If you’re familiar with Kinesis, you know that we’re big believers in the power of transformation. So it’s not surprising that the most exciting part of our work is getting to see the transformative outcomes it produces for our clients. As we embark on another year, we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on some of our favorite projects from 2017.

Streimer Sheet Metal

Streimer is the go-to provider for architectural and mechanical construction, metal manufacturing, and service, and has been serving the Pacific Northwest for more than 70 years. They are known for going above and beyond on every project. One of their core values is “Find a Way” – because they are committed to taking on any challenge, big or small, and delivering flexible, customized solutions to their customers.

Project: Company Rebrand & Website Splash Page

While Streimer has been part of the Portland landscape for the better part of the last century, they are now going through a phase of rapid growth and transformation (adding more than 50 employees in the last year). As such, they sought to refresh their brand, website, and company in a way that would pay respect to their long heritage, while also ushering in this new chapter of their evolution. It was this idea – bridging the gap between past and future – that brought us to the Streimer brand story.

Capitalizing on the principles of forward momentum, Kinesis leveraged Formula One as the inspiration behind Streimer’s new logo, look, and feel. It reflects Streimer’s commitment to win together, and the steps and people that are part of the journey across the finish line.

The next phase of this transformation will include a full website redevelopment, set to launch in Spring of 2018. In the meantime, Kinesis created a website splash page to tell this story, and act as a preview of Streimer’s new online presence.

Cinder Staffing

Cinder Staffing provides staffing and infrastructure support for growing companies nationwide – including temporary, temp-to-hire, team based staffing, and permanent hire positions. Their approach sets them apart from traditional agencies: They offer employment, full benefits, paid training, and more to ensure the candidate pool is comprised of the best talent available.

Project: “The Cinder Way”

There is no question that the Cinder approach to staffing is remarkable – but it was challenging to know exactly how to tell this story, and how to ensure all team members were doing so consistently. Cinder sought alignment on how to talk about their unique staffing methods to clients, prospects, and the community at large.

Kinesis led Cinder through a number of exploratory conversations to understand the perspectives of multiple stakeholders in the process. Using their company name, “Cinder,” as our jumping off point, we leaned on the metaphor of building a fire to develop a new language around their model. The result? A printed sales piece, more successful client conversations, and a clear and consistent message.

To quote Cinder President Paul Brown, “We didn’t realize how much we had accomplished until we found ourselves taking new roles in our strategic conversations. It was finally clear that we were all rowing in the same direction.”

“The marketing collateral (and all of the content inside) was a direct result of an amazing partnership with the Kinesis team. We had little to no prior marketing experience and did not know how to get alignment on our messaging. Kinesis combined all of the decisions we’d made with the aspirational tone we wanted – and the style, language, and uniqueness make it a genuine showpiece.”

– Paul Brown, President, Cinder Staffing

Northwest Self Storage

Northwest Self Storage is ranked as one of the top 25 self storage operators in the country, managing over 70 properties throughout Oregon and Washington. Family owned and operated for more than 30 years, they store for home or business, short-term or long-term – in any size from a closet to a garage.

Project: Brand Standards Guide

The self storage industry is often a commoditized one – with focus placed almost exclusively on boxes. Northwest Self Storage is unique in their space, in that they believe in the power of people. They know that their work signifies a period of transition for their customers – and are here to support that next chapter of their clients’ lives (in good times and bad) with a storage experience that puts people first.

As such, they sought a brand which would attract right-fit A-Players, engage their current team, and communicate their human connection to the world. In addition, with so many locations across the region, they wanted to develop a brand experience that would remain consistent.

To this end, we worked with Northwest Self Storage to build a brand around this key idea: The objects we keep tell our story – where we came from, what’s important to us, where we belong, and what we’re bringing with us into the future. Company employees are the guardians and curators of these stories. We helped create new job descriptions which would attract these guardians and curators, and worked with leadership to work core values into interview questions.

The output of much of this work was a Brand Standards Guide which summarized this new direction and moved the company toward a uniform customer experience.

Inspired Results

Inspired Results is a print, promotional, fulfillment, and integration company – helping clients navigate the “messy middle” between Brand Identity and On-Brand Projects. By evolving marketing from tactical activities to a fully-functional integrated system, they are able to increase brand loyalty, develop persuasive campaigns, and boost their clients’ businesses.

