Extraordinary

Extraordinary came to us as HealthNow, a tool for delivering and administering health and wellbeing budgets. The team had identified a much larger problem to solve: every payment a company makes to an employee that doesn't go through payroll. Reimbursements, invoices, rewards and recognition were all being handled through gift cards, expense claims and systems that created administrative, financial and tax headaches. Their answer was a digitally issued Mastercard and personal account that could handle it all in a trackable, manageable, tax-compliant way. The brief was a new name, identity and brand platform to take this idea to the world.

No one knew this category existed. There was no clear or easy way to explain everything the product did, and no awareness that a financial account for your whole team was even possible. The brand they came in with lived in the safe world of health and finance cues, all teals and greens and low energy, while the team themselves were the opposite: dynamic presenters, great storytellers, with real ambition to take on huge players and stand out.

Most brands in this space sell saving time and saving money. Those are brands built on less. We wanted to build one about more. All the energy that goes into pointless admin could instead go into rewarding and empowering teams, making companies more compelling places for great people to work. Research surfaced a unique name: in accounting, any payment outside the ordinary pay cycle is an extraordinary payment. Extraordinary was exactly what the team wanted to deliver, in experience, in service, in spirit. It became the organising concept, expressed in the brand idea: be a bit extra, in a good way.

In a conservative fintech category, we built an identity that felt like a treat and reward. Colour, movement and motifs like hundreds and thousands created a sense of reward in a space where everything felt like a drag. We created Payman, a character that eats admin, expenses and difficulty, and built an icon language covering every area the platform touches, from wellbeing and workwear to staff trips, bonuses and lunches. The icons became a luxury monogram for merchandise, and the idea stretched all the way to a direct mail cereal box: We eat ordinary for breakfast. A strong, simple brand idea informing everything from marketing to the direct mail promotions.

Under Steven Zinsli’s leadership, Extraordinary has grown fantastically, and now counts many of the country's largest and best companies as customers. Air New Zealand, Spark and PwC use the platform to deliver rewards, recognition and extraordinary payments to their teams. The rebrand became a relaunch moment, winning national media attention, and the vibrant brand helps the team be the most interesting in the room at every conference and event they attend. It's been a pleasure to work with Extraordinary, and we can't wait to see where they take it next.