FDM
Reclaim your brand position as market leader
FDM
Reclaim your brand position as market leader
20 years ago, careers in technology were only just emerging. At this pivotal point for the industry, FDM identified a crucial gap in the market: the need for skilled people trained in the next tech niche, ready to be hired quickly and efficiently.
Today, FDM is a FTSE250 business with 25 offices across Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, Australia. And an entire market of training and recruitment specialists in technology has emerged around them – filled with copycat competitor brands.
The brand challenge was clear: FDM needed to reclaim their brand position as the market leader with a proposition that couldn’t be copied and reflected the expertise and global reach they’d worked so hard to achieve. More specifically, they needed a brand that could effectively communicate to five distinct audiences, build loyalty and instil a sense of pride into the thousands of candidates who graduate from them each year.
In the tech category, a brand with heritage and longevity is a rarity. Balancing this proven expertise and deep industry understanding with agility and a forward-looking view was crucial in defining their distinctive brand strategy.
The Clear Defendable Territory we developed for FDM was to share their expertise and become the thought leaders – truly leading the way in the category. We created a radical new visual and verbal identity around this idea to embody the difference between FDM and their competitors.
The transformation was designed to help change client perceptions and see FDM as a valuable partner rather than simply a supplier of talent.
We developed targeted propositions for each of their five external audiences and colleagues globally too, as well as a framework of key messages for each based on insights and motivations gained through interviews and workshops. These have allowed the organisation to deeply connect with each audience group in a consistent way – no matter where they are in the world.
In the fast-moving world of technology, expertise, foresight and speed are crucial to success. The visual and verbal identity we created were designed to reflect that.
Alongside the practical tools needed to implement the new brand (brand guidelines, assets and notional applications), we developed a suite of icons, commissioned Sua Balac to create bespoke illustrations, delivered a brand launch video, a set of social templates and animations and a framework of core messages.
Working closely with the Heads of HR in each market around the world, we got under the skin of the business to pinpoint exactly what makes working at FDM enticing to potential hires and compelling enough to retain the best. Through this we defined an Employee Value Proposition and a set of internal behaviours to drive the company culture forwards and connect people across continents.
We’ve continued to work closely with the Brand & Marketing and HR teams to embed the new brand across the organisation. This began with manager briefings, brand webinars, tone of voice workshops and design workshops. And it’s expanded into projects that help with the roll-out including designs for office environments around the world.
