Evolving Symmetry’s Brand to Meet the Future of Embedded Payroll
Our Role
Brand Identity
Brand Messaging
Website Design
Content Audit
Content Strategy
For four decades, Symmetry worked hard to build an incredible reputation for its groundbreaking B2B payroll tax APIs and software tools. Then in 2023, they found themselves on the precipice of a major evolution. Increasingly, payroll was becoming part of a horizontal stack of technology that governs the entirety of the employee lifecycle. And the growing market of innovative embedded payroll and people tech platforms leading that charge was ripe for Symmetry’s solutions.
To effectively pursue this new audience, Symmetry needed a visual identity and brand messaging refresh plus a new content strategy. For that, they turned to Block Club.
challenge
Symmetry sought a new approach to brand and content that would appeal to tech companies like Deel and Gusto without alienating Symmetry’s long-standing, large employer clients like Microsoft and Walmart. The new brand also needed to be flexible enough to accommodate a future version of Symmetry that might expand beyond payroll.
To get there, the Symmetry team engaged Block Club to:
- Refresh their brand messaging and visual identity to better reflect their commitment to innovation and position at the forefront of compliance technology
- Assess the current state of content at symmetry.com
- Develop a content strategy to increase brand awareness and lead generation among their new target
solution
Block Club conducted three phases of work to help Symmetry position its brand competitively for its expanded audience:
1. Brand Refresh
Our journey with Symmetry began with deep discovery work to understand both where they’ve been and where they wanted to go. This meant striking a balance between honoring the brand’s 40-year legacy and giving the brand a modern edge that would help propel them into their next 40 years of innovation.
Brand Messaging
Through stakeholder interviews, competitive analysis, and collaborative workshops, we developed a new brand position that captured Symmetry’s essence: enabling people tech providers to build remarkable products quickly and with complete confidence in their compliance.
From there, we developed a comprehensive messaging platform marrying this position with Symmetry’s long-standing personality and brand principles to ensure the modernization remained completely authentic. This positioning would serve as our north star throughout the project, informing every decision from messaging to visual design.
Visual Identity
With this foundation in place, we turned our attention to bringing the brand to life visually. Our design team crafted a system that would reflect Symmetry’s mature, structured nature while maintaining approachability. We developed new color palettes that weren’t just visually striking, but also met Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), ensuring Symmetry’s digital presence would be both inclusive and effective.
The visual system came to life through layered illustrations that showcased Symmetry’s tools working in harmony, with thoughtful use of shadows and color to create depth and highlight key elements of the Symmetry brand. We gave special attention to Buttons, Symmetry’s beloved mascot, evolving its design to match the new brand style while preserving its friendly presence as the website’s chatbot guide. New product icons, which feature thin outlines and solid shadows to create a cohesive family of symbols for Symmetry’s growing suite of tools, completed our work.
“Buttons”
“Buttons”
The visual system came to life through layered illustrations that showcased Symmetry’s tools working in harmony, with thoughtful use of shadows and color to create depth and highlight key elements of the Symmetry brand. We gave special attention to Buttons, Symmetry’s beloved mascot, evolving its design to match the new brand style while preserving its friendly presence as the website’s chatbot guide. New product icons, which feature thin outlines and solid shadows to create a cohesive family of symbols for Symmetry’s growing suite of tools, completed our work.
2. Content Audit and Strategy
Our work extended beyond brand identity. We performed a content audit to identify content marketing strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities relative to Symmetry’s refreshed brand and target audience.
We followed the audit with an in-depth content strategy that included a full-funnel plan targeting each stage of their new audience’s buyer’s journey, SEO tactics for increasing top-of-funnel traffic, and recommendations for lead magnets to attract and capture qualified leads. The strategy also identified opportunities for making both on-page and technical site optimizations.
3. Content Retainer
After the audit and strategy, Block Club extended its partnership with Symmetry, working to support content production and strategy needs. As part of the retainer, we produced gated ebooks and guides, blog posts, marketing emails, and social media copy and visual assets.
Results
The refreshed brand successfully bridges Symmetry’s legacy of excellence with their vision for the future. Our content strategy continues to guide their digital presence, ensuring every touchpoint strengthens their position in the market and resonates with both established enterprise clients and emerging tech platforms.
After expanding our ICP, we partnered with Block Club to ensure Symmetry was prepared for our next stage of growth. It was incredibly reassuring to have a partner with us at the table that I could trust to deliver. They are experts in their craft and have helped us bring our entire brand evolution, from messaging to visual identity to content, to successful fruition.
Elizabeth Oviedo, CEO, Symmetry