Unifying a global brand
Progress is a global leader in application development, with much of its growth built from acquisition. That brought scale, but also inconsistency. To help bring the company together under one brand and culture, Progress asked Moving Brands to define a unifying identity that would work across teams, regions and languages.
My role
As part of the Moving Brands team, I was asked to create a set of internal brand maxims: short, sharp lines that would help embed the brand within the business and bring its culture to life across offices worldwide.
To get there, I put together a team of 24 'Cultural Champions' from across the global business. Meeting via regular Zoom calls, they brought the insight that I turned into language. That meant:
Navigating cultural nuance and tone - making sure the language worked across borders and languages
Boiling down a whole brand into a handful of lines that would resonate just as much in Sofia as in San Francisco
Writing maxims that were actionable, memorable, and on occasion, even inspirational
The shortest copy is often the hardest to write. But when it lands, it sticks.
The outcome
The final set of maxims was rolled out across internal comms, onboarding materials, office walls - even mugs and merchandise. They helped Progress bring a sense of shared purpose to teams in different time zones and business units, giving people a way to live the brand, not just read about it.