Cisco Partner and Ingredient Logos
Partners are key part of Cisco’s go-to-market strategy. The vast majority of Cisco products and services are purchased through partners. The partner logo is Cisco’s seal of approval – showing potential customers that the partner is qualified to sell, install, and manage Cisco products. The ingredient logos are given to partners whose own products and services use or are compatible with Cisco products.
The challenge
Partners were struggling with the old logo system. The logos lacked the flexibility needed for partners to effectively market themselves. Specific pain points included:
Partners with multiple certifications could only represent one certification with the partner logo.
The containers caused legibility issues when scaled to small sizes and in mobile use
The logos were no longer reflecting the Cisco visual identity. The identity moved on from gradients and the purple color scheme. Partners wanted the partner logo to reflect the changes.
The solutions
The logo
Working with brand strategists and partner marketing executives, we determined that ultimately what partners want is the Cisco logo itself. So we gave the closest possible option.
First, I stripped away the gradients, and container shapes. Next, I nested “Partner” so the Cisco logo with enough distance that logo is clearly visible, but there’s also no question of the relationship.
The old logo was available in purple gradient and black only. This caused obvious design issues since the logo could only be placed on light colored backgrounds.
I addressed this issue by providing four color options: Cisco Blue, Cisco Gray, Black, and white.
The credentials
The credentials are a key component of the partner logo, since the specify the type of relationship with Cisco.
Since partners with multiple certifications may want to highlight several, the solution was to allow partners to customize the partner logo, by placing up to 3 certifications below the partner logo itself. Additionally, for the first time ever, partners could use the partner logo sans credentials.
The Partner Logo Builder Tool
Partner logo and credential customization needed to be managed. I worked with partner marketing managers and web developers to build the Cisco Partner Logo Builder. It’s an online tool that allows to partners to easily customize and download their logo in multiple file types, including vector formats.