Bluetooth

Bluetooth

Billions of devices. Myriad applications. Bluetooth is universal. It’s one of the best-known and most trusted brands on the planet.

Like the people and industries it serves, Bluetooth technology is constantly changing—evolving, improving, reaching out in new ways.

The Bluetooth SIG is the global standards organization that defines, documents and protects Bluetooth technology. Thousands of device manufacturers are members of the organization, with many taking an active role in advancing the Bluetooth standard.

Long associated with consumer devices and audio, Bluetooth technology is now found in unexpected places: building systems, locator tags, medical devices, retail and industrial settings. It’s a whole new world, and that calls for a new story.

When one of the world’s most iconic brands needs to go in a new direction, it creates a tough challenge: How to take something of immense value and advance it without losing what makes it great.

The refreshed brand required a new strategy, collaboratively crafted with great care. It marked a shift from a focus on features and functionality to an experience-driven brand able to speak to consumers and commercial users alike.

As the team worked together, resonant ideas rose to the surface. That like air, Bluetooth is everywhere—invisible, yet something that connects and strengthens us all. That through this essential connection, the world can be made better.

These ideas were the inspiration for what was to follow: a powerfully evocative and flexible visual and verbal identity, with atmospheric and connective elements unlike anything Bluetooth had seen before.

The feel and tone also shifted, from a functional and engineering-oriented expression towards a higher-order, more experiential one that casts Bluetooth in a whole new light.

The new Bluetooth is a launching point that brings fresh energy to the brand to energize and guide SIG members, staff, and the entire Bluetooth community—together, creating a better world through connection.

Tenet Partners recognized in Gartner® Market Guide for Brand Consultancies

New York, NY (December 10, 2024) – Tenet Partners has been named among a select group of brand consultancies in the latest Gartner® Market Guide for Brand Strategy Agencies*. This recognition is a continued acknowledgement of the services, capabilities and insights that Tenet brings to brand leaders as they seek to elevate brand strategy, architecture, activation and identity.

The guide notes Tenet’s strong focus on data-driven insights and trend forecasting through predictive analytics to inform brand strategy along with marketing, creative and brand management, and to tie brand investments to business outcomes. The guide also highlights Tenet’s brand consulting capabilities that span corporate and consumer branding, including insights, advanced analytics, brand architecture, naming and identity.

The Gartner report points to the fact that brand strategy agencies are experimenting with and adopting AI—an area in which Tenet has been making significant investments for the past five years. It cites consideration of the role of AI as one of its top takeaways, noting that AI use, values, expanding agency capabilities, and deep understanding of the client’s industry are key differentiators that can help inform agency selection.

The report, which contains extensive guidance on how to go about selecting the right agency for the client’s needs, concludes with specific recommendations on fostering a strong and productive agency relationship—valuable advice that Tenet believes can help CMOs make a smart decision when choosing a vendor.

This guidance is timely, given the authors’ findings. CMOs struggle to find the right brand strategy agency due to the overlap of capabilities with traditional management consultancies, advertising and digital marketing agencies. Brand strategy agency capabilities, once primarily focused solely on brand positioning and visual identity, have evolved rapidly to include internal communications, increased insights capabilities, and experiential brand identities. Selecting the right partner is critical, given that CMOs also report brand strategy and activation as a large budget allocation across marketing programs and operational areas.

Read the full Gartner report, Market Guide for Brand Strategy Agencies, (accessible to Gartner subscribers ID G00804877).

*Gartner, “Market Guide for Brand Strategy Agencies”, By Analyst(s): Julie Reeves, Jay Wilson. Published 6 November 2024

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s Research & Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Tenet Partners

Tenet Partners is a brand innovation firm that transforms organizations through a blend of insights, strategy, design and AI technology. Our mission is to help companies create brand value and open possibilities in today’s digital-driven and customer-focused world.

For more information, please contact:
Jessica McHie
Business Development and Marketing
Tenet Partners
+ 1 212 329-3166
jmchie@tenetpartners.com

Canon Medical

Canon Medical Systems USA

Canon Medical Systems USA faced intense competition from long-established global medical imaging vendors. With the competition mainly focused on technology, Canon Medical saw an opportunity to leverage its emphasis on expertise, relationships and the positive impact it has on customers and patients as a way to stand out.

