Hitachi Vantara Company Launch

Let me hit you with the facts first: new company, new brand, conception to reality in 5 months.

I’d worked for Hitachi Data Systems for several years at this point, and had progressed my role from designer, to art director, to creative director for visuals. I learned that we were going to bring together several organizations, including Hitachi Data Systems, Pentaho, and Hitachi Insight Group, and form a brand new company. I knew right away this one was going to be one for the highlight reel.

As you can imagine, there were a million moving parts. Did I mention we were launching our conference brand NEXT at the same time, which was also our major communication vehicle for making a huge game-changing announcement?

Our team stepped up to the plate and worked through the longest list of deliverables you’ve ever seen in your life. We had an agency partner help us with the defining brand personality and high level messaging, but the visual side was done totally in-house. We included design thinkers from all the organizations and parts of the business in the ideation process. In about a week, we had a pretty solid foundation to build from. I pitched it to our executive team and we went for it.

We produced new brand guidelines, brand assets, a new website, a new brand portal, employee assets, billboards, digital advertising, and an ad and cover wrap for the Wall Street Journal for the week of our big announcement. I also led the creative direction for our first conference, NEXT 2017, and we produced everything from the signage to the conference website, to the keynotes. We had an incredibly detailed plan in place that went off beautifully as soon as our big news was announced.

Needless to say, this one was a heavy lift. It’s also a shining example of teamwork, quick decision-making, and the resilience of a team with great chemistry.