When I joined Sisense as the new SVP of Marketing, I faced a crucial decision: to update the brand or not? As I sat down with our executive leadership team, I realized this wasn’t just about choosing new colors or redesigning the logo. Our goal was to reimagine our entire identity to reflect the evolution of Sisense in a rapidly changing data analytics landscape.

In today’s tech-driven world, a company’s brand is more than just a visual identity—it’s a strategic asset that communicates values and capabilities. The analytics world has been undergoing a seismic shift with AI and machine learning at the forefront of reshaping how businesses interact with data. Our company is transforming too: We’re growing our product capabilities and refining our target market to meet the demands of a larger, more diverse customer base, in a data-rich world.

More Than Just Visual Changes

Our rebranding effort went well beyond a new logo and color palette. We revisited our company’s vision and mission, refined our messaging and positioning, and considered how to bridge data capabilities with human engagement. This comprehensive approach allowed us to create a cohesive brand identity that resonates across all touchpoints—from our website and marketing materials to our product interface and customer interactions.

Aligning Brand with Strategy

We decided early on to center our Ideal Customer Profile around software companies building data-rich products, so we needed our brand to reflect this refined target audience. Our new visual identity, which incorporates data visualization design elements, communicates our commitment to simplifying complex information and enabling actionable insights. Our updated messaging emphasizes how Sisense envisions analytics to “fuel the applications that drive business forward,” speaking directly to our target audience of software companies and data-forward organizations looking to make interactive analytics a bigger part of the products they build.

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Data-Driven Design

The dot/circle element is central to our new look, representing data points that, when artfully combined, tell powerful stories. Data visualization is a form of communication that portrays dense and complex information in graphical form. The use of dots helps simplify complex ideas, breaking them down into easily digestible visual components. The resulting visuals are designed to make it easier to compare data and use it to tell a story – both of which can help users in decision-making and application-building.

Illustrative Minimalism

We’ve chosen a clean, minimalistic illustration style that uses geometric shapes to effectively communicate complex ideas, such as ‘data modeling’ or ‘business impact’. This approach maintains a focus on clarity and simplicity, which aligns with our company’s values. Illustrative minimalism is essential for presenting complex information in a clear and accessible way.

Consistent Visual Elements

We used a direct and vibrant photography style, with clear, focused subjects, and avoided using filters or black-and-white images, as these can detract from the brand’s dynamic feel. We opted for photography with high contrast and sharp details that feature humans for a fresh and inviting look.

The consistent colors, fonts, and styles that align with the Sisense brand maintain a cohesive look and ensure that charts, graphs, and other visual elements are easy to read and understand, focusing on clarity and accuracy to effectively communicate data insights.

Messaging Alignment

Sisense illustrations often use a conceptual outline style to communicate ideas effectively and clearly. This approach relies on simple, outlined shapes to represent concepts using minimalistic elements to convey complex messages. The use of outlines allows for a clean and modern look, maintaining focus on the core idea and message without unnecessary details. This style aligns with our brand’s emphasis on clarity, simplicity, and impactful communication.

Building Trust and Empowering Go-to-Market Efforts

In the competitive analytics platform market, our refreshed brand identity conveys reliability and stability, crucial for attracting larger enterprise clients and expanding partnerships. This aspect of rebranding is particularly crucial as we aim to attract larger enterprise clients and expand our partnerships. A strong, consistent brand helps build the confidence these stakeholders need to engage with us on a deeper level, knowing that we understand the importance of how data is displayed and used in software products.

Lessons Learned

Undertaking a rebranding effort is a complex journey, and we’ve gained useful insights along the way. Here are the lessons we learned that can be applied to rebranding initiatives across industries:

1. Start with strategy, not aesthetics:

Align your rebranding efforts with your company’s strategic direction. Consider your market position, growth targets, and customer needs before diving into visual design.

2. Involve key stakeholders, but limit decision-makers:

Create a core team of “Brand VIPs” from various departments for input, but keep final decisions to a smaller group to maintain consistency.

3. Plan for phased implementation:

Develop a detailed rollout plan, starting with core materials and priority channels, then gradually expanding to all touchpoints. This allows for consistency and iterative improvements.

4. Invest in internal communication:

Develop a comprehensive plan to explain the rebrand to all employees. When the entire team understands and embraces the new brand, they become powerful advocates.

5. Harness the power of storytelling:

Craft a compelling narrative about your evolution. Use visuals that humanize your brand and make it relatable to new audiences.

6. Consider technical implications:

Work closely with IT and product teams to address all technical aspects of the rebrand, from API updates to interface redesigns.

The Strategic Impact of Our Rebrand

Rebranding is more than a new website or logo—it’s a strategic move that can reposition your company for its next phase of growth. When done thoughtfully, it can align your external image with your internal reality, energize your team, and set the stage for future success. For Sisense, our rebranding effort has been a transformative journey, positioning us to better serve our customers in an increasingly data-driven world.

This rebrand represents our commitment to bridging the gap between ubiquitous data and rare insights. We’re moving beyond static reports to embrace a future where data is dynamic, interactive, and seamlessly integrated into everyday business decisions.

As we close this chapter, we’re opening a new one—not just for Sisense, but for our customers and the entire data analytics industry. We’re betting on a future where the lines between data, design, and decision-making blur, and analytics are as intuitive as they are powerful.

In the end, a brand is a promise. With this rebrand, we’re promising to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in data analytics. We invite you to join us on this journey, as we write the next chapter in the ever-evolving story of data.

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