Growth is a great “problem” to have. But, it also comes with a specific set of consequences. For TransACT, this was a brand identity that had become diluted through market expansion and acquisitions. Design capacity was yet another blocker for the internal marketing team. The solution: Partnering with Superside to develop the branding systems needed to scale.
Providing Smarter Ways to Communicate
Founded in 1994, TransACT is a full-service provider of software solutions that help K-12 school districts more efficiently meet state and federal requirements, reduce operational complexity and more safely and effectively serve their students. Their tagline “Confidence in action” reflects their commitment to supporting educators.
How Superside helped TransACT create a consistent, scalable design system for its sub-brands.
In February 2020, TransACT received a substantial investment from a private equity-backed organization to help spur growth, which was fueled even further by the global pandemic that accelerated the demand for online communication and operational tools.
By 2022, through growth and acquisition, TransACT had 13 sub-brands underneath the parent brand—resulting in brand dilution that was a major hurdle for a content-driven business in need of speed to market.
The Small, But Mighty TransACT Team
As the marketing team, you’re also the brand team. Searching for logos and constantly restating guidelines was really taking a substantial toll on my ability to solve bigger problems and earn larger wins.
TransACT’s Alyssa Thornley, Director of Sales and Marketing, and Janessa Drainville, Demand Generation Specialist, were tasked with harnessing this exponential growth, which was hard enough having to police the brand without a driver’s manual.
Internally, they were serving ~70 team members supporting the 13 sub-brands. Externally, customers and prospects were also having to navigate the inconsistencies.
challenge13 Sub-Brands, One Parent Brand
What you realize when you haven't set clear brand guidelines, is that you're missing out on an opportunity to engage with people and have them holistically understand who you are.
A dynamic duo, Alyssa and Janessa were the frontline resources for growth across the company, attempting to empower the sales team and continuing to fuel a content-driven organization. The brand disconnects and lack of clarity were really bogging them down and limiting their ability to scale.
SolutionA Scalable Branding System That Makes Sense
The first step in building a more functional branding system was creating a clear connection between the primary TransACT identity and all its sub-brands.
Pages from the TransACT brand guide.
However, in order to seamlessly execute a range of designs, TransACT also needed a set of brand guidelines to serve as an easily accessible all-in-one resource. As part of this process, Superside brainstormed and collaborated with TransACT to develop a full design system that included typography, design elements and an overarching grid system to help stakeholders self-serve whenever needed.
70X the Ability to Scale
Having a unified and easily executed design system escalated our look and feel by the power of 70. Every internal stakeholder at TransACT can now use these guidelines as a source of truth—and our team can focus on driving new leads and revenue.
Once TransACT had its brand guidelines in hand, they were able to work 70X faster all while escalating the look and feel of their marketing materials. Each stakeholder could easily refer to the guidelines and find all the brand resources in one place.
“The best way to describe it is to say it was a huge sigh of relief!” said Drainville. With this solution in place, the company could now shift its attention to other strategic objectives and projects.
Reflecting on their journey with this project, Thornley added that TransACT has worked with a lot of vendors, many of which have undergone rapid growth that results in a lower level of service or quality. "But this was not the case with Superside at all. There has always been a seamless level of service and support.”
See more of the TransACT branding work.
Scale Your Brand and Your Capacity
Learn how Superside can help you develop brand guidelines, design systems and other foundations of scale. Click the button below to schedule a chat.
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