Cardinal International

The Challenge

Having built a customer base in the Bahamas, the company sought to become a global brand which could operate in several tax jurisdictions across the world and grow the business further through marketing and the offer of a 24 hour service. We were engaged to develop their worldwide brand and implement a more marketing driven approach to business development.

The Solution

Our market analysis, including extensive online and face-to-face stakeholder research, identified a number of further challenges: the Cardinal name conflicted with other 'Cardinals' in most of the target financial markets; industry watchers were predicting sector consolidation; and some key customers had concerns over system issues. We facilitated executive and staff workshops to redefine the strongest possible market proposition while a new brand name was developed - "SOLSTONe" - that was acceptable, registrable and desirable. A 'transition' plan was developed to prepare existing stakeholders for change while the Cardinal management team reconsidered their best options for the business.

The Difference

We implemented a short term refresh to introduce key corporate values ahead of a move to SOLSTONE, and the name was adopted first by the group's newly acquired IT subsidiary. However, as our investigation had shown, industry consolidation offered greater opportunity and less risk than going it alone with a new brand, so the project concluded with a successful sell-out to the Bank of Bermuda.

"Achieving the Difference brought rigour and real insight to a difficult brief. I was impressed by the strategic brand process they took us all through, and the research was of critical importance in identifying key client and industry perceptions of our business."
– Stephen Hancock, CEO Cardinal International, and now CEO of enConcert Solutions