North Search is an exceptional executive search firm that started in the industry with a clear ambition to disrupt it; to challenge what had come before it; to take the best of the old way, and combine it with the best of the new opportunities. And we were enlisted to help refresh the brand’s strategy and visual expression. And we started where we always start: by listening. We spent the morning with the North Search founder and executive team understanding what it was that made them different, what it was that defined their difference; what their point of view was; what they believed. And after time spent with the team, and back in our offices researching and thinking, we realised what made them different… was nothing. Except everything. 

Executive search is a limited industry - in that the process and methodologies used to find the right candidates are all roughly the same. The process doesn’t change. But what does change is the approach to these processes; is the philosophy you apply to the process; the enquiry. What changes is how you find new patterns, and new connections with the same data sets. And North Search was different, how North Search searched was different. North Search had found new answers to old questions. North Search found the best people, because they looked at things differently. And this idea underpinned our brand strategy, North Search: Executive search that looks at the world differently.

To tell this story, we created a brand that challenged category convention at every turn, or more simply, looked at the old ways, differently. We created an image bank that showcased the other traits of executives that made them great candidates, not just their abilities as a professional. We created a colour palette that ignored the traditional navy and grey. We created a visual and verbal system that was modern in its language. And we evolved their initial logo mark to become a star and a pinpoint. We created a story of difference and excellence, for a very different, very excellent business.