Discover. Define. Develop. Deliver. A new brand, done our way.

“I’d like to introduce you to Perago. These guys aren’t like ‘real’ consultants.”

Words I didn’t expect to hear from someone who’d chosen us as a partner, as they introduced us to leaders across their organisation. 

I was a few weeks into my time with Perago and luckily had already begun speaking to other people the team had supported, asking them (with my designer’s head on) about their perceptions of the company.  

Being introduced as non-typical consultants, told me that we were on the same page. 

Digging a little deeper – a brand audit. 

This little insight into the company I’d just joined, was fascinating. The more I was learning and hearing, the more and I was feeling that Perago’s existing brand no longer portrayed the things that people actually liked about working with us. I felt things needed to be different but was mindful that this industry was new to me, the work was new to me, and I was not the voice of our users. 

I wanted to hear, in more detail, what people we worked closely with as a company thought of us; clients, partners and professional collaborators. I held a number of workshops (both internally and externally) to settle on three attributes for the Perago brand:  

— Collaborative

— Honest/Human and  

— Relatable/Approachable

The evaluation, paired with the attributes, informed the three directions for the brand presented in the first round of ideation. We knew industry clichés to avoid, opportunities to explore, and elements to recommend. 

The majority of really positive feedback was around ‘the Perago people’, how easy it is to work with us, and that everybody you encounter is relatable and honest. We need to keep this and try and highlight it even more in the new brand image. 

I also discovered that the ‘Welshness’ of Perago is also a valuable and important asset – feedback has shown that people like the fact we operate in Wales and we are driven to make a better Wales. 

Death of a Dragon 

From the start of this work the dragon icon that Perago has used for the last 7 years or so has polarised opinion. As a small company who were focusing on delivering for clients, developing our services and building our network, the dragon was more of a logo that had served the company well. 

Some wanted to keep it as it reminded us of where the company started, some were open to other ideas, some absolutely didn’t see it as part of the future brand. Part of the feedback showed that people found it too literal and that the dragon itself was maybe more ‘just a logo’ rather than representing who we are, the way we do things and how we work.

Others found it too literal in representing Wales whilst others felt it had a more oriental theme. This confusion and blurriness about what the dragon represented meant its fate was sealed – it died shortly after. 

Why now?  

Is there ever a right time to consider the development of a brand? Perhaps not, but anyone that’s been through similar will know it’s usually not something that can be planned but more a feeling that something should change. 

We have recently moved into a great new central Swansea office. We’re also doubling in size from where we are now and with a fantastically diverse pipeline of work, we certainly felt that now was the right time to develop our brand to signify this next chapter in the growth of our company.

What’s next? 

While our new visual brand is launching today across our socials and our fantastic new website, we’re really looking forward to 2024 where we’ll be super charging our ‘to do’ lists with a whole new range of events, capabilities, projects and opportunities that we will be offering with our new team, offices and brand.