Clarivate
Technology
It’s 2020. There’s a global pandemic. Researchers are going into overdrive and innovation is our only answer.
How do you bring human ingenuity into sharper focus?
Finding clarity.
Clarivate, formerly the Thomson Reuters Science & IP division, is today a $11B global analytics leader. The group is made up of specialist businesses that take bold ideas through the innovation lifecycle, from research and development to protection and ultimately commercialisation. Clarivate helps the world’s greatest minds transform bold ideas into life-changing innovations.
When Re partnered with Clarivate, we identified a key challenge standing in the way of growth: Clarivate was the biggest company most people had never heard of. Specialist businesses like CompuMark and Web of Science were leading the offer, becoming known and respected in the market, while Clarivate lacked strong market-presence, meaning or purpose for users. We saw a missed opportunity to tell the holistic story of human ingenuity at the heart of the Clarivate business, and clearly communicate the connected value and end-benefit for customers across the portfolio.
To answer this challenge we guided the business through a significant strategic pivot to re-invigorate the Clarivate masterbrand and story, positioning it as the single entry point to a world of market-leading analytics solutions across the innovation lifecycle.
Refreshing Clarivate
The refreshed Clarivate identity brings innovation and human ingenuity into sharp focus. Building on the idea of optics, the Clarivate lens, derived from the logo, presents the Clarivate world as one of precision and clarity.
Using this as a starting point, we built each business a brand world to subtly represent its particular offering. For example CompuMark represents the trademark protection it provides, while Web of Science represents connecting academic researchers together along the innovation journey. Each world’s forms and qualities are different but they are unified by the same clean, clear aesthetic and Clarivate’s recognisable purple.
In our work with Clarivate we have crossed print, film, motion, language, events and environments, to successfully tell the new Clarivate story to the research and IP community.
Telling a connected story.
As part of the shift to a stronger and more confident Clarivate masterbrand, Re worked on a fresh and emotive brand film that put the heart back into the innovation lifecycle.
The film tells the story of how Clarivate takes the seed of a brilliant idea through all the stages of innovation and development, resulting in a life-changing solution - in this case a drug. We wanted to explain a complex and diverse business in a human and approachable way, so we used a goldfish as a simple intro and outro storytelling device to add character and warmth. The film reorientates to talk from a customer-benefit perspective which was disruptive for the industry. The brand film brought the new brand to life for all audiences.
From the inception, storyboarding and scriptwriting to the art direction, voiceover and editing, we saw this film from start to finish, bringing in our friends at production company, Armoury, to make our vision a reality.
Connecting the digital journey.
To deliver a connected brand experience, we needed to ensure that the confident new Clarivate brand was reflected across the digital experience.
Clarivate’s digital presence was very fragmented, running across many different, mis-aligned websites. Our objective was to consolidate 16 different websites into one single digital home for a connected portfolio. To do this we unified all the different design languages, creating one grid, typography, content approach and UX/ UI.
We worked with the internal team at Clarivate to roll out the design, considering the experience at every touch point. Simplifying and humanising became the core principles in each of the designs to increase engagement across the site.
One design language.
We developed a library of components to enable Clarivate’s digital team to build efficiently, prototype quickly and keep costs low. But most importantly of all, to create high quality experiences easily.
Say hello to human ingenuity.
A pivotal moment for Clarivate came in 2019 when it listed on the New York Stock Exchange, signalling a new era for the group and brand. As Clarivate’s brand partner for over three years Re were engaged to develop a campaign introducing this quiet giant to the world for the first time.
The campaign needed to have drama and impact: cutting through in two of the most iconic spaces in the world - Times Square and the Stock Exchange building. For the campaign we developed a ‘flipping discs’ aesthetic, representing the living data, thinking and energy that flows throughout the group. The discs flip to uncover the vibrant flagship business colour, nodding to the multiple innovation products and services within the Clarivate portfolio. The campaign captured a dynamic, innovative business in constant motion, highlighting Clarivate’s purpose to harness human ingenuity to accelerate the pace of innovation.
Results.
We’ve had a very successful partnership with Clarivate to date, implementing a brand that can take the business through to new growth. In 2020 the brand has performed well even against the backdrop of a global pandemic, with growth in revenue and profit, improved employee engagement ratings and an exciting strategic merger on the horizon with CPA Global, a leading global IP software business.
