Advocord
Developing a flexible branding system for a growing startup
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Adult caregiving is ripe for disruption. Though millions of Americans currently support vulnerable family members or serve as guardians and power of attorneys (POAs) for others, they’re largely left to use outdated, manual processes to manage care, benefits, legal rights, and more.
Nancy Meyers, an attorney and now CEO of Advocord, saw an opportunity to develop a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to streamline critical processes for guardians, making it easier for them to record, manage, and share the details of their dependents’ lives. As a startup founder, Meyers needed a strong name and brand for the solution as she sought venture capital funding in a capital-constrained market.
Meyers partnered with our team to name and brand the company using our expert brand strategy and design services.
As an entrepreneur, I was attracted to PA’s evident design capabilities and history of entrepreneurship. They’ve built companies collectively and individually and have great respect and empathy for founders.”
Key successes
- Created a flexible branding system to grow with the company’s expanding user base
- Launched the name, visual identity, and brand in time to seek venture capital funding
- Positioned Advocord to raise $2M in seed funding in November 2022.
Navigating caregiving amidst industry complexity
48 million Americans, or nearly one in five, serve as caregivers for adults with health or functional needs. Family caregiving spans all generations.
Many learn by doing: spending hours navigating websites; reading eligibility requirements; and filing for benefits, such as veterans’ health, social security, and disability. Guardians may manage myriad paper and digital documents, making it challenging to aggregate records, share insights with medical practitioners, and report on dependents’ legal, financial, and health status.
Nancy Meyers, founder and CEO of Advocord, saw a way to provide better support for caregivers through technology.
Guardians, whether they are family or court-appointed, need more support than they’re getting. Currently, they’re held back by manual processes that could easily be digitised, putting time back in their day and enabling them to provide higher quality care.”
Creating a scalable branding system to enable future growth
Meyers sought a partner to brand her company, then named AccountAbility Tech, and expand to serve the broader caregiving market. We provided branding, visual identity, logo development, and naming expertise, along with UI/UX direction.
We held a collaborative kick-off workshop with Meyers to immerse ourselves in the company and the intricacies of guardianship. We explored different topics and created a visual analysis of guardianship issues.
Next came an audit of currently available project management tools, none of which were fit for purpose. While generic tools can help users keep track of tasks, they don’t help individuals navigate caretaking duties and share sensitive insights and data with support professionals.
Understanding the market to build a tailored solution
Market and competitor research enabled us to build a point of view, creating a narrative around where the company was headed, their mission, values, and brand attributes. For example, while navigating caregiving responsibilities can be overwhelming and stressful, the brand and tools should be calming and supportive.
We defined the target market, building out customer profiles for individuals who would hold guardian, conservator, Power of Attorney (POA), and advocate roles.
These insights informed the visual identity and name. The design system needed to be flexible enough to be used across marketing, digital, and print applications. In addition, the name needed to convey the collaborative nature of the processes the solution enabled.
The team conducted an interactive session to explore naming and visual identity. We eventually selected Advocord, which signifies the words advocate and the process of keeping records. I was so pleased we were able to integrate our mission into our name.”
Attracting interest and investment
We developed a brand system tailored to the uniqueness of Advocord, which includes custom typography, colour palette, identity marks, photography treatment, and iconography that feels friendly and approachable for a wide range of users. Landing on the final brand mark for the organisation was especially exciting.
The brand mark that PA developed shows an elegant, abstracted A as two pillars or bird wings leaning against each other, indicating the support caregivers provide dependents. It’s perfect for our organisation.”
With the new resources in hand, Meyers and her digital partner launched the company’s website and brand. She successfully won $2M in seed venture capital funding, enabling her to take the company to the next level.
Ingenuity timeline
- Commenced the branding and naming initiative (October 2021)
- Renamed the company Advocord, formerly Accountability Tech (November 2021)
- Created the brand mark for Advocord (January 2022)
- Advocord launched website developed with our UI/UX guidance (April 2022)
- Advocord won $2M in seed funding (November 2022).
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