From exhilaration to apprehension, the word "rebrand" conjures up a flurry of emotions.
Fellow creatives reading this post are likely envisioning murky briefs and countless concept sketches that never see the light of day while the marketers are worrying, "What if we get it all wrong?"
Sketchily defined goals are often the source of chaos when it comes to rebranding.
But at Varonis, our rebrand mission was clear. We are laser-focused on conveying one message: The days of difficult-to-deploy, on-prem data security are over. Varonis offers more powerful automated data protection than ever before and the biggest transformation yet? It’s all happening on SaaS.
In short, we’re not the Varonis you think you know, and our brand now reflects this.
The importance of brand personality
Imagine walking down the street and crossing paths with a stranger.
You give each other a polite nod and brush past without a second thought. They could be the best friend you've never met, but because there was nothing about them that stood out, you don't think twice about them as you walk by.
No one wants to be the forgettable passerby. To build a brand that audiences remember and connect with, we must fearlessly broadcast who we are and what we stand for.
So, before we started thinking about colors, fonts, or imagery, we needed to answer a more fundamental question: Who is Varonis?
Our brand archetype
To answer that question, we started with a brand archetype exercise.
Brand archetypes are a time-tested model of distilling the most common human personality types into 12 relatable categories. When expressed intentionally, these archetypes can help you understand who and what a brand stands for.
For example, when you imagine a rowdy biker gang, you undoubtedly picture those bikers revving Harleys. When you think of Disney, a classic "magician" brand, you envision magical childhood experiences (and Mickey Mouse, of course).
So the question became, what archetype represents Varonis?
When we performed this exercise in the past, our instincts as a team were mixed.
Some saw us as a "caregiver" brand, here to make the world of cybersecurity a safer place. Others put us in the "sage" category — seasoned and assured.
Over the last few years, our messaging has solidified around three key themes:
Fighting a different battle. | Your data, our mission. | We protect data.
Everything about Varonis is laser-focused on making your data security mission easier, less manual, and more powerful. And we do it with grit, fearlessness, and relentless determination.
Varonis' new branding aligns with the hero archetype.
During our archetype exercise this time around, the answer required very little debate.
We planted our flag right on the "hero" archetype, which informed our future creative explorations.
Designing Protector 22814
With the mission clear, our design team got to work bringing the foundation of the Varonis hero archetype to life.
While we explored various directions the brand could take, a "cyber defender" concept persisted.
Imagine a fierce cyber defender, its keen eye relentlessly surveying the cyber landscape. It’s fast and lithe, poised to defend against threats, breaches, and incidents.
Once we concepted this hero, we dove into the details of who our protector was, both visually and creatively. We asked questions like, "What does it look like? Is it polished, or is it battle-torn? What kind of world does it live in? What motivates it? Does it have companions or is it a lone ranger? Where did it even originate from? Does it have a favorite sandwich?" (Apparently, yes. Spam.)
We believed this literal personification of the cyber hero archetype brought something to our brand we’d never had before — a unique visual representation of the power of our Data Security Platform, and a representation we could have a ton of fun with.
We partnered with CGI design studio Knitted City to bring the defender, now known as Protector 22814 (easter egg alert!), to life in expertly modeled 3D. The 3D format will enable us to create an endless range of character poses, print in three dimensions at any scale, and even bring the Protector to life in motion.
Also, it looks killer on a T-shirt.
Protector 22814 in action
Varonis T-shirts
The new palette
As you take in the new Varonis brand, you might observe a diametric shift in our color palette — our long-lived "Varonis Red" has been ousted by a high-energy green.
Red, especially in the cybersecurity landscape, often signifies risk and threats — in short, it’s the FUD of color theory.
With the addition of Protector 22814 and an emphasis on heroism in our messaging, we wanted to evoke the opposite — a sense of security and powerful innovation.
Our new color, "Cyber Green," emphasizes innovation, energy, and growth over fear and danger. Paired with our secure "Electric Blue," we now have a balanced palette that meaningfully reflects what Varonis stands for.
Varonis' color palette
The "new" logo
For the immediate future, the Varonis logo will remain the same. Mostly.
We're shedding its red, white, and blue legacy in favor of a clean, modern single-color logo (white and black only) that pairs beautifully with our new palette and gives us maximum flexibility in application.
Check it out:
Varonis' Logos
More than a logo
A brand — at least a brand built with intention — is never just a set of colors, a logo, or a flashy 3D robot.
A brand is a belief, a mission, a commitment to you and what you value.
We want you to look at Varonis and see a defender that’s got your back.
The foundational Varonis brand — our renowned customer success team, our incident response experts, and our constantly innovating product — has always embodied this mission.
We’re excited that our visual brand now reflects it, too.
