Wollens solicitors are celebrating after scooping a national, prestigious award. They stuck gold by winning the ‘Best Business Development and Marketing’ category at this year’s annual LawNet Awards.
It was awarded after Wollens successfully delivered an extensive re-brand and re-naming initiative this year. The work was months in the planning and involved working with external partners, rebrand expert Tom Banks and his Quite Early One Morning consultancy, and top creative agency Stuff. The image of the former Wollen Michelmore firm was totally transformed to give it a 21st century feel and look but at the same time still protecting its professional identity and maintaining its overall ethos of putting the client at the heart of all that it does. It also came as Wollens had completed two mergers with Toller Beattie in North Devon and Morgan Pope in Exeter.
The ‘Full Spectrum Law’ mantra of the rebrand reflected the additional expertise the mergers had created with Wollens able to offer a comprehensive array of service across the legal board.
The new message and name was spread far and wide – at the local airport, train stations, bill boards, bus shelters, on the streets and radio, in newspapers and across social media platforms.
Special events were held with all Wollens’ staff included in the process with presentations in the north, east and south of the county where Wollens now have around 200 employees at offices in Torquay, Exeter, Barnstaple, Newton Abbot and Dartmouth making it one of the largest independent law firms in the West.
LawNet is the UK’s largest legal network and its awards are much sought-after by the country’s legal profession. The national awards were announced from shortlisted finalists at a glittering ceremony at the top Celtic Manor conference and leisure complex at Cardiff. Wollens were just one of eight winners on the night.
Chief Executive Chris Hart said: “We are absolutely delighted to get this national recognition. This was a huge team effort from the partners agreeing to get fully behind the whole rebrand project to the delivery team in the office who delivered the initiative so well.
“I would also like to say big thanks also to our external partners, Tom Banks from Quite Early One Morning who worked with us from start to finish of the rebrand project, along with our creative agency Stuff.”
Wollens Practice Director Clive Meredith and Marketing Manager Michelle Pugh collected the trophy on the night.
The award description said: “Business development and marketing teams have a crucial part to play in contributing to the success of their firms. The winner of this award has highlighted how the firm’s business development and marketing activities have delivered a demonstrable benefit for the firm.”
LawNet chief executive Chris Marston, announcing Wollens as winners, said: “A rebrand touches every part of your business. It requires you to understand who you are, who your clients are and the journey you are going on together. It needs commitment across the business to change and a shared vision of who you want to be. This year’s winner demonstrated an impressive approach to what can be a daunting task based on robust strategy and planning, mixed with creativity.
“They say fortune favours the brave, and this was a bold rebrand resulting in a completely new identity which is already delivering impressive results including a 52 per cent increase in website users and 238 per cent increase in page views in the month of launch, and a nearly 25 per cent increase in new matter file openings in the same month. Those figures have become the new normal with sustained engagement with the new brand continuing to deliver a great return on investment.”
Wollens’ Marketing Manager Michelle and Business Development Manager Jim Parker said: “We are absolutely delighted for Wollens to be awarded this in recognition of the significant firm-wide rebrand that has been undertaken this year. It was truly a team effort and warmly received by our clients and the business community.”
