TechCXO Unveils New Brand Identity

by Leave a Comment

TechCXO Unveils New Brand Identity Reflecting Company’s Leadership in Providing Growing Companies with Executives On Demand 

Refreshed Logo and Tagline Capture Broad Corporate Acceptance of Interim / Fractional Executives and Adoption of Firm’s Approach to Serving Clients

ATLANTA, AUG 16, 2022 – TechCXO, a pioneer in providing industry-relevant interim and part-time executives and teams to companies in the U.S. and U.K., announced that it is refreshing its brand identity, including a new logo and tagline, to reflect broad acceptance and adoption of the firm’s unique approach to serving its clients.

“We believe our refreshed logo and tagline is an exciting continuation of our clear, and simple value proposition: in TechCXO you get expert, strategic implementers who deliver value and quantifiable results quickly and efficiently,” said TechCXO Managing Partner Kent Elmer.

Reasons and Timing for Brand Refresh

“The time is right for an updated articulation of who TechCXO is and the many ways we support our clients. Internally, we have expanded our services to include new, fast-growing disciplines like IT and HR while refining our market presence. Externally, we are seeing broad acceptance and adoption of executive services that are delivered both in-person and remotely. We call it ‘executives on demand,’” said TechCXO Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Finance Mike Casey.

In 2021, TechCXO reported an increase of 47% in annual service fees in 2021 over 2020 to more than $41 million.  TechCXO has increased revenue every year since its inception in 2003. 

TechCXO was founded in 2003 on the premise that companies can benefit from having the best executive talent available and serving as their CFOs, CTOs, CSOs, CMOs, CROs, COOs, CHROs, and other executives on a part-time or interim basis. Companies might not otherwise be able to access the talent and experience level of a TechCXO partner and or teams due to cost or availability. 

Companies can also outsource their entire Finance, Sales & Marketing, IT, HR, and Operations functions to TechCXO for 50-75% less than it costs to staff full-time, loaded salaries.  All TechCXO partners and staff are U.S. and U.K.-based.

TechCXO Creative Treatment

TechCXO sought a refreshed new look that was bold but minimalist and classic to communicate the firm’s legacy of service. It preferred a lower-case main font and to continue to treat the “x” icon in TechCXO, which has always been a distinctive artistic element in the company’s branding.

In addition, the firm wanted to extend and expand its use of blue and gray colors, along with its accented green. The firm’s use of gold in its color palette has been retired. The firm’s logo will also be used as a single color, black and inverted (white on black background). 

TechCXO had been using a logo both with and without its former “experience acceleration” tagline.  The new tagline, “executives on demand” communicates succinctly both what the firm does and the inherent experience and time value it provides. 

Please see the attached TechCXO Brand Guidelines for proper use.

About TechCXO

TechCXO is a pioneer in providing high potential companies with industry-relevant interim and part-time executives on-demand. More than 5,000 companies, from startups to the Global 1000, have entrusted TechCXO to help with their critical functions by calling on TechCXO executives and teams as their CFOs, COOs, CSO, CTOs, CMOs, CHROs and other executive roles. TechCXO has appeared on the Inc. 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private list every year since 2008. For more information about the firm, please visit techcxo.com.

TechCXO Brand Use Quick Reference Guide (PDF)

TechCXO Color Logo (.PNG file)

TechCXO Logo Black/White  (.PNG file) and White Logo (.PNG)

TechCXO Icon Green “X” (.PNG file), Black “X” (.PNG file)

What’s in a name? It depends what you put into it

by

We all understand the risk of Bill Lemon opening up a used car dealership under his name or Messrs. Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe launching their own law firm. Given the power in a name, it’s surprising how little attention is often given to developing the best company or product names.

Having split my marketing career between B2C and B2B companies, I’m often amazed (or maybe disillusioned) at how few of the customer-centric B2C marketing disciplines are adopted by B2B firms. One in particular: Naming. Whether creating names for a new product or for a company.

There is often a failure to recognize that a name can be a tremendous asset. A name can help communicate value, can contribute to why a customer chooses a product or company over another.

Unfortunately, too often the naming exercise is all too brief, without investing the effort that is warranted. “Hey, everyone in the conference room—let’s brainstorm on the name of the new product we are launching next month because our sales materials are due at the printer.” Or worse yet, an email is circulated to team members: “Here are some ideas for names, anyone want to add to this list?”

You’ve seen some of the most egregious errors:

  1. A company is named after the founder: Unless your name is Vidal Sassoon and you’re a famous stylist selling hair care products with a multimillion dollar ad budget, how is your name going to help your sales team sell product?
  2. Company name is based on city or even street name. I was VP Marketing at Manhattan Associates just after they went public. It was (and still is!) a great company with great products and a great team but the name wasn’t an asset to leverage. Besides, there was plenty of confusion: most thought it was because we were based in NYC but we were based in Atlanta. And, actually, “Manhattan” referred to Manhattan Beach, where the company was founded.
  3. Too many products/companies have made up names that mean nothing to the buyer and aren’t connected in any way to any delivered benefit.

Important considerations when developing a naming strategy for a product or company

  1. Your naming strategy should flow from your marketing and positioning strategies (if you don’t have a positioning strategy, please see me after class). What should the name connote? What is the character of the name (e.g. sophisticated, fun, etc.)?
  2. Should the name be more about what the company is or what value it can deliver?
  3. Easy to say and Easy to spell
  4. If possible, one-on-one research with your target audience can be helpful in both name generation and validation.

B2B Names That Are Better Than Others

The name doesn’t have to be literal, nor should it be. It doesn’t have to have any innate meaning. It needs to be something that you can leverage in communication where it will make sense in context.

  • Both “Evergage” (The Real-Time Personalization Platform) and “Reflektion” (Real Time individualized commerce) work as an asset in the website personalization category.
  • “Logility” was launched to offer logistics in supply chain.
  • TechCXO client “PokitDok” makes sense once you learn it is a cloud-based API platform designed to make healthcare transactions more efficient and streamline the business of health.
  • “Chainalytics,” does supply chain consulting and analytics. In a morass of consulting and analytics companies, this name stands out and implies an expertise a buyer might be looking for.It’s easy to see how these names can be leveraged in conveying the values delivered by the company.

The Big Finish

You should look at every customer-facing opportunity to demonstrate why your products and services are better than others.

Strong names provide a differentiating advantage over competitors, and can be effective for promoting the business.

Will the names you select be a real asset that contributes to success—will they resonate with your customers?