Fellowship have been fantastic. They’ve skilfully guided us through a strategic and comprehensive brand transformation process, challenging us when needed. We’re delighted with the outcome. Beyond the initial rebranding project, Fellowship have continued to guide and support the Marketing team, assisting with work in advertising, marketing and SEO on the website.”
- Sector:
- Professional Services
- Employees:
- 140+
- Client Contact:
- Director – Marketing
Cheffins is a long established professional services firm, dealing in property, land, fine art and farm machinery. Founded in 1825, it is strongly connected to Cambridge where its head office is based and also has clients across the world. The firm is a market leader across its range of services.
RESULTS AFTER 2 YEARS
+25%
Turnover
+42%
Website Sessions
+600k
Visits via Organic Search
The Objective
Build a strong, consistent and distinctive brand that will drive long term success.
Cheffins has grown organically and through occasional acquisitions. While the breadth of its offer helps to insulate it against economic fluctuations, it faces stiff competition from larger rivals with deeper pockets.
Old Branding
An initial survey among a cross section of Cheffins clients showed that some thought the brand was looking tired and old fashioned.
An analysis of the competition showed that several of its key rivals had recently overhauled or refreshed their brand and website, and that Cheffins was in danger of falling behind.
Our Solution
We talked to staff about their perceptions of, and aspirations for, the business. In particular we explored what is different and special about Cheffins.
Together with the client survey, competitor analysis and review of the market, this information was vital to developing our strategy to make Cheffins stand out from the crowd.
A strong story quickly emerged. Cheffins remains privately owned, proudly independent and guided by long-standing principles.
It’s a people oriented business that cares about its clients, colleagues and the communities it is based in. It values mutually rewarding, long term relationships, and the quality of the advice and service it provides is second to none.
We described its essence as ‘Advice worth taking’ and its desired brand image as ‘professional with personality’.
The new branding
From this foundation we developed a fresh, modern and confident brand image that is designed to be distinctive, memorable and engaging.
We designed a brand guidelines document to help ensure the new brand is communicated correctly and consistently.
Bringing the brand alive.
The new logo, colour palette, design style and use of language have been applied to hundreds of marketing materials, including advertising campaigns, property sales boards, newsletters, office signage, show stands, banners, brochures and leaflets.
Comprehensive signage review.
We carried out a survey of Cheffins’ head office in Cambridge, five estate agent branches in Cambridge, Newmarket, Saffron Walden, Ely & Haverhill, and their farm machinery saleground in Sutton.
We produced and installed new signage and graphics for all offices, amounting to over 100 signs in total.
New website built on SEO strategy.
To ensure the new website ranks well in the SERPs, we undertook detailed SEO audits and keyword research. This informed the search terms used throughout the site and we wrote the content for key pages.
Throughout the process we worked closely with Isle, who developed Cheffins’ new website. We also commissioned specialist photography to feature on the site.
Rebrand launch event.
We helped to plan the rebrand launch event for 140 Cheffins staff, writing speaker scripts, creating presentations and producing giveaway materials and banners.
The Result
The results have been phenomenal, with a very positive financial impact in the two years since the brand launched.
The new website has seen an increase in traffic of circa 42%, with a marked new demographic of client and considerable growth in engagement with clients from strong, strategically placed calls to action.
- 25% increase in turnover
- 42% increase in website sessions
- +600,000 additional website visits via Organic search
