Back when Drift was the “new kid on the block”, Algert (our founder) worked with their team full-time as employee #5. He worked closely with the leadership team to help create the OG signature brand image and overall vision that set them apart in the cluttered B2B landscape and still does to this day. ⚡️
Algert then built this agency from the same magic he created in his time at Drift. We continued our partnership with team Drift on creative projects, seeing them through periods of astronomical growth 🚀 and, eventually, to Unicorn status 🦄.
"As a CEO, I value the passion and energy in the people I work with. Algert brought a lot of that to Drift. His design aesthetic is always on point, and his vision for branding is worth gold."
David Cancel
CEO, Drift
Drift’s founders saw that the traditional way of marketing to buyers, particularly in the B2B Saas space, wasn’t working. Customers expected an experience that was lightning-fast, but every B2B brand was seemingly playing by the same rules, using the same old marketing playbook. The result? Hundreds of mediocre experiences that were slow and frustrating. Buyers don’t want to fill out a lead form and wait for a few days to receive an email only to be asked to schedule a call to learn more.
**Conversational Marketing has entered the chat.**
Drift fundamentally changed the way that brands interact with their customers. The team needed to establish a completely new category, educate customers on their solution, and stand out from the martech crowd. Each of these elements starts with a brand foundation that is both visually appealing and memorable.
It’s important to us that each of our clients have enough structure in their brand guidelines to maintain consistency, but with a little freedom for experimentation. It’s a delicate balance.
We follow the 80/20 rule, let me explain: we regulate and systematize 80% of the work with traditional branding guidelines and leave 20% open for exploration and experimentation.
We aim to promote creativity, not limit it.
We developed the Drift Brand Cookbook, a simple booklet that included the essential ingredients needed to maintain Drift’s brand image in a variety of channels and experiences. The “ingredients” were Human, Bold, and Playful. As you can see below, the guidelines doc strikes that balance between enforcing visual consistency for immediate recognition, while still leaving room for imagination and experimentation to pique interest. A statement AND a question.
Our goal is to create recognizable brands that are ever-evolving.
With the “ingredients” established, the Drift team was eager to get the brand to market.
We partnered closely with the marketing team to understand company-wide goals, brainstorm different avenues, and work creatively to reach their audience in new ways. Although many amazing projects came out of these efforts, a few stand out as our favorites:
One of the key parts of Drift’s strategy and success was producing content that didn’t feel like marketing. As Drift’s marketing expanded, so did the brand (and many, many sub-brands.)
I’m not saying Drift started the thought leadership content trend we now see everywhere, but Drift was one of the first B2B brands to test podcasting as a marketing channel. And it worked. This would later grow into an entire network of chart-topping podcasts, “The HYPERGROWTH Network.”
Community building was another integral aspect of Drift’s marketing strategy. The team wanted to create a space where marketers could hang out, share best practices, and ideate together.
The HYPERGROWTH event is Drift’s annual customer conference. We helped to create the branding for this event as an extension of Drift’s overall brand, along with all assets that would really make the event, and the brand, come to life.
"We've partnered with Algert a few times for our HYPERGROWTH Boston and San Francisco events. Each time, Algert was able to create the unique vibe, creative strategy, and branding, we needed to stand out."
Jana Erickson
Director of Events, Drift
As part of their content marketing strategy, the Drift executives co-authored a few books—titles like Conversation Marketing, This Won’t Scale, and Hypergrowth.
We partnered with the team to execute their vision and establish full blown sub-brands for each of these books, including visuals, cover art, digital landing pages, and more.
In 2020, Drift saw a 70% increase in their annually recognized revenue (ARR), which is a testament to the type of results their customers were experiencing. The Drift team reported that they had generated $5 billion in revenue for their customers in 2021. We’re thrilled to have been a part of creating and establishing the foundation of the Drift brand and excited to announce that Drift hit Unicorn status in September of 2021—and is set to continue on its growth trajectory in the future.
We’re passionate about building outstanding brands. Whether you are an Enterprise or an SMB, if your vision is to build an amazing brand, we want to work with you.
Some of our clients:
We’re passionate about building outstanding brands. Whether you are an Enterprise or an SMB, if your vision is to build an amazing brand, we want to work with you.
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