Case Study
UNCOMN (formerly Aegis)
Aligning culture to support a new identity
Existing Situation
UNCOMN (at the time Aegis Strategies LLC), one the fastest growing companies in St. Louis, was facing a business strategy issue. The leadership had achieved success and optimized their systems to sell and service government contracts.
However, the management and technology consulting services company was looking to diversify their portfolio to include private and corporate business accounts.
This strategy was backed by leadership for two reasons:
1. It would diversify their capabilities and guard against any future volatility in the market.
2. It would create a very different culture than the ones that most government contracting companies have — one in which talented people could take on new challenges and innovate.
Scope
- Bigwidesky determined that the marketing strategy must include a holistic approach: One that started with the culture, the collective visions of the future and the transcendent identity or brand of the firm.
- Bigwidesky created an integrated marketing plan that began with foresight and culture strategy. The plan also included a digital strategy and new website.
- As the elements for the communications work were put in place, the culture alignment piece organically shaped around lab experiences for key employees. They co-created the way in which they could use stories as a way to instill company values and to express those values to outside audiences in the form of stories.
Results
- After a full year of implementation and culture lab experiences, employee morale improved overall by 25 percent. More than 70 percent of employees reported that they were being “very fulfilled” at work.
- The brand and identity of the firm has become something that the organization lives out in the form of ongoing culture labs. These gatherings help the firm to surface new opportunities, share knowledge and create a safe space for iterations and innovations on products and services.
- UNCOMN has co-located another office in the downtown St. Louis area to service and specialize in innovating products and services for the business audiences they hope to serve.
- The identity and culture of the brand has evolved, and the leadership has been able to capture the attention of their target audiences.
