Pratt Miller
A groundbreaking product development company seeks a new brand identity to ride momentum and move into new categories.
For decades, Pratt Miller operated in the shadow of GM Racing / Corvette Racing. But through their success in the motorsports industry, they had become an incredibly innovative engineering firm capable of acquiring contracts in the defense, mobility, EV, IoT and connected systems industries. Now the company needed a brand that matched their ability to turn their clients’ most challenging problems into engineering marvels. Pratt Miller turned to our Detroit-based studio to help define their brand identity for greater growth on a national scale.
Strategy
As racing specialists, Gary Pratt and Jim Miller had been growing their business for 30 years as GM’s factory race team, which meant they not only engineered their race cars, they trained their pit crews and had a reputation for safety in protecting race car drivers. An infusion of new leaders brought expertise in new vehicles and military applications, and Pratt Miller seamlessly moved from innovative engineering to fabrication to assembly and back again. Strategically, they possessed the personality of a shape-shifter. Our team believed the ever-transformative Pratt Miller would prove themselves Masters of Change.
Brand Idea
Masters of Change
Here was a brand idea big enough to accommodate a brand expanding into new technologies and categories. Like the brand pillars we would create, this idea was highly-adaptive and multi-dimensional to grow alongside their ambitions. It was the bold voice of a leader in the space and invited competitors to play catch up.
Brand Pillars
- Resilient
- Multi-Dimensional
- Quietly Confident
- Highly Adaptive
Verbal Identity
Brand Narrative
Pratt Miller is a groundbreaking engineering and product development company. Our winning roots in motorsports enable us to deliver ingenious solutions to our clients’ most challenging problems—and wildest ideas. That history enables our team of highly adaptive innovators to apply speed, agility and engineering expertise to every project, swiftly transforming what’s possible in our clients’ industries—taking what they do to the next level and changing their world for the better.
We Are Pratt Miller.
Seamlessly Fusing Racing Speed And
Pratt Miller had to balance their racing heritage with existing positioning in Defense and Mobility along with their strategy to pursue new technology and innovation. Wherever possible, some messaging would deliver both of these strengths and leverage their wealth of experience.
Along with messaging, our team delivered a manifesto designed to rally their internal teams. The client felt it captured their bold spirit so well, they used it immediately in a video externally on their social media.
We Are Pratt Miller,
We Are Masters Of Change.
Manifesto
Can a company really change the world?
It can if it’s a master of change.
If it celebrates the ‘never before’
If it embraces the impossible.
At Pratt Miller we try things that
others do not dare
and we have become legends in the process.
We owe our name to racing
But we pledge our future to all innovation.
To changing the way the world moves
in defense,
mobility,
innovation
and new technologies.
Applying our speed, agility and expertise
to get things done, and done right.
With built-in hustle, wired intelligence
and resilience.
Sometimes you see us,
Sometimes you don’t,
but we’re still there,
and we’re changing things.
Transforming the ways companies innovate.
Reimagining how business is done.
Because wherever we are,
nothing stays the same.
And we’re ready for whatever comes next
because change is what we do.
And the world is waiting for us.
Visual Identity
Before
After
Brandmark Inspiration
Design began with referencing historical automotive badges and racing typography. That inspiration was then combined with space-age thinking, generating characters that conveyed futuristic innovation and best reflected Pratt Miller as Masters of Change.
The icon signifies both the physical components of engineering while looking forward to tomorrow’s technology. The spot color in orange is bold and distinctive and the “blades” in light and dark shades symbolize agility. In total, the new brandmark conveys their rich motorsports history, while positioning them as innovators.
We Never Quit.
We Never Settle.
We Never Stop Moving.
Transforming What’s Possible Through Innovation And Technology.
We Think Beyond What’s Possible.
Delivering A Winning Solution.
We Leverage Technology, Innovation And Winning Expertise In Motorsports To Transform Industries.
From the time I walked in the door as CEO in 2016, I said this company was a unique gem in need of polishing. The team at BasedOn took the time to truly get to know us and what made us great. They took that and delivered a diamond.”
Matt Caroll
Summary
Pratt Miller came to us as a company with great momentum and a need to position themselves for even greater growth through a new identity. We captured this momentum in a dynamic, new brandmark and gave them the verbal and visual swagger that could propel them to the next level nationally.