Case Study: Data Platform Rebrand During Name Change and Market Repositioning
The Problem That Needed Solving
A legacy enterprise data platform was undergoing comprehensive rebrand alongside a name change and product consolidation. They'd grown to the $10M-$50M ARR range with approximately 55 employees, but faced critical positioning challenges:
Generic positioning that sounded like every competitor ("AI/ML solutions to optimize and unlock value"). Fragmented product messaging across legacy offerings. Website visitors spending less than 15 seconds on site with low CTA conversion. Technical jargon that only industry insiders understood. Expansion from technical users to C-level decision-makers requiring tone shift.
They needed strategic repositioning that could differentiate in a crowded market, unify fragmented product messaging, and expand their audience without alienating existing users.
The Strategic Work
I led brand and messaging strategy over eight weeks, working closely with a researcher who conducted stakeholder interviews and competitive analysis, and a designer who translated messaging into visual concepts.
The strategic challenge: How do you reposition a technical platform for C-suite buyers without losing the technical credibility that serves your current users?
Four key strategic decisions emerged:
1. Repositioned from Commodity to Philosophy
Rather than compete on identical industry buzzwords, I developed differentiated positioning philosophy ("Market Expansion" vs. "Market Efficiency") that reframed the category conversation from "doing less to save" to "unlocking capacity to do more."
Competitors talked about optimization and efficiency. We talked about expansion and growth. Same platform capabilities, completely different strategic frame.
2. Created Narrative Hierarchy Based on Stakeholder Tensions
Through analysis of CEO, CPO, and CMO interviews, I identified three narrative threads operating simultaneously. I structured these into a hierarchy: Primary (Operational Efficiency), Secondary (Open Accessibility), Supporting Philosophy (Market Expansion).
This gave the team a decision-making framework for all future content rather than trying to say everything at once.
3. Addressed Competing Audience Needs
The platform served both technical practitioners (data analysts, traders) and strategic buyers (C-suite). I created dual conversion pathways: "Explore the Data" (self-service) for practitioners and "Tell Us Your Challenge" (consultative) for executives, rather than forcing one CTA.
4. Led with Business Outcomes, Proved with Technical Differentiation
Core insight from interviews was that profitability was the #1 driver, but the company had been leading with technology features. I shifted the narrative to lead with business outcomes while using a "value stacking" visualization showing how their integrated solution delivered 4x the value of point solutions.
Their 25-year data moat had been buried in subheads. This became the lead proof point because competitors literally couldn't replicate it—they'd need a time machine.
The Deliverables
Brand Positioning Framework (45 pages) Synthesis of 6 stakeholder shifts (name change, product consolidation, target audience expansion, tone evolution, competitive differentiation, future vision). Included 3 narrative territories with visual expressions, strategic insights and brand challenges, and competitive landscape analysis showing category sameness.
Messaging Hierarchy Three-tier framework prioritizing core value propositions, providing decision-making criteria for content creation.
Homepage Workshop Presentation Research-backed recommendations for 8 homepage sections with specific copy directions, key quotes from stakeholder interviews mapped to recommendations, addressing client concerns pre-emptively.
Copy Templates for 7 Key Pages Detailed section-by-section guidance with word counts, strategic rationale, and examples covering Homepage, About, and Solutions pages. Each section included strategic goal, research-backed rationale, copy template, design notes, and what to avoid.
Workshop Facilitation Materials Presentation script with talking points anchored in research findings.
The Positioning Approach
I used Jobs-to-be-Done lens for audience segmentation combined with StoryBrand-style problem-agitate-solve structure for homepage flow. The positioning solved for <15 second attention span with hierarchy that worked even if users never scrolled.
The homepage structure addressed: Hero, Proof Points, Problem, Solution, How It Works, Client Results, Social Proof, CTA, Thought Leadership. Each section received strategic guidance based on research insights, like "traders are 'camera shy' about tech stacks, so use anonymized social proof."
What Changed
Workshop presentation was described as "super helpful" (longest client meeting they'd had). Strategic recommendations were adopted with minor revisions. Client specifically requested framework be used as "decision-making guide for all future content."
Narrative hierarchy became the basis for visual brand territory selection. The framework reduced ambiguity in cross-functional decision-making by giving team shared vocabulary, enabled client to evaluate design concepts against strategic criteria rather than subjective preference, and allowed client team to maintain brand voice consistency while filling in content.
The Takeaway for Clients
Differentiated positioning often comes from how you talk about commonly understood problems, not inventing new problems. Every competitor in this space talked about "optimization" and "AI/ML solutions." By reframing the conversation to "expansion vs. restriction," we gave the client ownable territory. The narrative hierarchy framework proved especially valuable for companies in transition—when everything is changing, teams need decision-making criteria, not just deliverables.
Client name, industry specifics, and proprietary details have been modified to protect confidentiality while accurately representing the strategic approach and deliverables.
