Case Study: Gesmer Updegrove
Project Details
law firm makes bold moves. gets killer results.
The pioneering Boston-based law firm, Gesmer Updegrove has worked with “serial entrepreneurs” since its inception in 1985. Gesmer clients are the big idea-driven founders and CEOs of start-up and emerging companies who develop and bring new products and services to market. They aim to make their ideas commercially viable and exit the business in a five-year window with a financial transaction. A new positioning campaign and website make Gesmer’s unique position as advisor to these companies clear and compelling through character sketches of “serial entrepreneurs.”
Why the website breaks through the law firm clutter
Beyond the creative edge that breaks the law firm positioning mold—think legal excellence—and design convention—globes, courtroom steps, downtown skyscrapers—the Gesmer site is notable for:
- Primary navigation that is organized around the client and their goals instead of the firm and its offerings, with tabs like “start the business” and “expand the operation.”
- More engaging credentials in the form of client logos and entrepreneurial client stories instead of the sterile client lists that dominate law firm sites (the firm’s portfolio adopts the visual vernacular of the important venture capital community).
- People navigation that puts Gesmer talent into the creative act with a “Usual Suspects” attorney navigation tool.
Integrated messaging—online and off
Launched in the second week of January 2010, the site is coordinated with the firm’s newly redesigned blogs and a web-traffic-building advertising and direct mail effort. The ads and mailers offer a tapestry of evidence that Gesmer understands what drives its clients and has the credentials to help them realize those critical objectives and milestones. The site won first place in the Legal Marketing Your Honor Awards, demonstrating that powerful brands are a measure of will, not size.