Canon Medical’s visual identity was taken from the global Canon brand, which limited its ability to tell a distinctive story tailored for its target market. The critical challenge was to respect that link to the power of the global brand while enabling Canon Medical to stand out as a preferred partner for the medical community.

Tenet’s approach to developing the visual system was highly collaborative, combining an extensive competitive audit and image review with work done by Tenet brand strategists and input from the client to visually represent key elements of the refreshed brand. In this way, the visual system was firmly grounded in brand strategy.

Strategic elements included themes of meaningful innovation, alignment with Canon corporate brand values, its tagline of “Made For Life” and Canon Medical’s new positioning theme: “With you all the way.”

Picking up on the themes of human expertise and partnership, the photo style emphasizes humans engaging with one another, with the viewer and with technology to complement images of equipment.

The new visual identity links to the global Canon brand in subtle, yet compelling ways, making good use of the corporate red along with gradients and geometric shapes. The system’s graphical underlay is a transformation of the highly recognizable letter C shape that’s part of the Canon wordmark, replicated and rotated to provide a rich texture that suggests technology without overwhelming the more human elements of imagery.

Canon Medical’s new visual identity and Tenet’s accompanying strategic brand work has been greeted very positively by the organization’s leadership, providing a solid foundation for continued growth and differentiation in the medical imaging market. A few months after the updated brand launch, Canon Medical saw a 45% increase in engagement with its PR and social media content.

Fairtrade

Fairtrade International

Fairtrade International is a non-governmental organization spearheading a global movement to change the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions and a fairer deal for farmers and workers in developing countries.

Fairtrade promotes its agenda through a system of certification marks on product packaging to help brands signal that they are part of a more sustainable, responsible worldwide economy, giving consumers assurance that they are making ethical purchase decisions. It was felt that this multifaceted system was too complex and difficult to understand.

The organization saw the need to make the scheme more clear, but wanted to make sure any changes were driven by research and a sound brand strategy. Fairtrade came to Tenet Partners for help with streamlining its certification architecture to better communicate with the market.

Building on extensive research, the Tenet team recommended a simplified approach based on use cases. The new system is straightforward, easily understood and modular, with a single certification mark that combines the two legacy marks and supplemental visual elements that can be added or removed based on the use case.

The new approach makes identification of Fairtrade-certified products easier, while still allowing for the inclusion of relevant information. It also sparked valuable discussion and consensus-building within the organization.

With clarity around adoption of the new architecture achieved, Fairtrade International is poised to move forward with a clean, flexible system that allows qualified businesses to better communicate with their customers—and for the organization itself to advance its vision.

APTA

American Physical Therapy Association

The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is a professional organization that represents more than 100,000 member-physical therapists, physical therapist assistants and students of physical therapy nationwide.  

While developing its 5-year strategic plan, APTA leadership determined that the association’s brand was not serving the needs of its membership. This was proved out as the 71 specialty sections, state chapters and major programs that comprise APTA were using their own branding, creating a highly fragmented face to the organization.  

While national leadership desired a more consistent identity, it was concerned that developing a cohesion might also create friction—with most chapters wanting to maintain their individual identities.  

Tenet research confirmed that the national association was underappreciated by its members, who were more connected with their local chapter or specialized member group than they were to the broader organization. 

In parallel with visual identity work, Tenet strategists engaged APTA national and chapter leadership in collaborative exercises designed to build consensus around an evolved brand architecture that would establish a more prominent connection between the chapters and the association.  

That process helped to shift the views of leaders and members, who agreed that a more cohesive branding approach would go a long way towards increasing the stature of the association, and of physical therapists in healthcare and among the public at large.  

A new logo and visual system were also developed to express the end benefit physical therapists provide their patients: a notion of fluid activity and freedom of motion, driving forward and upward. The refreshed visual identity provides both consistency and flexibility, allowing APTA to build a cohesive brand while giving the 71 disparate groups the freedom to customize their own identity by choosing from a range of pre-designed options.  

