Quebec-based marketing agency Archipel has taken on a new brand identity to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

While still guided by design principles of simplicity, memorability and sustainability, Archipel has updated its brand image by adding a fresh touch to its logo, website and colours. The new brand identity was revealed earlier this month to Archipel’s customers and partners at its 20th anniversary party.

The redesign took 16 months to complete, with various stakeholders shaping the direction the agency wanted to move in. The updated imagery was also timed to coincide with a refreshed direction for the agency. Archipel VP of strategy Sonya Bacon tells strategy that the marketing agency is growing more ambitious and seeking to work with clients across North America.

“We stepped up our game, and it needs to be reflected in our image. That was the main reason,” Bacon says. “New people, new clients, new offer in terms of services as well.”

First founded two decades ago in St-Lambert, Quebec, Archipel is now made up of a staff of 25, led by president and partner Caroline Barrette, and vice president of consulting services and partner Pascal Nadeau. Barrette and Nadeau initiated the idea to redesign the agency, with the goal of breathing new life into the company.

Bacon, who’s worked with Archipel since 2022, says the agency in the past year has evolved to become a more integrated company, serving more varied clients. Its recent creative work has included campaigns for local table syrup Sirup, which recreates the taste of maple syrup, as well as a new campaign for the non-profit Startup Montreal and graphic redesign of the website and applications for Montreal-based newspaper Le Devoir.

The goal of the redesign was to ensure employees could feel proud of the new look, that clients and partners would recognize themselves represented by it, and that it would draw in new partners to collaborate with Archipel.

The latter point is vital, Bacon says, as the agency’s biggest change is now an ambition to take on bigger projects and push the envelope with its work.

“What we want to instill in the brand is a sense of pride. We want to inspire confidence and ambition so that everyone at Archipel is proud to represent the new essence of the brand,” Bacon says.