Connected Lab Introduces New Category of Consultancy with Rebrand to Connected

Product powerhouse sets out to be the leading end-to-end product development firm by 2020

TORONTO, Aug. 8, 2018 /CNW/ - Rapidly growing Canadian product development firm Connected Lab has rebranded and changed its name to simply Connected. By dropping the  "Lab" from its name—a term tied to agile development—Connected is better able to reflect the work that it does and position itself, not as a software firm or tech shop, but a uniquely integrated product development firm that combines strategy, design, and software engineering to build products that drive impact for their clients. With a brand new 35,000-square-foot office and dedicated event space to go with it, the 100%-employee-owned company (and two-time winner of the "Top Small and Medium Employer in Canada" award) is on an ambitious mission to become the world's leading product development firm by 2020.

"Connected was born in 2014 on the belief a new category of firm was needed to help ambitious companies leverage the power of product: not a dev shop, or a design agency, or a strategic consultancy, but a uniquely integrated product development firm—one our clients could trust to help build impactful products," said Mike Stern, CEO at Connected. "Our goal is to become the first truly great product development firm, a new class of partner that quietly stands-out amidst the hype of digital transformation and innovation."

"Connected was created because our founders were tired of watching so many products die in execution due to the disconnect that came from businesses working with different product experts in different product life-stages," adds Tammy Chiasson, VP Marketing at Connected. "It was an easy rebrand for me to get passionate about because I really get the 'broken telephone' problem in the industry, and Connected is doing a great job of creating a new and necessary category in the market."

Doubling in size every year since its foundation in 2014, Connected has grown to over 150 employees (and counting) to serve their ever-growing partnerships with some of the world's largest and most respected product companies. Composed of world-class engineers, designers, and product and business strategists—internally referred to as "Connectors"—the company prides itself on its team of trusted product builders that participate along the entire product development lifecycle, from validation to release and beyond. The product development firm's dual-track commitment to simultaneous discovery and delivery not only surfaces stronger insights, but provides the company with increased accountability to user outcomes and business impact.

Partnering with ambitious product builders within large organizations—people who are ready to make something, and make something great—Connected customizes each engagement based on its clients' needs and is able to jump in wherever they are in their product development journey to validate, design, and build software-powered products.

As a part of the company's goal to be recognized as the leading product development firm by 2020 and to celebrate the launch of its new brand, Connected will be hosting a big celebration of all the great product builders that have inspired Connected along the way to Build Better Products. Partnering with Elevate, Canada's largest tech and innovation festival, Connected will be bringing together some of the best product thinkers and makers for three days of exciting programming. On September 25 Elevate will be featuring keynotes Al Gore, Eric Schmidt, and Bumble Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd on the Sony Centre mainstage, among others. The following day, Connected will be hosting the Elevate Product track in their brand new event space specifically designed to be a hub for the product community. A full day of exciting programming, festival-goers will get to hear from leading product figures like Catherine Ulrich, former CPO of Shutterstock and Managing Director at FirstMark Capital, and Satish Kanwar, VP & GM of Channels at Shopify, and many more. 

To cap off their day of product-centric thought leadership, Connected will be hosting a big private party to celebrate all the great product builders who have educated and inspired them to build better.

With the new brand, the company has also changed the logo and branding. Connected's logo is a stylized wordmark that represents the company's continuous pursuit of better. Just as products are in a constant state of iteration and improvement, so is Connected. The unfinished letterforms suggest that the pursuit of better is never complete.

The firm also partnered with famous illustrator Christopher DeLorenzo, known for his work with Google, Converse, AirBnB and many more, to curate brand illustrations that depict their four key areas of service—Identify, Make, Release, and Evolve—as well as other core illustrations that depict the Connected culture and mission. These illustrations capture the spirit of true product development and Connected's pursuit of better. 

About Connected

Connected is a software product development firm that partners with ambitious companies across the product lifecycle to build products that drive impact. For more information, visit Connected.io.

SOURCE Connected

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