Detroit-Based The Utmost Group Refreshes, Expands Offerings

As part of its ongoing evolution and expansion, The Utmost Group today officially unveiled its new brand refresh initiative. The Utmost website (https://theutmostgroup.com) and business collateral have been updated to emphasize its strength as a progressive branding agency.

“Unlike traditional agency and design firm structures, The Utmost Group purposefully operates as a virtual firm and works with like-minded subject-matter experts and independent companies that share our values and standards of excellence," said Chris Grindem, a veteran advertising and marketing executive who founded The Utmost Group in 2011 and serves as executive director.

“As a result of custom matching the right talent for each engagement, The Utmost Group is able to more efficiently and effectively achieve results for our clients. Because no one can do all things equally well, our partners are a direct extension of The Utmost Group. They are each a proven expert in their specialty. You can’t find this level of subject matter expertise and versatility at any other agency.

“As we continue to find success and expand our partner network, we feel it is imperative that we convey an accurate and more encompassing brand story, clearly articulating who we are, how we work and our approach to helping brands achieve their utmost potential.”

The Utmost Group is a branding, marketing and integrated marketing communications agency that has demonstrated the value of discovering and capturing brand strategy as the foundation for implementing more productive brand communications with nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, for-profit entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. Its services include: branding, marketing, integrated marketing communications, digital marketing and media, strategic planning and consultation, messaging development and implementation, offline and digital marketing creative development and media planning, internal communications, advertising, collateral materials, websites, online content development and implementation.

Recently, The Utmost Group worked in conjunction with its creative partners to rebrand the Accounting Aid Society, resulting in a new logo, brand story, tagline and integrated brand ID system, as well as a range of creative, including collateral materials, website and social media.

“After a competitive review process, we chose The Utmost Group to create a new brand identity to better reflect and support Accounting Aid Society's evolution as the region's leading nonprofit volunteer tax preparation and financial services organization," said Kathleen Hatke Aro, president of Accounting Aid Society.

“One of the first things Utmost did was conduct one-on-one research interviews with internal and external stakeholders. The research revealed important differences between internal and external perceptions of Accounting Aid. Through this process, we learned so much about ourselves, and the brand strategy we developed together provided Accounting Aid with a platform to obtain internal alignment, which was critical in terms of defining our mission and vision for the future. Once the brand strategy was in place Utmost and its partner, Who’s That?, a Detroit-based branding studio (http://whosthat.us), worked with Accounting Aid to develop our brand campaign.

“The Accounting Aid Society rebranding reflects our commitment to offering tax preparation and financial education services to meet the growing needs of the southeast Michigan community. The new visual identity also better aligns with our mission to create an economy that works for everyone by meeting clients where they are in their financial goals.

“Our new tagline – We use taxes to build relationships, And relationships to build futures – is fantastic! It really summarizes our work. We begin the client relationship with free tax preparation, but our larger purpose is to build a foundation on which individuals, families and small businesses we serve can see a future free from debt and financial stress.

“We rely upon hundreds of volunteers each year to build these relationships with our clients. We are confident that the rebranding work done by The Utmost Group and Who’s That? will help us attract more volunteers so we can increase the services we provide.”

“The response to the Accounting Aid Society’s rebranding has been outstanding with its leadership, staff and volunteers,” said Grindem. “It’s also resonated with its board, the foundation that funded the effort and several other organizations who work with them. We couldn’t be prouder.”

ABOUT THE UTMOST GROUP

The Utmost Group is a branding, marketing and integrated marketing communications agency. It purposefully operates as a virtual agency, allowing it to be significantly more cost efficient and responsive than traditional agencies. Their clients appreciate that, and they only work with the best clients who share their belief in the ROI of strategic brand development. This characteristic distinguishes them from more trendy, tactically focused creative agencies and studios. While The Utmost Group’s focus is nonprofits, social enterprises, startups and small businesses, they’ve also worked in more than 40 different categories. So odds are, they’re familiar with your needs. For more information, visit online at https://theutmostgroup.com/.