Introducing the new Haines Watts … why and how we rebranded
Heike O’Leary
by Heike O’Leary
It’s fair to say that a lot has changed since Cyril Haines Watts founded our firm back in 1930. Today we’re one of the Top 15 firms of chartered accountants with offices throughout the UK, and one of the many reasons for our longevity and success is our ability to evolve, adapt and stay ahead of the curve.
Like any valuable business asset, it’s important that brands are protected and looked after – this means that periodically your brand may need to be updated to keep it relevant to your audience and ensure it reflects where your business is now – and where it’s going.
As part of that process, last year we spent a lot of time talking to our people in workshops across the UK to make sure our brand genuinely articulates exactly what it is that makes Haines Watts unique, both internally and externally. We’ve reviewed everything to further develop a brand that truly represents who we are in the 2020s... what we stand for, how we speak and how we do business.
But how did we do it? And what makes a good brand?
Identify what makes your brand so special...
Your brand identity is the personality of your business and a promise to your clients, it differentiates your offer and articulates what makes your business unique. Our advice... be genuine but be different!
At Haines Watts for example, we’re renowned for the closeness of our relationships. It’s fair to say that while most accountants know what they’re doing... the Haines Watts difference is we also know who we’re doing it for, because we’re hardwired with the same entrepreneurial spirit as the owner-managed businesses who make up our clients.
Finding your brand voice...In branding, people tend to think about how a brand looks visually, what is often overlooked is how your brand sounds when it ‘speaks’. Because we can’t always be there in person, our written tone-of-voice is key in communicating our values and personality... in the age of social media, your brand voice has become more important than ever as a way to stand out from the crowd.
We’ve coined our tone-of-voice as 'understated confidence' because with over 90 years of experience, we know what we're talking about. We write like our clients talk... professionally but warmly and clearly with understanding and empathy and without jargon.
A brand new look...
To reflect your clear new brand positioning, you might decide to change the way you look – your brand’s identity. First you must decide if you want to simply refresh your current identity or if a more radical change is needed. Consistency is key in any brand identity – so think about your logo, brand fonts and colour palette and how they work both on and offline.
We’ve refreshed our brand’s entire visual identity, starting with a bespoke new logo – a clean, confident, simple one line wordmark with a few unique elements to make it ‘us’.
We’ve also selected new fonts to visually represent our new tone-of-voice – they’re accessible, easy-to-use and versatile. And because we love having red as our signature colour we’ve updated our red to a brighter more digital friendly version.
Put all these together with a new suite of graphics, icons and photography style and the result is a unique, dynamic and confident brand identity that truly represents Haines Watts, communicates our values and personality and reinforces our unique position.
Heike O’Leary is the Group Chief Marketing Officer at Haines Watts. Contact Heike.
GGI member firmHaines WattsMore than 60 offices throughout the UKT: +44 207 025 4656
Advisory, Auditing & Accounting, Corporate Finance, Fiduciary & Estate Planning, Tax
With over 60 offices around the UK, Haines Watts is a UK Top 15 firm of chartered accountants specialising in the owner-managed business sector. Assisting over 35,000 business owners around the UK, Haines Watts supports business owners’ aspirations and helps them to achieve their goals.
