Richard Heard wants to make sure the new name of the company he heads up resonates with customers—and he’s looking for an ad agency to handle a $2 million marketing budget.
Heard is president of Red8, the consulting and systems integration division of Costa Mesa-based technology services provider Insight Investments LLC.
The new name, announced on April 17, was a first step in what Heard characterizes as an effort to “be more visually engaging and business-relevant.”
Red8 had outgrown its previous name—Insight Integrated Systems—and “set out to create a brand that is creative, stands out, is memorable and evokes the kind of characteristics we value,” Heard said.
Heard came up with the name after working with Lexicon Branding Inc. in Sausalito, the marketing agency behind brand and product names such as BlackBerry, Apple Inc.’s PowerBook, Intel Corp.’s Pentium, Fios for Verizon Wireless and Swiffer for Procter & Gamble Co.
“We were headed down a different path, and I was sitting in a conference room with my team when the idea came to me,” he said. “I sent it off to our legal (team) for vetting, and it came back clean, and boom, here we are.”
Red8, whose 2013 revenue was roughly $102 million, serves clients such as Lockheed Martin Corp., JPL, Honda Motor Co.
The new name, unlike the old one, will also provide “brand clarity,” Heard said, and differentiate his company from Insight Enterprises Inc., a competitor based in Tempe, Ariz.
Why?
Why Red8?
It’s succinct and “distinctive visually in corporate America,” Heard said.
“Most companies use blue, black and gray,” he said. “They are safe and predictable, and because so many companies use them it makes it super difficult to stand out from the crowd to create visual engagement.”
Research into the name change also indicated that the color red is associated with “purposeful action, energy, passion, strength and determination,” he said. “Culturally it has connotations of loyalty, honor, success and good fortune.”
The number 8, meanwhile, represents balance, ambition, discipline, success and authority. He added that eight also happens to be the number of bits in a byte—a fitting touch for a tech company.
BrandPie, an advertising agency in London, took his ideas and translated them into the company’s new logo and typeface.
Now Red8 will seek a shop to complete the branding process by the end of the year, with a complement of ads and media buys.
“Phase two, which we haven’t launched yet, will be a full visual identity of the company,” Heard said. “We haven’t picked a firm yet. … We are looking to hire, maybe a local one.”
No TV ads
The marketing push will follow and include search engine optimization, print collateral and digital advertising, but no TV ads.
“Our business does not lend itself to TV advertising,” he said. “It really is highly targeted B2B communication.”
Red8 is spending about $300,000 to establish the new brand. The $2 million marketing budget it has earmarked for this year is an increase of about 20% from 2013.
Red8 parent Insight Investments has 250 employees, roughly 200 of whom work in Orange County. The company, which was founded in 1987, had $183 million in revenue last year.
“We believe that Red8 is a smart, innovative, well-suited brand for this talented team,” said John Ford, the company’s chairman and chief executive. “Our three divisions, Insight Financial Services, Insight Systems Exchange and Red8, work extremely well together for the benefit of our customers and our overall business.”
