CASE STUDY: Parrone Engineering

Parrone Engineering is a family-owned and successful civil engineering firm. In order to get to the next level of growth and better compete with larger firms that had sophisticated marketing programs, Parrone had to update its image. In some cases, the competition could offer more services, but Parrone offered unique qualities—the ability to get approvals quickly, to gain consensus in a public forum, to find the compromise, and to maintain integrity by following through on promises, including meeting deadlines. These qualities are, in fact, Parrone’s brand promise, which had not made its way into the firm’s marketing communications messages.

THE IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
The first solution we recommended was to rename the company from DJ Parrone & Associates to Parrone Engineering, taking the focus off the original owner and placing it on the entire firm and its area of expertise. We then developed a contemporary logo that conveyed this new image.

The next step was to develop the proper positioning for the firm—we needed to determine which qualities set it apart from the competition. Through interviews with clients, employees, and associates, we discovered that Parrone is perceived as having high integrity, professionalism, experience, and strong communications skills that ensure projects run smoothly from inception, through approvals, to completion. Clients clearly felt that Parrone was a trusted advisor, a firm they could count on.

Based on this input from Parrone’s constituents, we developed the following brand signature that is used with the logo as the sign-off in all communications materials:

ROCK SOLID

We next developed the capabilities brochure. We knew we had to make a conceptual statement that would distinguish this firm from other engineering firms. We recommended using children as the visual metaphor to represent the inquisitive nature of the engineer, the professional who constantly asks the right questions until finding the answer. We are particularly proud of the copy, which does a wonderful job of humanizing the field of civil engineering. Here’s one excerpt:

At Parrone, enthusiasm, creativity, and curiosity sit alongside science and technology as essential tools of civil engineering.

As a result, like children, we tend to ask an awful lot of questions about your project. Because it’s important to know: Where does the rain go? How deep is the rock? Where do the salamanders live around here?

The marketing team at Parrone understood the importance of not simply presenting a list of their engineering qualifications. This, in turn, gave us the freedom to communicate what it’s really like to work with the engineers at Parrone on a much more personal level. There is balance in this brochure, however. We included more technical information in the form of brief case histories of projects representing the range of the firm’s work, which were presented as sidebars opposite full-page conceptual photos. A full list of Parrone’s areas of service appeared on the back of the brochure.

We also developed a website to reflect Parrone’s brand promise utilizing photos from the capabilities brochure. It also further tells the Parrone story with case histories of recent projects, biographies of the principals, and areas of expertise.

EVIDENCE OF RESULTS
We are proud of this work, as are our clients at Parrone Engineering. They frequently get complimentary feedback when presenting to prospects in new business situations and at trade shows. The grand finale to their yearlong journey to changing the firm’s image was the recent move to a new location that was highlighted in the Rochester Business Journal. Now Parrone Engineering has a home that most accurately reflects its capabilities as well as its spirit.