INDUSTRIOUS
Creating a differentiated brand for undifferentiated glass boxes
The Challenge
In 2019, shared workspaces were a booming industry. Fueled by the massive promise of WeWork, investors were flocking to the space and competitive coworking spaces, like Industirous, were launching right and left. While each would brag about fun amenities and community, the space was quickly becoming commoditized. So how do you build a sustainable brand for glass boxes?
The Solution
Working with the executive team, we recognized the opportunity to move up the value chain from startups to focus on SMBs and regional offices for large national companies in each market. Building a brand to appeal to this segment meant understanding that they had different desires for their spaces. They weren’t looking for ping-pong tables and kombucha on tap. These companies wanted functional and professional while providing their employees a nice workplace.
The solution was to reposition the brand as a premium offering that delivered a more effective workday every day. Starting with the tagline “Great days start here,” we relaunched the brand with a full website overhaul—from typography to design to photography—and experiential touchpoints across every location in the network.
The Business Impact
In the year following the rebrand, the company grew more than 3X from $25MM to $109MM.
Inbound interest in our spaces grew 5X, strongest in the SMB and enterprise segments.
Strong trade and business interest in our differentiation and the increased competition in the co-working space resulted in 75+ media hits, including the NYT, WSJ, Bloomberg, and MSNBC.
The company’s successful performance attracted a majority investment by CBRE, rumored to be more than $200MM.