In a further endeavor toward consistency, Tenet also developed a messaging playbook—a key resource that APTA’s national staff had never had before—along with comprehensive brand guidelines, launch strategy and communications. 

The national brand launch was timed to coincide with the association’s centennial celebration, featuring prominently in APTA’s new headquarters. By tying the launch to a major event, the refreshed brand generated considerable excitement and buy-in. With a solid architecture established, the individual member groups now have the tools to roll out their own refreshed brands.  

The new brand approach quickly proved its worth. A prominent APTA group that had separately undertaken its own brand refresh hired Tenet to design its new brand. We demonstrated how the architecture solution, new identity and visual system could be used to create a powerful brand expression at all levels of the organization.

Broadview Federal Credit Union

Broadview Federal Credit Union

Following the merger of two New York capital region credit unions—SEFCU and CapCom—to form the Broadview Federal Credit union, creating a unified digital presence was a top priority. Tenet Partners led the creation of the Broadview brand, and then the organization turned to us once again to create a cohesive website that would fully embody the new brand identity.

Proven best practices developed over years of comparable engagements served as the basis of Tenet’s comprehensive, strategic approach to the assignment. This was more than a simple redesign of an existing site—it needed to fully support Broadview’s business strategy and make the most of the credit union’s new brand.

Digital strategy: Our team began by crafting a robust digital strategy that aligned with Broadview’s brand vision and business goals. This strategy provided a clear roadmap to the harmonization of the two legacy websites with unique navigation, content and customer experiences, ensuring consistency and alignment across all digital touchpoints.

Information architecture and content analysis: We meticulously structured the website’s information architecture to enhance navigation and the user experience. Thorough content analysis was conducted to ensure relevance, clarity and consistency in messaging.

Wireframes and component library: Wireframes were designed to help visualize the layout and functionality of key pages, while a digital component library was developed to maintain design consistency and facilitate efficient updates.

Visual and experience design: Our visual design team created a modern and engaging aesthetic that reflects the distinctive Broadview identity. Working concurrently, the experience design team focused on user-centric principles, ensuring intuitive and seamless interactions.

Content development and integration assistance: Using the verbal platform that was part of the Broadview rebrand as a starting point, the team crafted compelling content that would resonate with Broadview’s diverse audience. Additionally, we provided integration assistance to ensure smooth implementation of new content, UX features and functionalities.

Page-level design and project management: Each page was carefully designed to ensure a cohesive look and feel. Throughout the project, our dedicated project management team ensured timely delivery, quality assurance for content and seamless coordination among stakeholders.

The new Broadview website is a testament to the power of strategic UX design and execution. By integrating SEFCU and CapCom’s strengths into a single, unified platform that fully expresses the brand, we created a digital experience that not only reflects Broadview’s new identity but also enhances member engagement and satisfaction. At the same time, we created the tools, resources and knowledge needed to carry the site into the future, empowering Broadview to evolve its online presence going forward.

By tapping into our development, visual, verbal and strategic strengths, this project exemplifies Tenet Partners’ expertise in delivering comprehensive digital solutions that drive success.

EMC Insurance

EMC Insurance

EMC Insurance is an Iowa-based carrier primarily focused on risk solutions for business. As a mutual company that relies heavily on independent agents, local presence and close relationships with communities and businesses, it has a powerful story to tell.

EMC leaders knew they had a strong presence in the market, but felt that there was an opportunity to amplify the brand to better reflect the company’s strengths and distinct character.

Starting with extensive internal and external research, Tenet strategists zeroed in on what makes EMC special: that at its core, it is a very human company.

That ethos was captured in a revised brand platform as a foundational element: “The national carrier with a local heart.” This laddered up to a new brand promise: “Keeping insurance human.” In keeping with this, the platform and brand voice shifted away from a product-first approach to larger themes of partnership and prosperity.

EMC’s existing look—hard-edged and dark, typical of the industry—felt dated and was not ideally suited to the company’s focus on working with agency partners to help policyholders and communities thrive. Tenet designers created a warmer, more engaging visual identity, using an in-person workshop to help the EMC team get up close with the creative process.

As the amplified EMC brand was being prepared to launch externally, leadership understood that connecting with the internal audience was critically important, as they are the ones embodying the brand promise across all touchpoints.

