with lots of personality. We developed a new brand complete with logo, tone of voice and design elements that brought it to life. See the featured project here.
From Brand To Branded Communications
Don’t just sit on a new brand. Once you do the work, keep it going.
For James Moore, we’ve carried its new look and feel through to their communications. This campaign focused on five key messages for their audiences. Each has its own design sensibility, finds strength in branding, and engages the audience across various media.
Alachua County Animal Resources
There’s always a need for people within the community to adopt cats and dogs. But how do we move them to action? With this heavily digital campaign, we approached the need from a few directions. Pets bring a lot of fun into our lives, they also provide much needed emotional support, but it’s also important to find a pet that matches your lifestyle – we covered it all.
Your Best Friend Is Waiting
There’s no doubt that pets are bursting with personality, and soon become our best friends. This colorful part of the campaign paints a fun and hopeful picture of the various personality types waiting to befriend you.
More Than a Pet
It would be an understatement to say that pets provide us with much needed love and support. Their presence can make all the difference. Adoption isn’t just about caring for a pet, sometimes they take care of you, too.
It's a Match
A playful way to personalize the adoption process – we created ads to match up potential adopters with pets.
UF Coaches Booklet
With the end of the 2021 Football Season the University of Florida decided to go on the hunt for a new Head Coach. UF came to us with a tight deadline, so we rolled up our sleeves and built a kickass recruiting booklet to show off just what Gator Football is all about.
Facilities Plan
The University of Florida has some long terms plans, like 10-20 years out, We showed off what those plans entail for the newest facilities coming available to UF Coaching Staff.
By The Stats
When you talk sports, you inevitably talk about stats. So we put the numbers up front as they are nothing too scoff at with Florida’s long standing athletic history.
Two of the biggest collegiate athletic associations team up to take their rivalry off the field and into the streets. We put together a hype video to drive registration for the first the annual 5k fun run that took place ahead of the highly anticipated Florida/Georgia game weekend, one of the greatest college football rivalries of all time. Then pushed the video out on both teams social accounts and in stadiums in the lead up to the big game.
UF Online Dariel's Story
To help the University of Florida Online with student recruitment efforts, we created a video featuring one of their top graduates. His incredible story led to an engaging and inspiring video.
Rapid Genomics is at the forefront of genomic analysis helping companies across a broad range of industries create better outcomes for mankind. We created a unified brand identity to wrap the parent brand as well as their line of products and applications into a cohesive visual system across all communications.
Print Collateral
Website Design
We played a major role in bringing legendary UF Gator football coach Steve Spurrier’s restaurant to life,
from finding the operating partner to designing the wallpaper, we carried it all across the line to launch.
There’s private dining, outdoor patio space, a killer menu, and a huge rooftop bar called Visors.
It’s truly a space fit for a Heisman.
Gridiron Football Menus
Collateral
Career Displays
Lifestyle photography
Food Photography
By The Numbers - General
When it comes to results, Avera & Smith’s numbers speak for themselves. This video put in hard facts the success the law firm has had for their clients against the backdrop of their longstanding service to the Gainesville community.
Don't Hire Avera
A satirical view of Avera’s reputation from the point of view of insurance adjusters, who would really rather you not hire the prowess of Avera & Smith to represent your worker’s comp case. Frankel concepted, produced, shot and edited this :30 spot.
Dedicated to the Dedicated
As Florida’s premier association for veterinary medical professionals, the FVMA is dedicated to the support and advocacy for those who are dedicated to the care of our animals. We revitalized their brand to strengthen the connection between their affiliate brands and constituents with a rebrand, anthem video and new website.
When Occidental Management asked us to partner on the gargantuan task of reimagining the former Sprint Campus headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas, we knew an aspirational rebrand was crucial to its success. Beginning with a renaming effort all they way through a new brand we worked to establish the property as a premier destination for companies and residents whose ambition knows no bounds. This work took home Silver, Graphis Design Annual 2022, and got us fired, but that’s another story.
Logo
The brand identity system offered flexibility and a dynamic usage for the logomark, all built around the strength of a multifaceted skyward-pointing triangle.
Leasing Support
A leasing brochure was developed to introduce prospective tenants to the project.
Field Guide
Brochure introducing the new brand to internal and external audiences.
Unique opportunities were found to apply the brand identity around campus to solidify the new name and logo.
An upscale, yet eccentric steakhouse with the best cuts, the freshest shellfish and creative cocktails, Prime and Pearl is built around unexpected pairings. We crafted an equally unique and memorable brand with enough quirk and sophistication to keep diners’ curiosity piqued.
Food Photography
Website Design
