Horseshoe crabs are the domain of Associates of Cape Cod, Inc. (ACC), which used the invertebrate’s blood to make the first FDA-licensed reagents in bacterial endotoxin testing (BET), a critical quality and safety step before certain medicines and medical devices are made available to patients. As the biotechnology company prepared to celebrate its 50th anniversary, it decided to embark on a major brand refresh to both reflect its long history in the industry and reinforce its leadership as the future-focused recombinant BET solution provider. After engaging Cobalt in 2023 to refine its brand messaging, ACC tapped the agency in early 2024 to refresh its visual identity.
Working under a 12-month retainer, Cobalt’s creative team tackled every aspect of ACC’s brand evolution. The team first developed a new logo, based on the abbreviated name, and new corporate identity materials — business cards, stationery, email signatures, and PowerPoint templates. Cobalt then updated ACC’s product literature and created integrated campaign materials for its two most important product lines. The agency’s design team incorporated the campaign concepts into new ACC trade show graphics (large and small format) in time for the fall event season. Finally, Cobalt’s writers and designers spearheaded a redesign of the ACC website, a culminating project spanning several months.
“Collaborating with ACC these past two years highlights the kind of client engagement we find so fulfilling,” observes Bill Harris, Cobalt’s Founder and Creative Director. “We spent several months talking to diverse stakeholders, learning about the business, and embedding with the ACC marketing team to analyze the company’s unique customer journey. We then pulled that strategic understanding into a dynamic and differentiated brand refresh that establishes ACC as a world-class biotech organization. It takes time and close collaboration to deliver these kinds of results.”
Vann Jones, Director of Global Marketing at ACC, agrees. “We knew a major brand refresh was going to take us on a long journey, and we felt like it was extremely important to have an outsider’s perspective to push us out of our comfort zone. Working with Cobalt has been a great experience, and we are super-excited about where we have arrived with the updated brand and how we’re positioned for the future.”
Of course, ACC was just one of Cobalt’s successes in 2024. The agency maintained its relationships with several longtime clients in the life sciences industry, including AstraZeneca, West Pharmaceutical Services, and Gore PharmBIO.
It also completed major projects for companies in its chemical/polymer/material portfolio: Afton Chemicals, Solenis, and Covia Corporation.
Cobalt as Client
One of Cobalt’s surprise clients in 2024, however, was Cobalt itself. After taking a careful look at some key digital marketing metrics and scrutinizing the business development opportunities both won and lost, the agency felt it needed to hone its focus more precisely and sharpen its go-to-market messaging. For the leadership team, this was a sign that a dedicated marketing resource was needed. They advertised for a Director of Digital Marketing, interviewed several candidates, and eventually made an offer to Joe Dempsey, a journalism-trained professional with extensive experience attracting and nurturing online leads for both B2C and B2B businesses.
“We were attracted to Joe because of his writing chops, but we were also impressed by his marketing experience,” Bill recalls. Joe had proven success at the multinational corporation Leadec, producing high-quality content for social media and growing the company’s LinkedIn profile. He had similar success at Kinsale Mead, where he helped rebuild the company’s website to better reach SEO targets.
After Joe’s onboarding, the Cobalt team rolled up its sleeves to reshape its brand positioning. The first item on the list borrowed from any good 12-step program: admit you have a problem and commit to fixing it.
“We are a life sciences marketing agency, but that doesn’t mean we are the perfect fit for all life science sectors,” shares Leslie Harris, Cobalt’s President and Director of Client Strategy. “Over the last few years, our SEO strategy started to skew toward medical device manufacturing. While we worked with a few medical device companies over the years, it’s not our sweet spot. So, while we were getting leads through SEO, the leads rarely converted into business. Potential clients wanted to see a repeated history of success, specifically in their market.”
To correct this issue, Joe worked with Cobalt’s Business Development officer to do what Cobalt regularly does for its clients: create clearly defined personas for each of the agency’s target buyers. Next, he audited the company website to make sure content connected for these personas when they came to Cobalt’s site from search pages. He identified gaps, tweaked the overall site structure, and refined the list of target keywords, eliminating any that could attract poorly matched leads.
“It was painstaking work,” Joe admits. “We had to rethink our entire digital marketing strategy from the ground up, which is time-consuming and intellectually demanding. But everyone on the team was committed to the cause, and as we got deeper into the process, we all felt so much more comfortable with the adjustments we were making to the Cobalt brand. In fact, our yearlong collaboration with ACC served to remind us of our most authentic positioning — we are a life sciences marketing agency that delivers differentiated writing, design, and strategy to the diverse network of B2B suppliers who sell their products or services to pharmaceutical, biotech, and device manufacturers.”
We spent several months talking to diverse stakeholders, learning about the business, and embedding with the ACC marketing team to analyze the company’s unique customer journey
“Our net was simply too wide,” Leslie observes. “With a tighter focus on life science B2B partners, we look forward to connecting through more qualified leads and ultimately delivering creative that successfully connects with their specific audiences.”
Evolving to Thrive
As ACC winds down its fall trade show season and continues to draw rave reviews on its revamped brand, the endotoxin reagent maker and Cobalt are discussing how to build on the momentum in 2025 and beyond.
“It’s interesting,” Bill reflects.
“ACC’s business is built on a deep understanding of, and intimate relationship with, an animal that has not changed significantly over millions of years. But there is no such thing as a living fossil in marketing. As both ACC and Cobalt have clearly demonstrated, brands must change to stay competitive. I think that’s a powerful lesson for all marketers, regardless of which side of the desk you occupy.”
