Hello everyone,

I thought this would be a great week to talk about the evolution of our brand. I had a couple of phone calls yesterday, and I am realizing that changing a brand can create some questions for clients and staff alike.

The history
When we originally conceived the Sage Portfolio Group brand in late 2005, it was a business and corporate coaching company that offered graphic design, marketing and web design as a part of its other services. As we grew, the web and design part of our business took off. I knew we needed to distinguish the design company from the leadership development company. They each have different clients, a different feel and, frankly, it has been a bit confusing–to ourselves and our clients–to have a company that develops both leaders and websites. Confusion is not good for a brand.

The search
About a year and a half ago I began my quest for a name that would work. Because there are many, many micro web design companies, most names were taken—at least everything I could come up with at the time. I decided to use the name Sage Portfolio Group Designs (or SPG Designs, for short) as a way to differentiate the two companies. We launched the first Sage Portfolio Group Designs website in December 2006. It had an urban look to it and it was very attractive. While it helped us continue to grow as a company, I found it never quite resonated for me personally. I still had the niggling feeling in the back of my brain that we needed to re-brand to create the strong identity I imagined. I continued my occasional search for a new business name that felt more like “us”.

The triumph
One day last summer, I found the Stagecoach Designs name and realized it was a great fit for me. I bought the URL and started to think about how we would re-brand, since re-branding is a very big deal for any company and is particularly important for a design company. It means pulling designers out of production for our clients to create something for us, while maintaining high standards of customer service—not an easy feat.

Anyway, we did it. The logo came together beautifully, thanks to our talented designer, Kerry. The website, with its evocative images, clear writing and nifty navigation, came next. Then came templates for our new newsletter. Each has made me feel more confident that Stagecoach Designs is who we are.

As a native of New Mexico, the stagecoach is a timeless symbol for me. It is the symbol of the delivery of communication between people and a symbol of how that communication changes over time. It combines innovation–the “wild frontier”–with old-fashioned values like hospitality. It is a brand with roots for me personally. This brand resonates for me.

The website is a playful and functional use of the brand. The western images are fun and give us a symbolic playground we wouldn’t have with a more urban look. Rodrigo did a great job integrating the style and theme with all the information-rich text people require to learn what we do.

The fun
We have had fun playing with the theme of the old west in our marketing and will continue to do so, because we want to have fun as a company. We don’t want to be a web company with a too-cool better-than-you presence. We want to have friendly and caring interaction with our clients, and we want our brand to reflect that. As a brand, Stagecoach Designs keeps that in front of us all the time so we continue to work at being the company we want to be.

The people
Everything else about the company is the same—same people, same ownership, same values. We just have a new brand, a new look, a new website, a new newsletter called the Stagecoach Express and a new store to better serve our customers. We appreciate you and we hope you will enjoy a continued positive relationship with Stagecoach Designs—our new brand.

Warmly,
Melanie Parish CEO