Tectonic 2.0: The Customer Insights Consultancy
If a rebrand seems quite soon after the Tectonic launch in November 2019, then we like to think we’re practicing what we preach
As you probably know by now, our mantra is that you should get a new idea out into the market and test it as early as possible. We’ve said to countless business leaders over the years, “Don’t worry about fancy branding or perfect messaging.” Instead, be brave and put what you’ve got out there.
Because it's the surest way to:
a) find out you’re on the right track and the idea is worth investing in (i.e. fancy branding, or
b) get a big slap in the face
And that’s what we did.
Step 1: Pivot
We only became Tectonic last November after two and half years as Metier Digital. That pivot was motivated by customer insight. Whereas Metier were the app design agency who builds commercially viable products, our clients' needs showed that building apps was too far down the process for it to be an essential service to them. First and foremost, our customers require a data-driven process to validate business ideas to ensure they build the right product. And, at times, guillotine an idea completely.
So, we came up with the game-changing name and via blogs, events and podcasts told the business community that by allowing us to ask your customers unbiased questions we can deliver groundbreaking business insights.
And we thought we’d give ourselves a year to see how the market responds.
Step 2: Validate
Of course, 2020 has been the most unpredictable and challenging years of our lives. But, unbelievably, the past six months has actually validated our underlying business assumption:
Businesses DO need to understand their customers needs more than ever.
It’s true.
A recent Forbes article, How Will The Pandemic Change Consumer Behaviour, argues whether you are key worker, furloughed, retired or anything else, the pandemic has made a large proportion of the population “re-evaluate their current lifestyle choices, make adjustments and reset their lives”. The bottom line is that people’s income, consumption habits and how they want to engage with products and services has changed.
In turn, businesses have an imperative to react to the changes of their customers behaviours and the wider market fluctuations. The closure of businesses around us is staggering: 75,000 SMEs in London alone! Those that have survived have had to make razor-sharp adjustments, such as going remote, agile, and digital-centric.
Beyond surviving, the businesses that are thriving under the new conditions of 2020 are those that are fully committed to adopting “technology and data to transform themselves”.
Thus, at the core of the Tectonic value proposition is customer insights that help businesses understand what technology and data they need to not only outlive the forthcoming economic recession, but grow through it.
Step 3: Rebrand
With our new product offer validated by the market, a glossy rebrand is the next step.
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn says: “An entrepreneur is someone who will jump off a cliff and assemble an airplane on the way down.” Well, we wanted to give that airplane a fresh lick of paint, too.
Fortunately, a friend of Tectonic and awesome graphic designer Sophie Troppmair wanted the job so much she actually pitched to us. It didn’t take long for us to accept.
First, Sophie evaluated our existing in-house website and said:
“I saw the potential in the rebrand because I see the value in what Tectonic does… Which is very different from ALL the other businesses out there.”
Then she got to work, toying with our existing logo to bring out a concept of building blocks, or what she likened to “Tetris”.
Sophie said, “The Tetris design fits the Tectonic consultancy service perfectly. Blocks aligning represents the way the guys’ process brings lots of different things together, from qualitative customer interviews to hard data analytics, to build a succinct whole.”
Finally, we want to say a big thank you to Sophie, tectoniclondon.com looks awesome!
