Tag: advanced custom fields

Repositioning a 20-year leadership consultancy around the work it had grown into

For more than 20 years, James Warrick had advised CEOs and leadership teams at companies including Nike, Intel, Merrill Lynch, and Williams Sonoma.

His work had evolved considerably over that time.

His brand hadn’t.

People encountering James online often assumed he was a traditional life or executive coach. That description wasn’t technically wrong, but it no longer captured the caliber of the work, the clients he served, or the role he actually played in their lives and organizations.

James wanted to enter the market in a new way.

The problem was that after two decades inside the business, he was too close to it to clearly articulate what made his work different.

That’s where we started.

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The Challenge

Warrick didn’t need a prettier website.

It needed clarity about what the company had become.

The existing brand—Take Flight Coaching—was rooted in an earlier chapter of James’ career. His reputation and client work had moved far beyond it, but his positioning, language, and digital presence still told the old story.

Before creating anything, we needed to understand:

• How that strategy should shape the name, language, identity, and customer experience
• Why accomplished CEOs actually hired James
• What they experienced in the relationship that was difficult to describe
• Which problems James was uniquely equipped to solve
• What his company should stand for going forward

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Discovery before answers

Rather than beginning with assumptions about what the new brand should look or sound like, I started with discovery.

I interviewed James and five longtime clients to understand the company from both sides of the relationship.

We explored why clients initially engaged him, what changed through the work, why they continued working with him, and what differentiated James from other coaches and advisors.

We also worked through his beliefs, mission, vision, values, character, and ambitions for the next chapter of the business.

A deeper pattern began to emerge.

Clients weren’t simply hiring James to become better professional leaders.

They relied on him for the confidence, clarity, and perspective required to make difficult decisions and move forward.

James wasn’t merely coaching leaders.

He had become a leader to leaders.

“We now have a framework for how to communicate and a clear plan for leveraging our brand with new and existing clients. My brand is stronger than it’s ever been.”

James Warrick, Principal

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Turning insight into strategy

The discovery work became a 27-page Brand Framework that gave James and his team a shared foundation for the business.

It included:

• Customer insight and motivations
• Three differentiated value propositions
• Mission, vision, and values
• Brand character and personality
• Voice and messaging direction
• Brand pyramid
• Strategic principles for future marketing and communication

The framework mattered because it created more than marketing language.

It gave the team a common understanding of who they were, who they served, why the work mattered, and how to make future decisions consistently.

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Becoming Warrick

The strategy also exposed a fundamental issue with the existing name.

“Take Flight Coaching” reinforced the exact perception we were trying to move beyond.

We developed 13 naming directions using a structured naming process and evaluated them against the company’s positioning and long-term ambitions.

Then we discovered something hiding in plain sight:

Warrick means “strong leader.”

The name connected naturally to James’ own identity, the work he had spent decades doing, and the people he served.

The decision became obvious.

Take Flight Coaching became Warrick.

From there, the team developed a bold typographic identity designed to preserve the simplicity and authority of the name.

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Turning the strategy into an experience

The next question was how the brand should actually feel.

One phrase from James’ work became especially important.

At the end of a meeting, he would often ask:

“What’s our movement?”

It captured something central to the brand: clarity should result in forward motion.

That idea became a creative principle for the website experience.

Rather than simply publishing a new brochure site, we used movement and interaction throughout the experience to guide visitors deeper into the Warrick story and reinforce the feeling of progress.

The final experience brought together:

• Brand strategy
• Positioning and messaging
• Naming
• Creative direction
• Copywriting
• Information architecture
• UX strategy
• Visual and motion design
• Front-end and back-end development

The website wasn’t the strategy.

It was the expression of the strategy.

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The result

Warrick emerged with a brand that finally reflected the work clients had already been experiencing for years.

The project gave James:

• A clearer articulation of his value
• A deeper understanding of his customers
• A differentiated market position
• A new company name and identity
• A shared language for his team
• A strategic framework for future decisions
• A digital experience capable of expressing the caliber of the work

Most importantly, James had greater clarity and confidence about the direction of the company.

“Simon and his team were crucial for the direction that I am now taking my company. The relationship I have with Simon is irreplaceable.”

James Warrick, Principal

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My role

I led the strategy and discovery process, including founder and client interviews, workshop facilitation, customer insight synthesis, value proposition development, brand positioning, naming, messaging, and content strategy.

I then translated that strategic foundation into creative direction and worked with Structure’s design and development team to bring the new identity and digital experience to life.

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