The Tenet team knew that the employee training program would be most effective if delivered by the employees themselves. A Tenet-crafted “Brand Ambassador” train-the-trainer program tapped 60 uniquely qualified individuals across various geographies and areas of expertise to be the faces and voices of employee engagement throughout the organization.

It all came together at One EMC, an historic event at EMC headquarters. Through unique and memorable employee experiences, the team generated excitement, teamwork and a greater understanding of the amplified EMC brand.

The new brand identity, Brand Ambassador program and One EMC event were hugely successful and popular with employees, serving to bring clarity about the company’s path forward and build genuine enthusiasm about EMC’s future.

“The collaborative partnership we had with the Tenet team resulted in a highly creative and impactful visual identity that further enhanced our broad strategy,” said EMC’s vice president of customer experience & marketing.

FIRST

FIRST

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

A global nonprofit organization founded by well-known inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST is dedicated to improving education and interest in science. The company touches the lives of nearly 700,000 kids globally through its robotics programs. Kamen, holder of more than 1000 patents and founder of DEKA Research and Development, set a vision for the organization to “create a world where science and technology are celebrated…where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes.”

The identity of FIRST is an excellent example of a grass-roots creation that takes a life of its own through its application. Unlike regimented corporate programs, the company’s symbol is applied freely to just about everything imaginable inside and outside event venues – by FIRST staff, by the thousands of teams and fans, and by the many corporate sponsors and partners contributing time and resources.

Tenet Partners donated its services and talents to helping FIRST create a new logo and signature system that updates its image, solves a range of application issues, and clarifies the structure of the growing nonprofit’s numerous offerings.

Tenet Partners Wins Multiple High Honors in 2024 REBRAND 100® Global Awards

New York, NY (March 04, 2024) – Tenet Partners has won high honors in the 2024 REBRAND 100® Global Awards for its brand transformation work for clients Cadence Bank, ACA Group, ASC Engineered Solutions, Broadview Federal Credit Union, Dow, and the Imagine® Visa Credit Card from Atlanticus.

Returning after a pause in 2022 due to the pandemic, the prestigious bi-annual REBRAND 100® Global Awards celebrate the creativity and design of the best brand transformation projects submitted to an international panel of prominent industry experts representing multiple disciplines.

The awards covered projects launched between January 2021 and October 2023, allowing for a comprehensive evaluation of their outcomes and the impact of the transformations beyond their initial launch. The panel analyzed the before and after state of the brand and measured its impact on strategic business goals and target markets.

Of particular note was Tenet’s work for Cadence Bank, which received a Distinction award in the Enterprise Rebrand category. “We are thrilled to be recognized with a prestigious REBRAND award alongside Tenet Partners. Collaborating with them to craft our new brand was an inspiring journey, with their expertise and dedication serving as our guiding light,” said Jackie Hooper, Chief Marketing Officer of Cadence Bank. “Their strategic insights and unwavering commitment to creative excellence perfectly complemented our rebranding goals. Together, we are proud of the transformative impact achieved by our partnership.”

Cadence Bank banner

“This was a landmark year, with all six of the projects we submitted winning honors—the largest total ever and an acknowledgement of our ability to create extraordinary brands that contribute to client success,” said Hampton Bridwell, CEO at Tenet Partners. “Being recognized for the business impact we’ve achieved testifies to the strength of our strategic and creative teams and the relationships we build with our clients.”

Award-Winning Projects Featured:
Cadence Bank won the Distinction award in the Enterprise Rebrand category for a powerful brand that unifies the two regional banks which had merged to form the new organization, while honoring the legacy of both.

ACA Group won a Merit award in the Enterprise Rebrand category for a future-focused brand that transformed the traditional compliance consulting and benchmarking organization into a tech-forward governance, risk and compliance leader.

ASC Engineered Solutions won a Merit award in the Enterprise Rebrand category for work that combined Anvil International and Smith-Cooper International—both suppliers of industrial pipe fittings, valves and associated equipment—to signal the arrival of a new industry leader.

Broadview Federal Credit Union won a Merit award in the Enterprise Rebrand category for unifying two credit unions that merged to create the New York capital region’s largest financial institution with hundreds of thousands of members.

