Evolve your legacy brand

And preserve what matters most through the transition

Move beyond the founders ... with the founders

The Akopyan Group’s two generations underwent a name change and brand update as part of a strategy to prepare for an eventual transition.

Working through delicate dynamics

A full rebrand of The Diabetes Link, starting with the name, involved a group of passionate and committed stakeholders.

Putting a face to the name

After decades of quiet giving, the second generation takes up the helm, and Singer Family Foundation gets a face.

Legacy and continuity reassurances

Dog Guard was concerned about disrupting its sales and distribution network with a much needed brand update after 20+ years.

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What help do you need?

We focus on creating meaningful and strategic brands. Our service mix includes brand strategy, identity design, and graphic design services for digital and print media. If you need help bringing your brand vision to life, get in touch.

Brand audit & assessment

Get an outside perspective. A brand assessment provides the ability to understand, refine, and evolve. It’s a springboard for what comes next.

Brand strategy consulting

Discover the threads that connect your brand to your audience and business goals. Then form those into a path toward greater awareness, customer engagement.

Logo & brand design

Decisions are made with ever-increasing speed, and with more and more reliance on visual cues. That well designed brand is an investment in your future. Is your branding up to the mark?

Web design & development

An effective website drives engagement, supports customers, and generates new leads. Is your digital branding ready to reel in your audience?

Print design

Complement your digital strategy with tangible marketing materials. Do you have something physical to provide your audience a real-world experience?

Event design

Offload the design and production of all the physical and fabricated elements that create and package the event experience.

Our proven, 'open kitchen' approach

Unlike typical pick-one-of-three experience , we work through a transparent, concept-first process that supports the needs of new owners and leaders. This 'open kitchen' approach is tailored to ensure success through a structured, creative process that pulls you into the work—right in the thick of it. We want you actively involved in the creation of your brand.

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A proven process

Good design doesn’t magically happen. Our services are tailored to ensure success through a structured, creative process that requires collaboration and communication. We want you to be right in the thick of it, actively involved in the growth of your brand, now and for the long term.

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Jargon alert: We refer to Chalkbox as a branding or brand design agency. You may see others use digital branding agency, branding studio, or brand identity agency. They all kind of mean the same thing. Your best bet is a conversation to make sure they do what you need.

Unsure where to start?

Maybe you don’t know what you need or where to start. Our brand assessment surveys what you're using, and delivers expert observations on what’s working and what’s not. It also provides our recommendations on what to address and in what order.

If we find big problems, you'll know what to prepare for. If we find only a few small issues, you can charge ahead with confidence.

There are no strings attached. You can implement the recommendations with us, your in-house team, or not at all. It's your call.

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Testimonials

Margee Higgins
WWC Global, Senior Marketing Manager

By working with Chalkbox and redesigning all those visual elements, we are announcing to the world that we are stronger and bigger. It’s really going to be a huge gamechanger on how people view our company and our capabilities.

Yuriy Akopyan
The Akopyan Group, Founder

We worked with Chalkbox to transition our brand to a new name and more current look—something we can grow into. We appreciated the collaborative approach, which allowed us to understand what was happening in each phase and how Chalkbox was tying their recommendations to the evolution of our firm.

Dean Watkins
Dog Guard, Second-generation Owner

I #$@&% LOVE the new logo and branding! So, thank you!!!

Frequently asked questions and objections

You're right to be concerned. But there's a distinction to be made.

'Legacy' is NOT a logo, a name, or an individual product. Instead, we use the word 'legacy' to describe the business and its ability to provide for the family. Any damage to the business is damage to the family legacy.

And yes, making changes to any business brand can damage that business. But avoiding change can also damage the business.

Leaving a family business brand untouched for years or decades allows it to become less and less relevant as new generations of customers come along expecting (and choosing) something different.

Think of this like surgery. Surgery can save a life, but done incorrectly or without careful attention, it can kill the patient.

So what do you do?

Do it right.

Find the right team that will understand the stakes, listen to the stakeholders, and invite you into the work so you know what's happening.

For founders or longtime owners of businesses, the business and its brand can become a significant part of their identity.

We have seen founders refuse to consider any changes to their brand. They can feel personally disrespected or threatened. In the suggestion, they may hear, "We don't need you anymore," or "You did this wrong."

The best way we can help with this is with our brand assessment and audit service. Instead of making changes, it surveys what's in use, assesses all that against specific criteria, and provides a list of observations and recommendations for improvement.

To use an earlier metaphor, this is the diagnosis. It's not the surgical procedure. That may be less threatening, and may help make the case for changes to the brand.

If you have a team you trust, that knows you and your business, that's a thing to preserve.

If your team doesn't have people to do the parts we do, we get it. We don't do everything either. And you don't want them learning as they work on something as important as your core brand.

Our lane is narrow, and we stay in it.

If your marketing team is nervous about you bringing in some other folks, we get it. We've been burned a few times. Let's talk through the situation to see if there's a way through that works for everyone.

What you get depends on what we problem we're trying to solve.

Some of our clients walk away with an assessment and nothing else. They have a team, they just needed an objective and impartial take on what they're working with.

Others will leave with a clearly defined brand strategy and well constructed identity. And still others will leave with this year's custom publication as a continuation of 16 years' work.

In any of these cases, we make sure we and our clients are clear on the exact deliverables they need and can expect.

Time for another unsatisfying "it depends" answer. We don't have a pricing menu for you because our pricing and schedules flex with the scope and the stakes of the work.

The best way to find out is to schedule time to talk through what's on your mind. Once we're clear on the need and are certain of the fit with you, we can have a frank discussion about the numbers. And if our numbers don't match yours, so be it. We're not for everyone.

Get In Touch

Let’s talk about what’s on your mind and help you find some clarity. A short conversation costs nothing.