First Place
Baker & McKenzie with zünpartners — Branding a Firm for Growth

What the Judges said:

It was amazing that they pulled this off with their very individualistic culture. They used the challenge to their market to their advantage, even without a global CMO. 

The new identity was to further position Baker as a leader leveraging its differentiation from competitors as an authentic global law firm. Baker wanted to build movement into the creative solution and program, and incorporate the latest technologies. In order to address the changing global economy, speed to market of the program was critical.

Baker was challenged to define what Fluency looks like from a creative perspective, and communicate the brand’s expression. It needed to transcend borders with the right teams that are highly collaborative and multicultural regardless of location. The program then needed to be applied globally within the firm, requiring coordinated efforts internally and externally.

Baker built on the essential design elements and templates of the firm’s existing brand identity program. They designed a system using Baker’s in-sourced document center and print provider, and adapted design approaches that assist lower skill set design teams.

Summary of Outcomes

The identity’s full launch has only recently taken place. ROI and firm growth will be fully realized and rated at the end of this fiscal year, the first full year in which the identify was in place. Because of swiftly adopting both the identity and the templates, template development was completed in three stages and launched through the firm’s brand center Web site. More than 55 smart templates were designed and created, and not a single template has been rejected. The first phase of the program was launched internally and externally in less than 90 days.

Fluency was creatively expressed and seamlessly integrated using the Energy Bar strategy. The program’s elements were modified to work easily with in the system; the color palette simplified, imagery defined and guidelines tailored. There was immediate adaptation of the new identity worldwide. At the time of the entry, the identity is in 69 Baker offices across 38 countries. The firm’s swiftly adopting the identity and templates increased use of the centralized team by more than 25% in the first six months (post launch).