Making the brand: KING Software

In July 2020, KING Software officially launched as an amalgamation of three software companies.  KING’s CEO, Mattijs Wilms, explains about the rebranding and decision-making process involved.

‘KING Software is built on the foundation of three – originally family-owned-  businesses that are all deeply rooted in the financial and wholesale software industry: King Business Software, MUIS Software and ctrl. To ensure that we maintained this solid foundation, we combined our strongest elements from all three companies and rebranded as one company with one name. By taking advantage of our wide-ranging knowledge and experience, we can help our customers in the most effective way possible: one software platform to automate all types of business processes.

Deciding on the name
‘Choosing a new company name and thereby changing a corporate identity is a decision that takes a lot of thought and input.  What do we want the name to represent? How will the (current and new) customers perceive us? We looked at what the three companies already used in their logo and recognised some similarities such as the use of a hexagonal shape and colour blue, which now form the base of our new logo and brand identity. The name KING was already used by one of the companies, and as an internationally-recognisable name, this was also a logical development. As a company, KING Software strives for reliability, durability, competence and quality, but we also wanted our logo to represent our approachability for clients – which the open hexagon on the logo reflects. The next part of the process was to look at how we could communicate externally everything that we represent.

KING Software: where personal is the standard
‘We wanted to ensure that our customers knew we stood out in our field; this was (and is) an important aspect of our rebranding process. As well as our unique software functionalities, we pride ourselves on our contact and connection with customers, one of the most prominent ways of setting ourselves apart from our competitors. KING’s new tagline “where personal is the standard” perfectly sums up where our focus lies, and this can be seen in all our communication.

‘We are in a highly competitive market, but one where we can really distinguish ourselves through personal contact and domain expertise. We know who our customers are, we know their needs and requirements and they, in return, know us. Together we can create customer specific software solutions that fit their unique business situation.

‘As well as tailoring our software for specific needs, our business software is also developed in a way that is perfectly suitable and applicable for most standard situations. With forty years in the business, we know the challenges of the various industries that use our software, and we are using  that knowledge to develop a new product portfolio.

New Product Portfolio
‘In order to offer the total package to our clients, we are creating one platform with access to all our software products. This is an ongoing process, but just a couple of months ago we repositioned two of our products for the accounting and financial market: KING Accountancy and KING Finance. In the past, we had one product for both accountants and entrepreneurs, but those are very different  target audiences with very different requirements, so we needed to address how best to approach it.

‘The new proposition is more focused on the specific USPs for the individual target audience by highlighting the distinctive functionalities of our software. We really emphasise how the software helps our customers solve problems and provides them with solutions for daily work processes.

Launching the new brand
‘It was important that we ensured our customers knew about the rebranding and changes before we communicated anything externally. In order to keep everyone fully informed, we hosted a three-day online event that included sessions about the changes and, most importantly, the benefits. It was a great success and we heard only enthusiastic responses. Of course in these sessions we presented our complete product suite including our ERP and WMS solutions which truly illustrates the vastness of our portfolio.’