Oklahoma City's Guernsey re-brands its engineering-architecture-consulting image

Guernsey explains the logo as “an homage to the company's client-focused attitude that began with its founder. ... A simple red ‘G,' the logo has three unbroken sides representing the company's three divisions — engineering, architecture and consulting. The fourth side, which features the line creating the G, symbolizes the client, who is at the center of all the company's services.”

The website, www.guernsey.us, is “fun and interactive,” Guernsey said, and focuses on the company's core areas while recalling its projects and history and explaining its employee culture.

Guernsey's 140-some employees participate in an employee stock ownership plan. The plan firms up the in-house legacy of employee care that the founder left behind, said Kent Hanebaum, senior vice president, and its comes across to clients who know Guernsey people literally have a stake in the company's reputation.

And that helps explain why the rebranding came after introspection and with transparency — involving clients rather than surprising them.

“We're still the same company we've been for 84 years, but we're not an old, worn-out, tired company,” Hanebaum said. The idea, he said, was “let's refresh ourselves in front of our clients and show that while we've been around awhile, we're changing with the times also.”

The new motto? Moore said “Realize the Difference” is meant to resonate both inside the company and among clients and potential ones.