How Clark Hill turned an abstract rebrand into an award-winning campaign.
One of the country's largest law firms needed its new “Simply Smarter” brand to feel human across 700 attorneys and 27 offices. We told the story through the real faces and voices of their people — and it won a national marketing award.
Clark Hill is one of the largest law firms in the country: more than 700 attorneys across 27 offices worldwide. In the middle of a full rebrand, they hit a problem that had nothing to do with logos or color palettes. They needed hundreds of attorneys, scattered across the globe and stuck at home during COVID, to sound like one firm with one voice.
That's a video problem. So they called us.
A rebrand is easy to announce. Hard to make people feel.
Clark Hill's new identity, “Simply Smarter,” meant nothing until the people behind it brought it to life. The challenge was unifying a lot of different voices, in a lot of different offices, into one brand story. And the timing made it harder. This was the COVID era, when getting everyone in the same room in front of a camera wasn't an option.
The new identity was strong, but a brand idea is abstract until real people give it a face and a voice.
Real faces, real voices.
A rebrand lives or dies on whether people feel it. “Simply Smarter” was a sharp idea, but an idea stays abstract until you put real human faces and voices behind it.
So that's what we built the campaign around: Clark Hill's own people, in their own words, telling the story of who the firm is now. Not polished corporate narration over stock footage. Their attorneys and professionals, speaking for themselves.
The hard part at this scale is consistency. Hundreds of people, dozens of offices, all filmed remotely during COVID, somehow needing to come together as one firm with one voice. We handled the logistics so the firm didn't have to, and kept every piece warm enough that people actually wanted to watch.
And we worked it like a partnership, not a transaction. When Clark Hill watched a first cut and came back with new ideas, we found ways to weave them in without losing what was already working. That back-and-forth is how the campaign landed somewhere everyone was proud of.
People connect with people — so we build brand stories out of real human voices, not corporate polish.
One rebrand, carried by many voices.
From there we built a series of videos, each one carrying a piece of the rebrand:
- The “Simply Smarter” rebrand film that announced the new identity
- Industry capability spotlights, including Cyber Security and Automotive, that showed clients exactly how Clark Hill serves their world
- Attorney and professional spotlights that put real faces and voices to the firm's culture
Every piece was produced remotely, across offices and time zones, without losing the warmth that made people actually want to watch.
The “Simply Smarter” rebrand film
It didn't just look good. It performed.
- 500,000 views in year one, climbing to 750,000 by year two
- Social reach grew from 7 million to 12 million
- Engagement jumped 69%
- Won the 2023 Managing Partners' Forum Marketing Excellence Award
Clark Hill was a standout in this category. Their ‘Simply Smarter’ rebrand and engagement campaign was a masterclass in strategic brand deployment, reflecting the very DNA of the firm's people.
The Managing Partners' Forum awards committeeThe part that mattered more than the award.
The numbers and the award were great. What mattered more was what happened inside the firm:
- Attorneys felt more confident showing up for their clients
- The videos opened doors and brought in new business
- A real sense of pride across the Clark Hill community — the feeling of seeing your firm's story finally told well
The CMO, in his own words
You feel like an extension of our team. We can have honest, candid, two-way conversations where we each bring our perspective and learn from it. That's a remarkable ability for a video production team to have.
Roy Sexton, Chief Marketing Officer, Clark HillA few more pieces of the work.
Cyber Security capability spotlight
The culture, on camera
You don't have to be a 700-attorney firm. The move is identical.
Whether you're a national firm or a regional team, the move is the same. Find the real human voices inside your organization, get them on camera, and build a brand story people actually feel.
This kind of work tends to fit when:
- You've got a story or a rebrand that's bigger than a logo
- The story is hiding inside your people and needs real voices to tell it
- You want a partner who feels like an extension of your team, not a vendor who hands you files
I'll recommend you all day long.
Roy Sexton, Chief Marketing Officer, Clark HillIs your story stuck inside your people?
If your rebrand, your culture, or your expertise is locked up in the people who live it every day, let's get it out into the world. Start with a short call.
A short call. Straight answers. No pressure either way.