TRIA Recruitment

The Brief

TRIA is a Bristol-based technology recruiter with a client list most agencies would be delighted with, and a business built quite deliberately on relationships. They are also an independent, majority women-owned firm with a majority female workforce from director level down, in a sector where that is still unusual, and they are rightly proud of it.

All of that made the brand question an interesting one. The identity needed to reflect a confident, established technology recruiter capable of running managed services and executive search for major brands, while carrying the warmth and openness that defines how TRIA actually work. Those two things can pull in opposite directions, and the refresh had to hold them together.

Underneath the brand sat a broader question about marketing itself: what TRIA should be saying, to whom, and how often. So the engagement began with two things at once, a strategy and a brand refresh, with the marketing delivery to follow.

Brand & Strategy

The brand refresh came first, evolving TRIA’s identity so it carried more presence without losing the character that makes the business what it is. A refresh was the right call here, and replacing the identity outright would have been a mistake. TRIA’s reputation travels by referral, with the great majority of their clients arriving by recommendation, so an identity their existing network would no longer recognise would have thrown away something valuable.

The marketing strategy ran alongside it, setting out who TRIA needed to reach across technology recruitment, digital transformation and business change, and how a relationship-led business should market itself without sounding like everyone else in the sector.

From there Chris Cranshaw took on the virtual CMO role and the marketing delivery, social media running consistently, marketing output produced as the plan required, and someone accountable for all of it at a stage when TRIA had no marketing function of their own.

Phasing Out

In time TRIA appointed a dedicated marketing resource of their own, and Halt’s role changed accordingly.

Being phased out is the natural conclusion to this kind of engagement, and a good sign for the client. It means the marketing has proved its worth and the business has grown enough to justify the hire. The important thing is to make the transition properly.

So the strategy, the refreshed brand and the marketing approach were all handed across to TRIA’s new appointment, who started with a working plan and a brand system already in place. There was nothing to rebuild and nothing to work out from scratch.

TRIA now run their own marketing, on foundations that were built to be handed over.