As the representatives of Google for The Cronos Group and beyond, GC innovate certainly had their work cut out for them. They needed to gain recognition as a Premier Partner externally and promote Google’s cloud solutions internally. In doing so, they would position themselves as a gateway between Google, Cronos, and their customers. 

These goals required a strong brand, so they could establish themselves as a recognisable entity. They also realised they would need a dedicated marketing partner to organise their events and streamline their communication. Of course, we were more than happy to help them out. 

When we started working with GC innovate, we didn’t know yet that they would become one of our closest customers. They needed branding to go with their brand-new name, and they needed it fast.
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We helped GC innovate refine their brand story and decided to focus on their orchestrating role. From there, our designers matched that brand story with an identity that showed their strategic role and connection to Google. We also helped GC innovate prepare for their launch by designing their website and writing its copy, while Sidekick took care of development.

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We based the branding on two shapes and four colours, whose combinations form the basis of every visual. This gives GC innovate a lot of flexibility for their marketing. It also ensures visual consistency and gives them a playful yet professional identity that will stay relevant as the years go on.

For example, their logo references both the C of The Cronos Group and the G of Google and is built from these shapes. The dot shape, inspired by music sheets, points to their mission: orchestration through connecting the dots. The branding’s simple colours also make it recognisable as a Google entity while remaining its own thing – something they’ve received a lot of compliments on.

GC innovate’s branding and website were pleasing to look at, but they needed to be used consistently in internal and external communication to truly shine. You can compare it to planting a seed: if you want to get a healthy plant, you also need nutrients, healthy soil, and water. GC innovate realised the potential of their brand, so the scope of our collaboration organically grew to include marketing as well.

As always, we started our marketing services by hosting a content workshop and devising a communication strategy. We began rather modestly with ad-hoc marketing services, but this quickly evolved into a closer way of collaborating. GC innovate now has a dedicated marketeer at their disposal two days a week, with an additional fixed monthly budget for copywriting and visual content creation. 

They have described our way of working together as “marketing as a service”. Our marketeer is basically their one-stop shop for all their questions, with the significant advantage of a direct connection to design, copy, and strategy experts. To keep things short and snappy, we’ll try to give an overview below, but rest assured that this isn’t everything: 

• Strategic alignment: helping to refine their story, service offering, and business strategy by posing critical questions and cross-referencing it with their communication. 
• Social media: creating a content calendar and writing social posts and blogs with a consistent tone of voice and visual identity. 
• Communication: designing, writing and sending newsletters to spread awareness, as well as dedicated mails to promote Google Cloud trainings and certifications. 
• Events: organising meetups for Google enthusiasts, such as their quarterly Google Tuesdays and the Your Dot webinar series that highlights the competence centres’ Google skills. 
• Attending meetings with Google’s marketing team to share findings and updates as one of their foremost Benelux partners. 
• Marketing support: helping other competence centres that leverage the power of Google Cloud with writing and marketing to showcase their know-how and the GCP’s potential.

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Thanks to our branding and marketing services, GC innovate has managed to achieve some spectacular results. They have considerably increased their overall reach, and their community has more than doubled in size.

GC innovate’s efforts are no secret to Google: at the end of 2022, they won the Google Cloud Most Transformative Partner Recognition for The Cronos Group. This award highlights the partner that has shown the most significant growth and has developed their relationship with Google noticeably. This proved to everyone what GC innovate has been saying all along: Google and The Cronos Group are a perfect fit, since both have innovation at the core of their DNA. 

With the vitality of their brand officially recognised, we are excited to help GC innovate grow even more in the coming months and years while shifting our focus to brand authenticity.

Looking for a marketing partner that doesn’t shy away from atypical collaborations? Just take a look at our tagline! We’re always happy to help companies find their voice and get it out there. Just give us a shout, and we’ll see how we can help you out.