Game, Changed:
The Strategy behind PacBio’s Growth Transformation
“This is the most important thing I need to do as CEO. My job is to push the team beyond our comfort zone so we can redefine who we are and, more importantly, how we connect with our customers”
This is what Christian Henry, the CEO of PacBio, said to us during our initial meeting where we were asked to develop a new brand and marketing strategy for PacBio.
PacBio had attempted to convert the genomics community to use its highly accurate DNA sequencing technology. With this strategy, it had captured less than 2% of the total market share.
PacBio’s new CEO knew they needed a new strategy, instead of the industry norm of marketing their product’s features and benefits.
CHALLENGE
A re-founding
PacBio’s brand was tired and worn out. And practically everyone in genomics knew about PacBio, but ignored them. Nothing the company said was changing the audience.
PacBio didn’t need a refresh. The company needed a re-founding of sorts. And they needed to make a new promise to the world.
To guide PacBio’s brand promise, we needed a key, actionable insight about the psychology of the genomics community; an insight that they didn’t have.
INSIGHT
“A few years ago we looked at PacBio when we were considering expanding core capabilities, but for a bunch of reasons we decided the SEQUEL II wasn’t for us.”
Scientific progress depends on challenging the status quo
At LINUS, our brand strategy relies on finding human heuristics that will enable our client to make a deep, personal, and resonant connection with a brand’s community.
In our in-depth interviews, we learned that a growing number of the genomics community believes that pioneering the next era of science, they need to push beyond norms, question convention and reject the status quo.
This can be seen as an act of rebelliousness, and many times these pioneers feel alone in their quest. What if a company was so customer-obsessed that they became co-conspirators in challenging the status quo? Would that spark an entire movement?
With this powerful insight, we knew how to position the new PacBio to lead the next era in genomics.
STRATEGY
Breaking old orthodoxies
PacBio had always seen itself as a premium brand, offering ultra-premium technology to the world. This mindset had become an orthodoxy. Often, we had heard references to luxury auto brands such as Rolls Royce.
While it was true that PacBio’s products invoked such hyper-performance as luxury cars, but would an ultra-premium brand feel inclusive and enable PacBio to create a community, and did it speak to the sense of rebelliousness to challenge the status quo?
This is where the new executive team at PacBio truly revealed its experience. Realizing that the idea of an ultra-premium brand was more about the collective ego of the old PacBio, they vowed that the company’s success would hinge not just on technology, but on enabling the success of their customers.
The strategy for PacBio’s new brand was declared in the following 3 statements:
The new PacBio brand needed to be approachable, to embrace the customer, and to bring collective voice for challenging the status quo. With this beautiful brief, the creative team embraced the journey to realize the new PacBio brand and create a new platform for re-founding the company.
MANIFESTING THE NEW BRAND
Breaking the old norms of branding to create a movement
Company logos have long been monolithic symbols, a portrayal of the company, and manifesting in a static world. Today’s brands, however, need to live in a dynamic, multisensory environment. They need to be dynamic with movement, texture and sound.
Our creative team asked a key question: What if PacBio’s brand was so oriented toward the customer that it portrayed the customer themselves into its it’s very essence: its logo?
Ultimately the value of a brand can be measured in its ability to inspire action within its intended audiences. The new PacBio brand needed to invoke a simple, powerful message to the Genomics community: Let’s celebrate together.
After several rounds of exploration, the new PacBio brand was born:
The solid, dynamic “O” in the new logomark serves as a window into the amazing science that PacBio’s customers and community achieve.
The brilliant magenta and supporting color palate invokes a deep sense of celebration.
The brand tone provides a warm, inviting impression and a feeling of joining.
PacBio’s brand declaration video.
PRODUCT LAUNCHES
Changing the game by rejecting the limitations of today’s sequencing technology
In a well-engineered brand ecosystem, each action from a company is an opportunity for audiences to experience the brand promise. Launching new products is the epicenter of such experiences.
With two amazing new products to introduce at the ASHG 2022 conference, this was PacBio’s true moment of delivering a new experience to the genomics community and to the world.
Using the brand strategy as a guide, the instruments incorporated the clean, modern industrial design that beautifully showcased and reflected the new brand, and the executive team even embraced a naming strategy for its products that were evocative, instead of its legacy naming convention:
Employing the new brand’s intimate tone and language, the Revio and Onso systems were introduced to the world:
By orchestrating the most memorable event ever to be held in Genomics, PacBio’s executive team delivered on its brand promise: that the new PacBio was dedicated to celebrating science for the future or our health and the health of our planet through best-in-class products and an undying dedication to being the best partner to the industry.
Results
Game, really changed.
Between a rebrand that moved the entire industry forward and a suite of sequencing systems that spanned scientists and researchers’ needs, PacBio continues to prove its commitment to align its passion to the pursuit of its customers and ultimately enabling the promise of genomics to better human health.
“When we know the story that will resonate with an audience as the brand strategy, we focus all of our ideas in creating experiences that make the audience feel that story over and over again.”
LINUS Participation
The LINUS team is extremely grateful to have played a role in PacBio’s growth transformation.
We provided:
Primary research and audience insights
Brand, positioning and messaging strategy & developing the brand story
Core and extended brand identity
Brand style guide
Brand declaration video
Instrument naming & positioning
Product launch campaign creative & plan
Product launch videos
Experience design and strategy
Event management and production with partner Producer VOLO Events Agency