Tercera’s Challenge:
When entrepreneur Chris Barbin, who co-founded Appirio in 2006 and later sold it, founded Tercera, an investment firm that invests in people-led businesses, he reached out to us to help brand it. Tercera, which translates to “third” in Spanish, was born and focuses solely on the third wave of technology. The Tercera team cares deeply about culture so they knew they wanted the brand to reflect who they are, what they stand for, and how they run the company, while also setting Tercera apart. They had the name, but now needed a brand to embody it.
Our Sublime Solution:
Tercera is not your typical VC, so when Sublime Designs was hired to create their brand, we knew we needed it to encapsulate everything they stand for while also showing off their unique personality. Throughout the course of our branding engagement with them, we:
- Identified their target demographic and created persona profiles for each one
- Brainstormed their mission statement and values
- Went through a series of exercises to create their brand voice and personality
- Talked through their messaging framework
- Brainstormed the foundation of their brand design
For their visual identity, we tried to weave their personality into everything while utilizing imagery of waves to represent the third wave of technology. When COVID limited our ability to get professional headshots of their team members, we leveraged the use of Photoshop filters to create a more uniform look among the photos each team member provided.
Next, they asked us to create their website. Tercera has different types of visitors to their website so we took a customer journey approach that accommodated these various needs and interests, ultimately offering four different journeys. From there, we built it out and have continued to evolve it as Tercera grows as a firm. Additionally, Sublime Designs Media continues to provide design services including new blog images, eBook designs, and other marketing collateral.