Brightstar overhauls identity in global rebrand becoming Likewize

Brightstar, now Likewize, wanted to use the rebrand to signal its move away from being a logistics-based company to becoming a full-service one for technology brands across the world. Likewize provides a different range of services, including tech protection, repair, renewal and support. 

“At its core, the company was founded to identify ways of giving people easy access to technology. Since then, we have continually expanded our capabilities to solve the evolving problems of the technology industry. We got to the point where we were misunderstood. Perception of us lagged behind reality and we recognised the need to make people reassess who we are and what we do,” says Rod Millar, Likewize CEO.

The rebrand began with the name change, a very “significant move,” says Simon Manchipp, founder and executive strategic creative director of SomeOne. 

“Name change comes with a lot of danger because people ask why you've done it and they become uncertain about the future. However, if there is a good reason for it, if there’s something in it for the customer, it’s one of the best ways to signal that things are moving forwards,” he says.

The new name Likewize was inspired by the the company’s mission of becoming partners of tech companies around the world. The team at SomeOne imagined the organisation saying to its partners, ‘You want to change the world of technology? Likewise!’ The adverb, simple yet memorable, encapsulates the brand’s proposition and lays the foundations for the rest of the brand identity.

The name, in fact, [why ‘in fact’ - it’s a nervous tic term or speech not for writing] is flexible enough to be used in quirky headlines found on posters, merchandise and brochures, such as, ‘Looking for painless tech solutions? likewize,’ ’Want to dial up your tech protection? likewize,’ and ‘Brewing up amazing ideas? likewize.’ By doing so, SomeOne sought to embed the brand in every aspect of the communications, and intrinsically tie the two together.

The name, written in a bespoke typeface, also acts as the logo which gives the brand a clear and modern feel. 

“Keeping the wordmark simple but giving a bespoke typeface is an incredibly powerful way of increasing brand awareness and recognition across lots of different channels. We’ve designed it so whoever types out the word likewize in that typeface, will automatically be connected to the word mark so no one can get it wrong,” Manhipp says.

The dots on the the two ‘i’s’ and the full stop at the end of the wordmark connect it to the rest of the visual visual identity, which is centred around dotted patterns and grids that animate on digital applications. Both aim to hold and amplify brand messaging across different communications and give Likewize an ownable identity.

Similarly, the hot pink colour palette was designed to give the brand ownability and, most importantly, to make it stand out from its competitors. The decision to go with the pop-out colour came after SomeOne conducted an in-depth research across the sector to see what kind of competition Likewize was facing.

“If you look at the FSTE 100 brands, generally a third of them are blue, the reassuring colour, a third of them are red, the colour of challenger brands, and the others are either green, orange or brown. Pink is still on the warm spectrum yet it’s bold and memorable," Manchipp says.

"It's unconventional because it’s usually a ‘feminine colour,’ which challenges the typically male-dominated world of technology Likewize works in. Pink also gives enough contrast to allow for people with impaired  vision to still read the brand properly,” he adds.

In addition to the visual assets, SomeOne also developed a sonic identity for Likewize. The sonic property was split into three complementing sounds: ‘like’ adopted a positive sound reminiscent of a like social platforms, while ‘wize’ was given a more ‘intelligent’ sound that aims to reflect the brand. Both are completed with a closing sound, chosen to reminisce resolution. 

In conjunction with the rebrand, Likewize announced the opening of a new fulfillment center in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area in the U.S. The automated facility aims to enable Likewize to keep pace with its growth, enhance the overall customer experience and optimise its U.S. footprint.