Since its founding in 2012, MacGregor Partners has made a major impact in the supply chain and logistics space. What began as a one-man consulting operation under CEO and founder Jason Ziegler has since become a multi-state business fulfilling logistics consulting contracts across the globe for brands like Kraft, Makita, and Kellogg’s.
As the company expanded, Ziegler and the rest of the leadership team wanted to move beyond consulting and into the software space. MacGregor developed two new software products designed specifically for supply chain analysis and document sharing. While the company was proud of their new products and their capabilities, they needed to craft a powerful brand for each product that would match its potential to transform how companies handled their supply chains. Because of our background in developing marketing strategy and site design for their company, MacGregor’s chose Atlantic BT to handle this branding project.
Designing the Brand for Logistics Toolbox
Logistics Toolbox is MacGregor’s new data analysis software. Designed as a unified platform for supply chain oversight, Toolbox pulled data from warehouses, manufacturing facilities, transit operations, and a host of other supply chain touch points in order to equip logistics stakeholders with a shared view of their operation.
To find the right brand mark and design for Toolbox, we began by researching more about the industry MacGregor serves. This involved a deeper dive into the language of the supply chain space as well as the types of design and brand imagery that most resonated in this landscape. Because the product thrived in its ability to bring together unstructured data, we designed a geometric style and topography that matched the imagery of mathematical diagrams.
How e-Doc Became Folio, the Signature Document Solution
MacGregor’s new document software presented a different brand challenge. Known during development as e-Doc, this product enabled supply chain personnel to digitally sign multiple shipping documents with one signature. It also created a digital depository for all bills of lading and other documents related to the movement of a shipment across a supply chain. Users could use e-Doc to search for and analyze any document from any part of their logistics operation. However, the generic-sounding name e-Doc did not capture the unifying potential of this MacGregor product. To create the right brand, we needed a new name.
Choosing the right name for this digital document software required both research into the supply chain industry and outsider creativity. The product’s essential function was consolidating paper files into an organized, secure collection. That in mind, we wanted a name that would be recognizable to supply chain stakeholders who were used to sorting through numerous papers and trying to make sense of them. At the same time, we wanted something more memorable than on-the-nose names like “digital file cabinet” or “smart binder.”
Our answer came from literature. As we explored “portfolio” as one of the possible words to use in the product name, one of our team members with an English degree pointed out that Shakespeare’s original play manuscript was called the First Folio. Because MacGregor’s document repository acted as the definitive collection of original files, what this new product represented was essentially their version of Shakespeare’s ultimate manuscript. The name Folio struck the right balance between familiarity and originality to truly engage MacGregor’s audience, and inspired us to come up with a brand mark that evoked the product’s online document origins.
Partnering for the Future of MacGregor
In addition to these new product brands, Atlantic BT also worked with MacGregor to design their new homepage and network of sites. The new MacGregorPartners.com not only delivered a new navigation and look, but also focused on the new products which MacGregor would treat as integral parts of their company strategy. The result is a more cohesive online experience of this new breakout company in the logistics and supply chain space. Atlantic BT and MacGregor look forward to future collaborations toward their brand, site, and other marketing endeavors.
