Hotwire is a global communications agency on a mission to be the best agency you'll ever work with. Following a massive year of change, the time was now for Hotwire to reintroduce themselves with a refreshed look to match their bold new vision.
Role: Creative Lead, Art Director
Agency: Hotwire
Year: 2017
After Hotwire’s 2016 acquisition of Eastwick to expand their footprint and services in North America, the agency’s new three year plan centered around repositioning beyond PR, beyond borders, and beyond B2B tech. Following an intensive brand strategy session in London, Hotwire’s internal brand team was tasked with developing a new brand identity that established the agency as a challenger brand, created a unified experience globally for both clients and employees, and drove business growth in target practice areas.
After extensive creative exploration sessions, the global brand team decided to deviate from the brief (which included keeping the previous logo), and instead delivered an alternative that truly embodied the challenger spirit. Having asked “What makes Hotwire great?” time and again we heard: their people, their culture, their attitude. A new brand wasn’t going to change this, rather embolden it. Re-introducing hot pink: the agency’s battlecry to challenge the status quo and unleash the best inside each other.
Hotwire’s new logo reflects the agency’s attitude: bold, simple, and to the point. Taking away the complexity and embracing the electric hot pink represented a metaphor for Hotwire’s future: unleashing the potential that always lived within, and truly becoming limitless.
The brand was soft-launched internally in Barcelona at Hotwire’s annual global bootcamp followed by a full-fledged launch in September 2017, which included celebrations across the globe. The launch resulted in global media hits, massive social engagement, and almost 3X website traffic increase. Six months after the rebrand and the business results are making themselves seen, with business growth in target practice areas and increase in organic growth outside the agency’s traditional services.
“This is more than a brand overhaul. This is about the bold new direction we have taken with our business -- to go beyond PR, beyond borders and beyond B2B tech. It's a celebration of our evolution as an agency and the limitless mindset we've created within our team and clients.”
–Barbara Bates, Global CEO