Continental Grain Company
Designing an ‘Internal Culture’ Brand Campaign for a NYC based Global Food and Agribusiness Investor
Project Included: Design Strategy, Visual Identity Design, Art Direction
The Brief
Headquartered in New York, Continental Grain Company is a global investor, owner and operator of companies with more than 200 years of history across the food and agribusiness spectrum. In 2021 they asked us to help them create a visual expression of their company culture “The Conti Way” to help employees embody their purpose. The company wanted to bring this new visual identity to life through physical manifestations within their offices in New York, Latin America and Asia, as well as a variety of digital applications and recruitment events while conveying their strong corporate culture and professional approach as a long-term investor, owner and operator.
The Challenge
‘The Conti Way’ defines how people at the organisation behave and provides guiding principles called ‘competencies’. The primary challenge for us from a design point of view was to create a look and feel that was visually optimistic, enthusiastic and ultimately engaging for employees. With this said, our opinion was that when creating an internal communications campaign there was a greater need to have a lighter tone – both visually and verbally. This lighter tone would likely resonate better with an internal audience as it is about bringing people together and unifying them.
The Solution
Central to our visual solution was an acronym-inspired symbol made up using the first letter of our five competencies. Each letter is presented in a different color and communicates a sense of unity. This symbol feels colorful, positive and people focused. Accompanying the symbol is a single clear expression of the central statement. This single sentence anchors the five competencies in a concise way which features on the walls of the offices and across other collateral. This new contemporary visual identity conveys the Conti culture. Colleagues are proud to do things The Conti Way which sets the company up for continued long-term success.
