Below: Before and After Images in Slide Show, Summary, Credits
Despite having amassed a following of 6,000 clients, QuickBase, the self-service business applications platform, was regarded as just another division of Intuit—an undistinguished sibling to Quickbooks and Quicken. When it was divested in 2015, the product, once marketed as part of the Intuit solutions portfolio, needed to position itself as a leader within a category it once created.
Our stakeholder research revealed that the Quick Base marketing terminology (e.g., “citizen developer,” “no code platform,” etc.) was technical, unclear and undervalued the strengths of the Quick Base offer. The product enabled users to cut through the red tape in their organization and to quickly build their own apps to just “get stuff done.” That’s what united and animated a very zealous user community. This insight showed that Quick Base wasn’t just a technology company, but a smarter-way-to-work company. We therefore sought to develop a brand that clearly anointed Quick Base the champion of this no-nonsense mission.
Having determined through research that there was no need to change the name, we committed to rebrand the “new” company. With a unique “Q” logo, bold font, a deliberate update to the name (from “QuickBase” to “Quick Base,” presented as a visually stacked logotype with “Base” as the base), and a stand-out purple and cyan color scheme, we gave Quick Base a resolute identity that conveyed leadership and verve.
The project was completed over the course of just six months, with the relaunch timed to coincide with EMPOWER, the annual Quick Base user conference. While still in its early days, employees and customers have enthusiastically adopted the new Quick Base brand. The initiative also provided a useful foundation for developing a clear product technology architecture—a differentiator which now anchors Quick Base sales and marketing materials.
Client: Quick Base – www.quickbase.com
Senior Director, Marketing: John Carione
Senior Director, Experience Design: Gideon Ansell
Brand Manager, Marketing: Meredith Franks
Brand Strategists/Designers: Catapult Thinking – www.catapultthinking.com
Brand Strategist: Dean Whitney
Creative Director: Ethan Wang
Researcher: Josh Weiss
Writer: Mike Mooney
