Culture shaping: Creating a brand that bucks norms and builds a movement
Client
The Brass
Design
Pact Studio
There are a lot of cliches and negativity around midlife and mid-career, especially if you are a woman in the tech world. And yet, it is a time of extraordinary potential, to build upon the wisdom, leadership, expertise, and pattern recognition acquired over years of experience. It is time to think about careers differently, not as linear but more as a portfolio, not as a lonely battle, but as a community.
This was Terry O’Connor’s vision: To create a joyful platform that offers a holistic approach to self-discovery, breaking down barriers hindering progress, for women in mid- to late-stage career transitions. She wanted to give women a strong point of view, framework, inspiration, and a community that can support the career path they really want.
Challenge
Our goal was to provide practical support and tools to mid-career women who are considering or amid a career transition, from industry change, role change, re-entering the workforce, or layoffs. These women are smart, successful, and wise leaders with years of experience and marketable skills. However, in this time of transition, many of them feel undervalued, less confident, burnt out, unsupported, overwhelmed, or obsolete.
The traditional category of career and job search coaching was mostly uninspiring and generally avoided addressing the specificity of mid-career. We knew we had to redefine the category, but also the language and imagery of mid-career women, and paint the vision of a world full of possibility.
Initiative
We partnered with Terry to deeply understand her audience, looking at functional and emotional needs in the process of career transitions. We then were able to define a series of offerings, from self-service white papers, to live workshops and 1:1 coaching, that would meet women where they are. We wanted to support all types of transitions: going from large corporations to startups, changing industry, or becoming an entrepreneur and creating new revenue streams.
Our second initiative was to reshape the narrative around ageism and create a unique brand that would mirror the strength, confidence, and power we see in women. We decided to partner with the female-founded Pact Studio to define a name and a brand identity in line with Terry’s vision.
The Brass was born, with a strong voice and a big, warm, personality.
We’re The Brass. The Badass Brass. The women with decades of experience under our belts and innate knowledge to share. We think ageism blows, so we’re here to remind the world that when it comes down to it, experience is everything. We’re sharp, strong, hella polished, and only getting brighter with age. We’ve earned the right to buck norms and do the work that works for us. Join our band of women who are truly the force in the workforce, and design the career you really want.
The Brand
Inspired by the idea of women coming together to challenge ageism in the workplace, the name celebrates women banding together, getting loud, and being a force that’s hard to ignore. The Brass is also a term used to describe the head honchos in an organization, and this brand aims to instill that energy at every touchpoint.
The voice is bold, confident, and sassy. We’re not afraid to challenge perceptions and get loud about what women need to succeed in their careers and the workplace. Messaging also pulls in language that references qualities of brass instruments that are a double meaning with qualities in good employees: bright, polished, strong, shine, get loud, etc.
The brand identity captures the boldness of The Brass. It’s edgy but also editorial and mature. We combined brassy colors that represent poise and wisdom, with bright, shiny, vibrant hues for an unexpected, unfussy palette that’s decisive, uncompromising, and immediately recognizable. The logo is dynamic, with things breaking through, breaking boundaries, and breaking the status quo.
Impact
With such a strong point of view and brand identity, The Brass is already the partner of many women, who’ve learned from Terry how to build upon their decades of experience and create a multi-generational dialog. This is more than a project, it’s a movement.
Terry O'Connor, Founder and CEO, The Brass
