Gilbert + Tobin
Sharpening up Australia’s most advanced law firm
Gilbert + Tobin (G+T) has always been a firm in motion. Never still. Never the norm.
As the youngest firm in Australia’s four-strong top-tier, G+T was born with a restless, challenger mindset, setting it apart against the longer established firms.
To match its continuous growth and evolution, the firm’s market positioning, brand expression and digital presence needed to be sharpened. Better defined and expressed to reflect their hard earned ‘top-tier and different’ reputation and proposition.
Folk was approached to help extract and define what matters most to G+T, its clients and people, to push the brand expression forwards, and deliver a more compelling website experience.
Never built: the builder’s mindset
Everyone at all levels in the firm intuitively understood ‘the difference’ but articulating it effectively and consistently was a challenge.
One of the firm’s founders called it the ‘builder’s mindset’, invoking its restless drive, courage to act and venture into new territory. Building towards what’s new. Next. Better. For client outcomes. Never fixed, always challenging the status quo.
Where other firms might emphasise the weight of their expertise, experience and process, Gilbert + Tobin brings purposeful energy, agility and bravery to produce remarkable results for clients in the most business critical, ‘bet the house’ matters.
Going all-in on being Australia’s most advanced law firm, was not about being futuristic. But modern. A firm always thinking, looking and moving ahead. In the present. Driving progress for markets, clients and social justice. We coined ‘Exceptional Edge’ as the internal mantra, mindset and behaviour G+T relentlessly drives and strives for.
Momentum and rigour creates ‘Exceptional Edge’
Inspired by ‘Exceptional Edge’, the evolution of the brand expression captures the unique tension of formidable with nimble. The actionable and accountable ‘decisiveness of law’: less formulaic ‘consultancy thinking’.
In-keeping with the intention and invention of the existing GT logo (monogram + namestyle) we retained this distinct ‘footprint’ with an evolved, sharper – formidable and nimble – logo.
From purposeful energy: exceptional edge. The new monogram comprises two discrete parts, forming one GT: sweeping movement and a sharper edge. The offset namestyle further echoes agility with clarity.
The identity system features fine, repeated keylines – momentum and rigour – creating an upward and advancing 8° edge. Citing continuous process and relentless progress – the exceptional edge they provide their clients – the identity is able to flex and move across digital, social and physical environments.
Showcasing the firm: prioritising what matters most, to whom
G+T needed a powerful and practical platform to signal the firm’s position, engage new and existing clients and talent, and support international inbound opportunities.
Ultimately, the new site must succeed in helping potential, often referred, clients assess G+T as the best fit for their needs in high-stakes matters and validate its capabilities. Heightening engagement with thought leadership for clients, industry and education institutions, would also serve to reinforce the firm’s leading market position.
Our research with audiences, data and analytics, confirmed that thought leadership content was highly sought after, drawing in leads from outreach and referral traffic, and the firm’s people were equally in demand as an assessment of capability. The new site now creates better connections between these topics and the firm’s services.
We consolidated micro-sites back into the whole to reinforce connected recognition. Most notably the G+T Innovate consultancy, to build recognition in that area as a key pillar of ‘Australia’s most advanced law firm’.
For talent, the website needed stronger storytelling to communicate the compelling proposition of working differently to more traditional firms, and having a platform to enhance their performance, profile and capabilities.
The new brand identity injects movement into the website, helping to create pace, space and precision to the experience, informed by and signaling the brand position of ‘exceptional edge’.
Scaling high calibre content
G+T needed a fresh approach to its web content practices to align its website content with the new brand and a new CMS. Our review showed that the existing content development process didn't support the firm's need to deliver consistent content at scale to match the firm's growth and web traffic.
We created a content operating model with clear governance, content templates, and digital writing guides. The new website content strategy streamlines content reviews, reduces custom design work, and supports consistent brand presentation. It also offers flexibility for teams to create content while maintaining quality and consistency for the brand.
We set up workflows and governance for the CMS to reinforce the digital marketing team as the main content gatekeeper to maintain content quality and connected communications across all marketing channels.
It also includes an analytics strategy and digital writing guides to track performance and keep content structured for digital readers. The final content strategy clarifies content creation and publishing processes, supported by a governance model that ensures strategic decision making and executive oversight. This governance approach will help maintain consistent, discoverable, engaging content for all G+T audiences.
A ‘good fit’ content management system, an outstanding outcome
As part of a broader website and martech transformation program, Gilbert + Tobin engaged Folk to conduct technical discovery activities, requirements gathering, market scan, as well as a develop a roadmap for build and launch, and subsequent delivery horizons.
An important part of the process was providing independent, technology agnostic advice to assist G+T in evaluating CMS platform and partner options. Through a rigorous evaluation of platforms and implementation vendors, and support in assessing RFI and RFQ responses, G+T were able to find significant internal benefits in their new operating model.
The outcome gave G+T the clarity and confidence needed to engage the right partner for the initial build, and ongoing managed service and support. Squiz DXP was the selected platform and partner and the combined G+T, Folk, Squiz and Writers teams worked seamlessly together to deliver an outstanding product in a fixed time frame.
The new site, DXP and operating model are a platform to efficiently support the firm’s growing needs and scale as it evolves and is enhanced over time.
Sharper, inside and out
The new brand and website has sharpened-up an always forward-thinking, fast-moving, top-tier law firm. From an exacting brief, an exacting solution. In distinguishing Legacy from Luggage, the decisions (and sacrifices) made across brand, content and tech, allow G+T to both engage more immediately and powerfully with audiences, and greatly streamline the ongoing process and management of doing so.
As shared by G+T’s Co-Chief Marketing Officer, Rory Grant (on completion of the project): “Good brands stand the test of time. Great brands evolve with it. Our new brand reflects who we truly are – a firm built on enduring values, relentless ambition and an unwavering focus on giving our clients an exceptional edge in everything we do. It confirms Gilbert + Tobin’s position as Australia’s most advanced law firm – purpose-built for our clients’ most complex and critical work.”
