HKLM rebrands Mawalla Advocates

21 Sep 2009

HKLM Cape Town have developed a new corporate identity for Tanzanian attorneys/advocates, Mawalla Advocates. The project included creating the brand strategy, new brand identity and visual language with applications to new stationery, a corporate brochure and signage with future roll-outs including a new website and environmental branding principles.

Says Janine Fourie, managing director of HKLM Cape Town, "The challenges were significant. We had to ensure that the new identity retained and leveraged the firm's proud history and reputation as well as provided a brand for the future."

Mawalla Advocates, a family run business, offers services from corporate governance, wildlife law and real estate services, to conveyancing, wealth structuring and wealth management, corporate services and asset management services.

HKLM Cape Town's creative director, Paul Henriques, who was closely involved in the project from inception, said the new brochure had to capitalise on the proud heritage and tradition, capture the entrepreneurial spirit of the group and invigorate the future. “Mawalla Advocates comprises a highly respected group of young and dynamic professionals who are lawyers as well as astute businessmen, and the brochure had to capture the combination of legal tradition and reputation with the vibrancy of an energetic and professional business.”

“HKLM's strategic process culminates in the identification of a ‘big idea' which encapsulates the essence of a brand which then dictates the brand activation,” continued Henriques. “In this instance, the big idea was ‘Taking Care of Business'.

“The success of Mawalla Advocates is substantiated through the promise of service delivery, and actual delivery on that promise. The message to the market is that the firm speaks the language of money and wealth and that it has the technical ability to deliver optimum solutions to its clients. The brand image that HKLM developed to support this message evokes a sense of trust, exclusivity and innovation that is anchored in heritage.”

The brand journey has been inspirational, according to Nyaga Paul Mawalla. “We chose HKLM to partner us on this journey because we believed in their experience, processes and systems, but most importantly, we believe in HKLM's people and their clarity of thought. For us, the brand journey has been more important than the destination and we have gained valuable personal and professional insights along the way. The brochure is as much a philosophy for Mawalla Advocates as it is a marketing tool,” he said.