Dow won a Merit award in the Component Rebrand category for a robust corporate branding framework that is allowing Dow to find a place for its existing sustainability-oriented offerings while creating a comprehensive sustainability brand architecture for future products.

The Imagine® Visa Credit Card won a Merit award in the Brand Extension category for its issuer, Atlanticus, for a future-focused financial services brand designed to appeal to younger, tech-savvy consumers, a new demographic for Atlanticus.

About Tenet Partners
Tenet Partners is the only 100% employee-owned branding firm in the world. We transform organizations through a blend of insights, strategy, design and technology. Our mission is to help companies create brand value and open possibilities in today’s digital-driven and customer-focused world.

About REBRAND™ and the REBRAND 100® Global Awards
REBRAND is the world’s leading platform for brand transformation insights, case examples, and programs. Celebrating its 20th year, the REBRAND 100® Global Awards is the foremost global recognition for excellence in brand transformation. This year, REBRAND™ also introduced an AI-driven knowledge base, enhancing insights into brand transformation success stories. For details, visit REBRAND.com.

For more information, please contact:
Jessica McHie
Business Development and Marketing
Tenet Partners
+ 1 212 329-3166
jmchie@tenetpartners.com

Tenet Partners recognized in Gartner® Market Guide for Brand Consultancies

New York, NY (February 5, 2024) – Tenet Partners has been recognized by Gartner® in its Market Guide for Brand Consultancies for the second year running, making specific mention of our focus on data-driven insights and forecasting. This recognition is a continued acknowledgement of the services, capabilities and insights that Tenet brings to brand leaders as they seek to elevate brand strategy, architecture, activation and visual identity.

Industry Report: Tenet Partners recognized in Gartner® Market Guide for Brand Consultancies

The Q4 2023 Market Guide notes that CMOs continue to recognize the links between brand investment and business value, resulting in prioritization of brand projects. This aligns with other recent Gartner research: According to the 2023 Gartner Brand Leaders Survey, 82% of brand leaders are pessimistic about the ongoing economic and business climate impact on their brands, but more than 50% would fight to keep their brand spending steady even when faced with the prospect of cutting performance marketing.

Brand strategy and activation were among the top three areas where surveyed CMOs reported significant capability gaps that stand in the way of achieving business goals. 46% of respondents reported in increase in budgets for brand strategy and activation across marketing programs and operational areas.

Turning to emerging trends that are transforming branding and marketing—and helping to address, at least in part, the capability gaps uncovered in the Brand Leaders Survey—the Market Guide encourages CMOs to “recognize the evolving and widespread capabilities of GenAI in order to best determine how the agencies are responsibly using GenAI internally and to support client deliverables.”

In our opinion, this Gartner guide offers useful framework for key considerations and action items for CMOs as they begin a brand consultancy search. This includes critical AI capabilities across generative, machine learning, natural language processing and advanced forecasting needed for consumer insights, optimizing ROI and enhancing brand management.

We believe that the statements in the guide accurately reflect Tenet’s own views on the role of brand consultancies. “The consumer climate is becoming more challenging for brand owners, and they will continue to need help developing and refining their brands to stay competitive. The importance of brand to attract and retain customers, potential employees and investors is growing.

CMOs are increasingly responsible for managing brand and the role it plays in conveying an organization’s purpose and priorities, and recognizing that internal capabilities to deliver deep brand strategy work are lacking. Thus, reliance on brand strategy agencies should continue to grow.”

Read the full Gartner report, Market Guide for Brand Consultancies, (accessible to Gartner subscribers ID G00770939).

*Gartner, “Market Guide for Brand Consultancies”, By Analyst(s): Julie Reeves, Jay Wilson. Published 25 October 2023

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s Research & Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Tenet Partners

Tenet Partners is a brand innovation firm that transforms organizations through a blend of insights, strategy, design and AI technology. Our mission is to help companies create brand value and open possibilities in today’s digital-driven and customer-focused world.

For more information, please contact:
Jessica McHie
Business Development and Marketing
Tenet Partners
+ 1 212 329-3166
jmchie@tenetpartners.com

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