Half Dome unveiled its exciting rebrand and new positioning last month as it celebrated its sixth year of operation.
Since its establishment in 2017, the independent agency has grown to a 65-person strong team representing clients in Melbourne, Sydney, Geelong, and Ballarat across full-service media planning and buying, SEO, and creative performance production.
Half Dome’s new position is centred on its promise to unlock its clients and people’s ‘Whole Potential’.
Joe Frazer, co-founder and head of growth, spoke to Mediaweek about working with external brand consultants, what the new position and brand identity reflects of the agency and what the industry can expect with the new look.
New look for a growing business
After six successful years, Half Dome has opted to refresh, which reflects its growth and development in its short existence.
“We have gone from an edgy start-up to a 65-person strong agency, one of the biggest in our market, which is rightfully competing with a whole different set of businesses,” Frazer said.
“Half Dome is no longer scrappy, lucky, or any other motifs defining start-ups. We are a real business, working with professional partners who want to do boundary-breaking work. We felt it was time for the broader market to see what our existing staff and clients have known for a while,” he added.
Frazer noted that the agency’s personality will remain the same. He said: “We think it is differentiated and compelling. We’re fun to work with, bring energy to everything we do, and offer something distinctive in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
“Outside of the personality side of things, we haven’t traditionally been super loud and proud about the quality of work going out – not that we shouldn’t be!
“This is a line in the sand on that front and an opportunity to show the types of outcomes we can deliver for a broad range of clients,” Frazer added.
Joe Frazer, Will Harms and Tom Frazer
Getting help from the outside
To achieve its new brand identity and positioning, Half Dome worked with external brand consultants Untangld and creative agency, By All Means, to assist the agency in developing its positioning and new brand identity.
The discovery process included extensive interviews with staff, clients, the industry, external partners and industry experts that extended for more than nine months.
Frazer described working with them as “an extensive and enlightening process.”
“Over the nine months, three months were spent on the strategy itself, and six months were dedicated to the brand identity and roll out. The agency invested this time and energy because we believed in the importance and relevance of the outcome,” he said.
“It wasn’t easy, and through this process, as a leadership team, we discovered valuable insights about Half Dome’s strengths, values, and aspirations, which will help guide our growth and development in the future,” Frazer added.
How Half Dome plans to unlock their clients and staff and ‘whole potential’
Frazer explained that Half Dome’s new positioning and brand identity celebrates the agency’s existing strengths and differentiators.
“They are derived from insights across a range of clients, staff, and industry experts and act as a ‘north star’ for Half Dome’s ongoing product development,” he said.
“While the project is naturally future-focused, it primarily articulates to clients and the industry what they can expect when they engage Half Dome today, which was important to us,” he added.
Frazer said what they learnt about the agency has been captured in Half Dome’s ‘superpowers, which include:
• A team of Consultants That Coach
• A culture of Personable Professionalism
• A market-leading People Product
• A collection of best-in-class Technical Talent
• Strategy Led Solutions for the long and short game
Frazer noted they each point is simple yet compelling. “After having some time to dwell on them and overcome some of the innate imposter syndromes that fester internally at times (we are our own harshest critics), we are confident that we can deliver on these promises to clients and people,” he said.
Frazer shared that it has been exciting to see the response from their existing team and clients who have strongly and quickly supported its positioning of ‘Whole Potential’ and ‘superpowers’, which he called a “good sign they are reflective, not aspirational.
Frazer admitted that what has been confronting over the past few months has been their shift from trying to be everything to everyone to being okay with alienating the clients and people that Whole Potential and the superpowers within it don’t resonate with.
“We have realised and accepted Half Dome may not be the best partner or culture for everyone,” he said.
“It takes a mature business to learn this and a braver team to pursue it, and the great part is for the clients and people it does work for, it’s only going to get better, Frazer added.
What to expect in the year ahead?
Looking to the year ahead, Frazer said that the agency plans to triple down on what they are already known for – culture and people product – “nothing is changing on that front,” he added.
“Augmenting it will be a big push to shine a light on the strengths we haven’t traditionally been outgoing with,” he said, adding to expect to see more about the work and outcomes they are set to deliver for clients.
Frazer added that they will also continue to expand the products they offer outside of paid media, noting that SEO, Creative Production, and Digital Marketing Maturity Consulting are services already.
“The common thread lies in the service model and culture we deliver. This will never change,” he said.
“As it stands, we see Half Dome competing with a small set of independents, a large set of holding groups, and even some consultancies that are doing media and capability development well.
“We want other agencies to be worried when they see our name on pitch lists, and we want anyone sitting in a marketing team who identifies as a challenger (who wants to do boundary-breaking work, the best of their career and with a hungry and brave partner) to consider us as their first choice.
“It should be a fun ride,” Frazer added.
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Top image: Joe Frazer