‘Don’t rebrand without a business case’, is what I often tell entrepreneurs and business leaders in conversations about renaming or rebranding. My own case is no exception to this rule.
Two years ago I packaged BaaS - Branding as a Service - for the first time with my agency, Leoni Janssen Consultancy. I saw there were many companies who needed brand and visibility work done to build company value and contribute to their company journey, but they didn’t know how to effectively do that or have the bandwidth in house.
Two years in, Leoni Janssen Consultancy as a name, does not carry the larger ambition and the execution power the company has today. I’ve been able to prove that my philosophy and approach to branding are the right ones for rising stars in the tech industry. With a growing group of customers and an expanding core team, it now makes sense to let our offering be front and center in the name. That’s why we are renaming to The BaaS Company.
For many tech companies branding and visibility isn't their primary focus area. It is not where they came from, nor where they feel comfortable. That is where we come in. Now, more than ever, there is a need for business-oriented branding. The type of branding that directly contributes to value creation and fits with the company life cycle.
Our approach
Having worked with many visionary CEOs, they typically know the outcome they want, but have no idea what to ask of an agency to achieve it. And that is just fine.
The BaaS-acronym explains what we do ánd implies who we do that for: modern B2B technology companies. If you understood the acronym straight away, it is likely we're in the same area of the tech business. In an ‘everything as a service economy’, modern technology companies should expect their branding to be BaaS, tailored and orchestrated for them.
BaaS adapts. We create the service needed for an organization’s next step, which is tailored, because one size fits none. A next phase for an organization might be: a big launch, getting ready to acquire, getting ready to enter new markets, getting to the next funding round, convincing a new group of customers, attracting the right talent for growth, going for a public offering, etc. There is always a next step and something to achieve with an audience.
We always become part of our clients' journey and team. In our visual branding that is demonstrated by the changing color of our bookmark. The shape is fixed but the color adapts to its environment. This means even our clients' logo color can become ours temporarily.
BaaS zooms in and out.
We always work with an end goal in mind. End goals are only visible when you zoom out enough to see the big picture. Yet, to get things done and create valuable attributes towards the end goal there are decisions to be made day in and out, materials to be created and conversations to be had. Between starting the journey and achieving success, there are infinite small steps that are unimportant on their own but highly significant when combined. That is the ‘zoom in mode’. If the small steps are the right ones and they are done well, the big ones take care of themselves.
To calibrate the small steps and the end goal, the orchestrator needs to constantly move between the zoom-in and zoom-out mode - constantly knowing where to go while keeping a good and firm pace. This is the story behind the photography we use - sometimes focused on one detail, and sometimes providing a full view with a lot of disorganized information. This represents our constantly alternating way of operating.
How we are organized
From the start, I never wanted to let what I have in-house dictate what we can do for companies we work with. Our client's journey and needs should define their BaaS package. So although our in-house team is growing, adding additional regional and functional experts to our services mix will always be core to the model. We simply partner with the best people and companies when we need it.
The team
I am the fire starter, but a lot of people have been the oxygen along the way. The first expert in my posse is Bas van Driel Krol, an original and proper artist and consumer grade UX/UI designer and most of all senior Art director who actually gets my crazy thoughts and directions and even my half baked drawings. Then Mustafa Cetin joined the core group almost two years ago. He is one of the most versatile people I know - great all round senior designer and a pixel perfect front end developer baked into one. Last year I found great support in Kalina Schuszler, who keeps me organized.
And to garnish this cake, yes I am celebrating, I am reunited with two superstars: Emma Keates and Savana ter Burg. The background to that is a heartwarming one. A few years ago, we worked together at Unit4 and in one of our great moments of flow, we said out loud: ‘if one of us leaves this company, we should all leave and build an international agency helping B2B tech companies build their next phase with branding, positioning and all the stuff we are good at.’ I left first in 2019 and started to build just that. Now we felt it is time to keep ourselves to the prior promise and join forces again. Having these amazing professionals on board is not something I am ‘just’ excited about… This is like coming home.
Add all the experts we work with in specific areas and countries, and you have it: the BaaS team.
We are either hyper experts, crafts(wo)men or generalists tying everything together with logic and passion. And from today, we will move forward as The BaaS Company.
We are always looking for new talent and customers. If you are a rising star in B2B tech, get in touch!