Project: “Fuel Your Brand” Event

Inspired Results wanted to host a trade show which would bring together growing businesses, skilled vendors, and brand management experts – and act as a platform to showcase new equipment, innovative software, and marketing and sales tools.

Kinesis created a concept inspired by rocket launches, and “Fuel Your Brand” was born. Our work included a landing page, email invitation campaigns, collateral, and day-of event support. In order to differentiate the event against a tactically-driven industry, we worked to elevate messaging from transactional to transformational – placing a focus on the strategic partnerships the trade show would cultivate.

The event, hosted at the Armory, was a smashing success. More than 150 attendees attended, alongside vendors and other companies to forge meaningful new connections.

“I was inspired to see the breath and opportunity you bring to the world of marketing.”

– Event Attendee

Corios

Corios is a leader in the discipline of management analytics consulting. They seek to simplify the arcane practice of analytics to solve clients’ most challenging business problems – helping them grow revenue, mitigate risk, and reduce financial crime. Corios does this by demystifying, democratizing and humanizing business analytics – bridging the gap between data and decisions.

Project: Skate Where the Puck’s Headed Book

Corios President Robin Way was already an accomplished thought leader – having published a number of whitepapers (or in this case, redpapers) and spoken at many industry events. Authoring a book was a long-term goal since we started working together several years ago – and it was time to finally put a plan into action.

We leveraged existing content, connective tissue, and brand new analytical concepts to produce Skate Where The Puck’s Headed: A Playbook for Scoring Big with Predictive Analytics. Our work together included the assembly and production of the book itself, a lead capture landing page, social media and email campaigns, and event marketing strategy to promote both book and author. In order to create a remarkable visual experience, we coordinated a photoshoot with a local hockey star wearing a custom Corios jersey for all photography assets.

The book has been enormously well-received by the analytics community, hundreds of people have downloaded and read it, and Corios President Robin Way has been sought out for several additional speaking engagements as a result.

“If you want practice-based insights on the use of these powerful business tools, you need look no further.”

– Thomas Davenport, Author of Competing on Analytics, Big Data @ Work, and Only Humans Need Apply

Hagan Hamilton

Founded in 1910, Hagan Hamilton has grown to be one of the largest independent insurance agencies in the state – with more than 50 insurance professionals serving over 12,000 clients in five locations throughout Oregon. As an independent agency, they aren’t beholden to any one insurance company – and in fact, they partner with more than 100 carriers to find the very best coverage options.

Project: Company Rebrand

Hagan Hamilton is passionate about providing thoughtful insurance solutions – and in fact, their mission of “solutions” has been a driving force of their business for over 100 years. They reached out to Kinesis for help aligning their brand with what they have always believed and stood for internally.

To help tell this story, Kinesis worked with the metaphor of honeybees. Hagan Hamilton gathers a variety of coverage options from the insurance marketplace to create customized solutions for clients – all the while fostering symbiotic partnerships with both carriers and clients. Honeybees, likewise, collect nectar from millions of flowers to produce honey – pollinating plants as they go. Much like a beehive, Hagan Hamilton is a humming, thriving community in which everyone plays a distinct role but is united in shared purpose. They are industrious, but also operate as a family – working toward something greater than themselves.

Leveraging the hexagonal grid used in honeycomb, Kinesis developed a logo and brand which reflects Hagan Hamilton’s ongoing commitment to proficiency and resourcefulness.

Kinesis

Project: Thanksgiving Gifts

And of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t also highlight one of our favorite Kinesis projects. As anyone who has visited Kinesis HQ knows, each member of our team has a customized action figure trophy. It signifies their Kinesis “superpower,” and sits in a place of honor in our office.

This holiday season, we decided to extend this tradition to our clients as a Thanksgiving gift. Each business is doing something extraordinary – heroic, even – In their respective fields. So we commemorated that heroism with customized action figure trophies which embody the incredible things these companies do every day.

It was a rewarding experience getting to reflect on the superpowers of each business, and to show our appreciation to friends in the community for effecting change in the world. Thank you to all of the clients who make our work so enjoyable, and here’s to another year of transformative projects!

To read more about our client transformations, check out our Case Studies.