Skills used: Ideation, Branding, Positioning, Creative Direction, Creative Copywriting & Design.
Addicts. Ninjas. Gurus. Fanatics. Lovers. Geeks.
SD Worx have been providing payroll solutions for 75 years to enterprise customers. They wanted to refresh their brand and positioning to help them enter the SME market. The objective was to tell their story, create a point of difference, generate awareness and drive sales.
Uncovering the truth.
To achieve this the brand was refreshed from the inside out, discovering why they did what they did, their unique culture was put at the ‘heart’ of their new brand communications. Numerous employees from sales to support were interviewed, uncovering an undeniable truth... their passion and love for all things payroll. This ‘truth’ and the employees were the key elements within the brand refresh and the campaign.
Overall positioning.'The Payroll People’.
Leveraging the wealth of expertise and the personal service SD Worx offered, they were positioned as ‘The Payroll People’ - human, dedicated and knowledgeable. It allowed them to occupy a clear and distinct market position, over and above their competitors, who just focus on software features.
An unhealthy obsession with payroll.
To achieve cut-through and traction, the campaign was based around the idea that each employee had an ‘unhealthy obsession with payroll’. From this multiple ‘one word’ personalities were created - Addict, Ninja, Fiend, Guru, Lover etc. These were used in a graphic ‘punk’ take-over style along with bespoke photographs of the actual employees.
Creating this strong and focussed new direction meant externally, they were armed with bold campaign materials that stood for something and stood out. Internally, employees picked the type of ‘pay-roller’ they were, creating a shared identity that was ownable, authentic and had purpose.
