A revolution: the story of the Ketchup refresh.
For a while, many of us at Ketchup knew something felt “off”.
The work was as strong as ever. So, what was it?
Talk started quietly, then got louder. Many of us knew for some time that the way we looked and spoke wasn’t “us” anymore.
Eventually, it was common knowledge across the agency: who we were didn’t match how we presented ourselves to the world.
We didn’t wake up one morning and decide to become a different agency…we realised we had already become one. Our brand simply needed to catch up.
It was time to hold up a mirror.
Why now?
Growth. Over time, the gap between who you are and how you present yourself becomes impossible to ignore.
“The rebrand has been on the cards for a year or so, but you need the right team and the right timing to do it justice.”
–Michelle Jones, Managing Director
When we work with our clients on their brand identity, we chisel our way down to their core reason for doing what they do. Their ‘why’. We all felt it was time to catch our exterior branding up to our own, too.
Thus, a revolution was born.
The honest reality.
Rebranding your own business is uniquely uncomfortable. You can’t default to “what the client prefers.” And you have to face the bigger questions without someone from the outside shining a light on it. You’ve got to seek the truth out yourself.
You have to be ready to answer questions like “Who are we now?”, “Where are we going?” and “What do we want to be known for?”
There’s also the balance between respecting what already exists and creating space for what comes next, and honouring heritage without becoming constrained by it.
We had to keep what still works… while letting go of what doesn’t.
Some ideas clicked immediately; others took longer. Some we kept, and some we politely let go of.
It’s all a part of the process: clarity arriving in phases.
What changed.
You’ll notice a number of updates across our visual identity and tone of voice. Some are subtle, and many are more visible.
One example is the strikethrough device, a small visual choice that allows us to show the thinking behind the graft. It symbolises something we value deeply: honesty in the process.
Not just presenting polished outcomes, but acknowledging the iterations that lead there. And that’s exactly how the strikethrough's story reads, too.
The day our brackets retired.
There was lots of talk about our use of brackets and how they made us feel like we were dampening who we’d become. Soon, everyone was talking about it.
There was a lot of mixed opinion, though. Some people gasped at the thought of dropping the brackets. Even us copywriters had grown so used to sprinkling them in as we wrote, thinking within their safe confines.
Some of us defended them, acknowledging them as a way of inserting more information in a clever way.
One of our designers explained to one of our copywriters that the brackets made it as though we were whispering.
Well, we’re here to be heard.
By the end of the first creative surgery, we were all on the same page: we agreed the brackets had served our tone of voice, and served it well. But we’d outgrown them, and it was time to let them go.
The strikethrough and its alter ego.
We weren’t even trying to replace the brackets with another device when the strikethrough came to be, and the highlighter followed.
The creative team was in a brainstorm session one afternoon when one of our designers said “what if we cross things out?”
“Oooh”--
“Nah, but then that contradicts our brand values. We say it like it is, and that makes us look like we’re not really sure. Or like we’re polishing too much”
“Yeah, maybe…” one of our copywriters became stuck on the idea. She couldn’t shake it. After everyone had filled up their virtual waste baskets with crumpled-up paper ideas for the day, they agreed to revisit this in the next session.
She pondered and explored. After writing out a few examples and giving the concept a psychological flip on its head, she presented it back to the group in the next session.
“I thought on it. And I’d argue your idea was actually brilliant,” she told the designer.
“It wouldn’t undermine our brand values – it would strengthen it. Be an example of it,” she continued.
“The strikethrough could be a visual expression of our honesty. I think that’s the whole point. Give them raw writing, but here’s the twist – use it to emphasise what we don’t do. Cross out the mainstream agency ideology and then write out Ketchup’s answer to that. Let the contrast speak for itself.”
As a Yin to the strikethrough’s Yang, one of our other designers thought to emphasise select words that most reflect our brand identity. Of course, it would all show up in the brightest of our new brand colours.
And the colours are bright, indeed. Unapologetic greens against deep dark tones, working perfectly as a highlighter when needed.
High contrast. Hard to ignore.
When we put the design and copy concepts together, something clicked. For the first time in a while, the brand felt like us again. The creative teams were head over heels, like proud new parents.
No one has looked back since.
Introducing, the Ketchup Way.
We often talk about graft and craft, the balance between thoughtful strategy and purposeful creativity. With it, we balance curiosity and discipline; exploration and refinement; instinct and evidence. It’s derived from our brand values, but the Ketchup Way isn’t a rigid formula. It’s a mindset.
One that values:
- open-minded thinking
- honest conversations
- meaningful collaboration
- work that stands up to scrutiny
- ideas that build momentum over time
We believe strong brands aren’t built through shortcuts. They’re built through careful marketing done the right way, the Ketchup Way.
And care comes from the details.
The first big pitch.
Quiet filled the boardroom after the presentation had finished. The major Ketchup stakeholders sat around the long white table. You could feel the nerves in the room.
There was hesitation, a wise pause before diving headfirst.
“Could the strikethrough be used in enough scenarios to become a part of who we are going forward?” was one of the major points raised.
“Can we also make the logo more abstract?”
A point was raised that what we’d affectionately dubbed our ‘ikon’ would be a temptation to replace the ‘k’ in Ketchup if it looked too much like a standalone ‘k’.
Suffice to say, we had some homework: mock up enough examples that our ‘client’ would be put at ease and officially buy into our pitch.
“After a discovery day and two presented concepts, it was an easy choice.”
–Michelle Jones, Managing Director
Drumroll, please!
It was time. The creative teams were standing at the front of the room on Ketchup Day, with every Crew member staring at us, waiting for the reveal. Most had no idea what to expect.
We opened the slides, and got presenting. This was it.
The new colours. The evolved tone of voice. The strikethrough. The highlights. The ikon. The thinking behind every decision. Piece by piece, the new Ketchup started unfolding in front of the team.
And something shifted.
What had started as a creative challenge suddenly felt much bigger than a rebrand. The room could see it. We could feel it. This wasn’t about becoming a different agency; it was about finally presenting ourselves honestly.
For the first time in a long time, the brand matched the people behind it.
This is the Ketchup Way: clearer, louder, sharper, and completely unapologetic about who we are.
And honestly? We think it suits us.
In our next blog, we’ll take you deeper into the messy middle of the process: the difficult conversations, the ideas that didn’t survive creative surgery, and the moments that shaped the refresh into what it became.
But for now? Welcome to the revolution.
