Yellow Digital is now STUDIO42!

Updated: May 17

Studio42 is a WA marketing, branding and web design business, ran by Lauren Dixon.

For those of you wondering why Yellow's been a little quiet on the ol' social media of late, there's been some INTENSE research and rebranding going on behind the scenes!

After being in business for over 2 years now, quite a lot of things have changed for me. But more on that further on.

Why is Yellow Digital rebranding?

The decision to rebrand came to me one unsuspecting January morning in the form of an email from a much, much larger organisation requesting that I drop the name Yellow Digital.

Trademark law and business name ownership are ALWAYS sensitive topics in the land of marketing, and I've seen the same thing happen to other businesses, so while it sucked a little, it wasn't the end of the world!

So I decided to be flattered to be considered competition (here's to having great work and great SEO!), rather than bitter and angry, and took it as an opportunity to sit down and reeaaaalllyyy get down to WHO I WANT TO BE.

STUDIO42 is knowledgable, innovative, and creative.

The first thing I did was EXACTLY what I ask my brand design clients to do: think of three words that best summarise your business, and build a brand strategy around that.

When I began my Sole Trader 'journey' as Yellow Digital, the words that reflected my brand were happy, friendly, and creative - all subconscious associations the western world have placed on the colour yellow. Yellow is also one of the four colours used in the printing process (along with cyan, magenta and black), which tied in nicely with my work and what I do.

While I personally resonate with all of those words, and the clients I work with are happy with their deliverables, I would rather encompass that customer satisfaction and personality into my overall customer experience, quality of services, and business values. When it comes to what my business is about, I wanted it to reflect a more professional and established feel, while still maintaining a bit of my quirkiness and love of problem solving.

My target market has shifted.... a lot!

This is incredibly common for businesses who are still in their first years of operating. You start off thinking you'd be perfect for Audience A, only to find out that Audience B are the ones who really need and are using your services.

Yellow Digital's purpose was to help small startups with affordable branding and marketing services. My Unique Selling Point (my USP) was that I'd be doing quality work, for a very low price.

Any idea why that didn't work?

For starters, I became so inundated with work it took over my nights and weekends. And a work/life balance was one of the reasons I wanted to work for myself in the first place!

Secondly, I had let Imposter Syndrome and past experiences make me believe that no one would use my services unless I was cheap. I could ramble on about this one for hours but who has time for that!

Thirdly, I was thinking purely about helping out these new business owners, and not considering my own incomings and outgoings. Obviously things became a little unsustainable.

AND FINALLY - turns out there are places that can provide these branding packages to new businesses for FREE, who are paid via local and national government. So there wasn't really a need for me in that niche.

Yeah, no.

Two years on and my Imposter Syndrome has gone,

My clients are in more established businesses, looking to improve their systems and implement multi-channel marketing strategies correctly. After quite a lot of competitor analyusis it became very clear that others in my industry were charging the same rates with only 1-2 year's experience. Imposter Syndrome had a lot to do with how I perceived my own services, but having been booked out for 2.5 years without having to do any marketing for my services has reinforced that my 12+ years in the industry counts for something - quality. You might be thinking, 'well, why didn't you do all of this research beforehand?' and honestly, I know I should have, and I tell my clients to, but as soon as I began Yellow I was essentially booked every day for the next 12 months.

I've moved away from social media management (for the most part) and now only focus on the services I really love providing - marketing, branding and web design.

Let's just take a step back again and focus on the five elements of Studio42.

Element 1: 'Studio'

The word 'studio' carries connotations of artistic endeavours, creativity, and innovation, already! By incorporating it into my brand name, potential clients subconsciously know that I am focused on creative solutions.

It also reflects the size of my business. For now it's just me (small like a studio apartment), but there are plans to expand (suddenly I'm a recording studio with a full band).

'Studio' also creates intrigue and suggests versatility - I could be in a photography studio, design studio, web studio, from one day to the next. A very accurate representation of the job of a Marketer in 2024!

AND the word 'studio' definitely has a professional feel about it. To attract professional and creative clients, I needed a name that would appeal to them.

Element 2: '42'

This is a little bit of my personality coming through. I am a pretty massive nerd - part of why I LOVE what I do, researching marketing and psychology trends, delving into colour theory and semiotics and the like. I grew up reading well worn paperback novels from my dad, and one that I always come back to is Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

To keep things short, the long awaited answer to life, the universe, and everything, was and is, 42. If you know, you know. Since then I've always carried that number with me, going back to it when I need answers.

TLDR: I'm a nerd who loves data, tech, trilogies in five parts, and sci-fi.

Element 3: 'Knowledgeable'

I've been in the marketing and graphic design industry for a verrrry long time. I've worked with high profile clients and have marketed franchises, mum and dad owned stores, international fashion brands, gyms, business and finance organisations, charities, events, builders... you name it, I've probably worked within that industry.

The beauty of having worked in marketing agencies in two countries, and having freelanced throughout university, is that you learn quickly about each industry you're marketing, you excel at working under pressure, and you never want to let anyone down (or maybe that's just my personality!).

You get to really know a target audience, which marketing methods will suit a business more than others, whether Meta ads or Google ads will provide a better ROAS, whether they need to focus more on PR over content creation. No business and no industry are the same, and after nearly 14 years of branding and marketing businesses, I know what I'm doing.

Element 4: 'Innovative'

Whilst I love routine and order and checklists and spreadsheets (neeeeerd), if there's a new or easier way to do something, I want to know about it. I will deep dive into R+D of a new strategy if I think it will pay off, and cut and paste logo designs? Psssh get out of here. Originality and creativity are at the forefront of Studio42's values - you don't come to me for run of the mill ideas.

Element 5: 'Creative'

If you've met me, you know that I can be damn serious when I need to be, but the majority of the time, I'm a pretty friendly and happy character :). I talk to myself a lot, I become friends with my clients, and I sing about literally everything I do. I didn't want to lose that sense of 'me' in the rebrand, or the joy I get from creating brands and filling briefs in new and exciting, creative ways! For years I was conditioned to think that to be taken seriously at what you do, you had to be serious and dress seriously and blah blah blah. Now I'm proud to let the fun out and just be me. Take it or leave it!