Countman is a new accounting company on the market, offering the simplest and most comfortable accounting services in an outsourcing model for small and medium-sized businesses.
The company’s mission is to transform the perception of small and medium businesses, as well as startups, by eliminating the negative experiences where accounting operations are viewed as complicated and complex, hindering the ability to focus on core goals and growth.
Countman, as an independent company, has only recently started operations. The brand was developed by Tako Sulakvelidze, who has created numerous brand strategies and is a graduate of one of the world’s leading universities, Parsons School of Design.
In this article, you’ll get to know Countman’s brand strategy creator better.
Why Rebranding?
Before Countman, the company operated under the name “Be Group.” Their expertise included various financial services related to business engineering, such as business risk assessment and insurance. The company has been successfully developing for several years, offering unique multi-service solutions for insurers in the Georgian market. Their target audience includes different types of businesses, both in size and industry. We identified the need to create a new brand that would offer a more direct and focused service tailored to small and medium businesses.
The audience of small and medium businesses tends to be less corporate, more business-oriented, and direct in nature. Most of Countman’s clients are individuals who have chosen to build their own business instead of pursuing a corporate career. These businesses are often started by an individual, a close group of friends, or a professional circle, with a small team and a well-defined, limited budget. The founders often wear many hats during their workday, and in many cases, accounting is the least favorite and most unpleasant part of their business.
Countman gives these entrepreneurs the opportunity to focus their time and energy on what they love, while having a personal accountant available remotely, supported by a highly qualified team.
Countman, as a Brand
Countman’s mission is to free small and medium entrepreneurs from accounting issues and instill confidence by implementing a well-organized, precise, and reliable accounting system. The brand’s core values are flexibility and professionalism rooted in dedication to the work. Collaboration is an inseparable part of the brand’s attributes, and we can say Countman leads the market in this area in Georgia. Unlike other accountants, Countman’s team is always on the front line, ensuring the smooth development of a client’s business based on financial metrics and success.
Countman is a kind of “Inglorious” superhero, removing the stress of accounting and allowing you to sleep peacefully at night. The name and logo represent the company’s main activity – accounting. The slogan “Simplify Accounting” directly and concisely conveys the brand’s offer and promise.
Eldar Khalibauri worked on the logo, and with the chosen concept, we believe he did an excellent job representing the brand through modern and simple forms.
Two Months to Perfection
The rebranding process took about two months and involved the creation of a brand platform, name, logo, tagline, and communication strategy.
During the first four weeks, alongside familiarizing ourselves with the product and market, we conducted several workshops to define the brand’s positioning, essence, and values.
At this stage, we developed a “draft” of the brand platform, which we then refined in the second stage based on insights from qualitative research. The final selection of the tagline and name completed the process. Especially interesting were the interviews with customers and learning about their personas.
We did quite intensive and fruitful work during the branding phase. Unlike the standard approach, the founders’ team was fully involved in brainstorming sessions. Over the course of eight different meeting formats, we tried playing with words and thinking of interesting combinations based on emotional associations and character traits. Finally, after narrowing down a few favorite names, we held a voting session via a questionnaire, involving not only the founders but also the company’s staff. It can be said that this brand was created by Countman’s accountants themselves, as every employee contributed to the process.
Countman Through the Lens of Brand Strategy
For me, as a brand strategist, the main task in creating a brand is ensuring that the final product accurately reflects the essence of the company and that the company’s team feels that the “face” of the brand belongs to them. In this respect, I believe we successfully accomplished our goal.
Moreover, I’m happy that our collaboration on this project doesn’t end here; in the future, we will swap roles, and this time, I will be Countman’s client.