Farewell green dog, hello ‘primed for business’

The green dog has been the symbol of Greentree for seven years. During that time the company has grown tenfold, in terms of its products, its partners and its customer base. The puppy was a fun, lovable symbol for a young business, but it was time to move on.

“We’re really ramping up our exposure, not just in Australia and New Zealand, but in offshore markets as well,” says CEO Peter Dickinson. “We had to ask ourselves what platforms we needed to drive that next level of activity; the next evolution of market development.”

The two key components of Greentree’s new look are the strapline ‘Primed for business’ and the unique relationship we have with our partners and customers, which we’ve now given the name We3.

‘Primed for business’ is the promise of what we deliver.

“Unlike others, we don’t go arrogantly telling customers that we’re going to make their business successful,” Peter says. “We just like to think that we can help a bit, or help quite a lot. We like to think that from the software side, we’re helping you to prime to succeed.”

Making We3 part of the Greentree brand is a tip of the hat to the collaboration that has typified everything Greentree does.

“There really is a strong communal, tribal element to Greentree,” Peter says. “The customer is at the heart of what we do and our partners are our backbone, bringing their expertise into the market. Fundamentally it’s something we’re very proud of, and ultimately it’s what will continue to drive our success.”

The partner experience

“When you hear others talking about ERP products that they’re partners with, it sounds like more of a dog-eat-dog world,” says Vlad Kozak, Managing Director of Greentree partner Verde Ltd (www.verdegroup.co.nz). “There’s not a lot of collaboration; they almost are enemies, and that’s not what it’s like in the Greentree world. Our attitude is that there is an abundance of business out there, so you focus more on relationships and using each other’s strengths.”

Rather than competing with one another for customers, our partners share their knowledge, applying the ancient Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

“We recognise that each business we work with has special and unique needs,” Vlad says. “One of Greentree’s key differentiators is that people like us can tailor the product to meet customer requirements. We want customers for life.”

ellen&ellen

To make our new look a reality, Greentree called on brand and design company ellen&ellen (www.ellenandellen.co.nz). Formed in early 2010 by Mary Ellen Davy and Simone Ellen Lennane (whose common name became the name of their business), their ‘new kids on the block’ status belies the years of experience they have with other, larger companies.

“It’s invigorating to work with people that are going to challenge you every step of the way, which is what they do,” Peter says. “The fact that as an entity they are fairly new, meant we were connecting with an outfit that had all of this fresh energy.”

“The brand needed to reflect the personality of Greentree: hungry, brave, audacious, controlled and challenging,” Mary Davy explains. “We wanted to create a really strong family of recognisable images that are recognising Greentree and are as much a part of the Greentree brand as the logo is.”

The bold colour palette of the new look is complemented by the strong images, from the vibrating ‘engine room’ to the quirky ‘making the complex simple’ jumble-up and the three light bulbs that emphasise ‘the power of three’, ie: the We3 collaboration.

“Our brief at the outset was to communicate  business, partners and Greentree working together” says Mary. “The hook in this instance was We3 – it pulls everything together and explains what the point of difference is for Greentree.”

The new site

The challenge in building the new website was to bring the We3 elements (Greentree, its partners and customers) to life with the web content.

To do this, Donna Anderson-Jones of Quadramedia (www.quadramedia.co.nz) assembled a team of top-notch web architecture developers, SEO and usability experts, and content managers.

“I would say this is easily the largest website that I’ve been involved in creating, and it’s been a really interesting and challenging project to be involved in,” Donna says.

The result is a site with all the latest features designed for ease of navigation and a truly interactive user experience. The blog will ensure it provides conversation as well as information, and the pages are configured to fit the latest widescreen monitors. In the months ahead, features to be added will include linkage to social media platforms, and geographic-based presentation of information.

You ain’t seen nothing yet

This latest step in Greentree’s development is a work in progress – not just on the website, but in the marketplace. You’re going to want to keep coming back to us for more exciting news in the weeks ahead, including the biggest online business competition ever.

“It is the culmination of a lot of work but it’s also just the start – not a conclusion,” Peter Dickinson says. “We’ve built a whole new platform to allow us to offer a far more dynamic web experience.

“This new site is truly information-rich and we’re going to be adding new content all the time; for instance, the hard-hitting and provocative opinion pieces, where our developers and partners will be sharing their experiences, and hopefully yanking a few chains.

“At our level of the software market, expertise is still the really critical element, so what we’re looking to do better with our brand and our website is to represent that expertise.

“What we’re doing here is going out proudly and saying that we’ve actually got something that demands worldwide attention.”

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