Brief
Pacioli Group urgently needed a new brand name and identity for its private equity-backed accountancy group, which is acquiring regional accountancy firms in its quest to build a top twenty UK professional services brand.
Our brief required a short, memorable and protectable brand name, a brand strategy with a clearly articulated brand promise, a distinctive brand identity system and a teaser website to launch the brand and create deal flow.
Solution
The initial task was to create the brand name. We studied the market, identifying key competitors and a differentiated positioning. Applying our well-proven brand naming process, we identified twelve naming themes and then generated hundreds of name concepts, using our Third Lens brand naming AI to extend our naming horizons.
The best one hundred names were then screened for trade mark and domain availability, non-registered rights, pronunciation and linguistics, double meanings and social media use. A shortlist of twenty were presented to the client before shortlisting three for final checks. Apteus was chosen as a distinctive, succinct and memorable name with positive connotations for a professional services business.
Next, we deconstructed the existing value proposition and rebuilt it using our step-by-step brand strategy methodology, identifying UK entrepreneurs as the key client audience. This led to the differentiating brand promise of ‘Every entrepreneur deserves an entrepreneurial adviser’, articulating a clear point of difference with competitive firms.
Bringing the brand and proposition to life as a brand identity was next. The name lent itself to an all-lowercase sans serif word mark with distinctive letterforms, augmented with a diagonal arrowhead symbol to suggest ambition and proactivity.
The arrowhead symbol has two matching planes, one darker representing the client and the lower, lighter plane representing Apteus in lockstep with their client to deliver the brand promise. A distinctive typographic system supports the brand mark along with photography that illustrates the, sometimes lonely, role of the aspiring entrepreneur.
Results
Apteus was launched in September 2026 with the teaser website initially targeting regional accountancy firms looking to join a larger national brand. The client website will launch in early 2027, by which time the acquired firms will be rebranded as Apteus.