Case Study » ATI (2024–present)

03 The Details

How the engagement started

Craig Montgomery and John had worked together for years before ATI. They met at CargoSense, then collaborated at Derive Systems, then PowerFleet, then on a rebrand for Everywhere Communications. When Craig moved to ATI as President, he brought John and Meticulous in to help take the brand in a new direction.

The Automotive Training Institute has been the nation's leading coaching and consulting organization for independent auto repair and collision shop owners since 1980, with over 1,600 active members across the US and Canada.

The Challenge

Member growth and retention had stalled. Competitor pressure was real, and a meaningful part of it was the dated brand. The coaching work itself was rock solid, the content was good, but the marketing materials made the company feel stale from the outside, even though the inside was quality. What the brand needed was cohesion, voice, and energy.

The welcome kit

After the new logo and identity system landed, the first piece into members' hands was a redesigned welcome kit. Gun metal gray box on the outside. Open it, and the interior is yellow. Inside the lid: "LET'S GET CRANKIN" with a custom tumbler and other items inside, all matched to the new brand.

The graphics evoked a playful hot rod aspect while pushing things into a new generation of creative. It was more playful than anything ATI had shipped before. With the welcome kit, the new brand landed as personality in members' hands as they started their journey with the organization.

The Brand Roll-out

Brand refreshes are often challenging in mature organizations because of the sheer volume of touch points that have to occur. Everything the company had asset-wise needed to be refreshed and in many cases, reimagined towards a new go-to-market approach. From signage small and large to landing pages to digital ads to video elements, everything needed a lift. We worked with some existing vendors and our long-recurring collaborators to ensure these areas were all handled.

The Marketing Site and Superconference

The new marketing website launched in September 2024, built to communicate ATI's value to prospective members and support conversion into the coaching program.

We also produced video content for ATI's annual Superconference in Grapevine, Texas, including an event recap and source footage that ATI's team has used for ongoing promotional work.

Into The Product

The rebrand also reached into ATI's software. Meticulous designed a new UI for the CPTS platform, the application at the center of the coaching program, and built the beginings of a design system to keep the product consistent as it grows. We also collaborated with various stakeholders in the executive team as well as in the coaching staff to plan out future functionality through extensive mockups.

We worked directly with the outsourced engineering team to build the product's real frontend code, so the design system was implemented as the product was built rather than handed off as a static file.

The Result

In a third-party Brand Insight Study conducted by Endeavor Business Intelligence after the relaunch (224 industry respondents, fielded late 2024), the share of respondents who said they were very familiar with ATI rose from 22% to 27%, and those who consider ATI a premier brand rose from 32% to 41%.

• OUTCOMES
• The full rebrand and new marketing site launched in September 2024.
• The welcome kit became members' first tangible experience of the new brand.
• The new brand extended into the product through a UI and UX pass on the CPTS platform, with a design system to carry it consistently as the application grows.
• Video content for the annual Superconference in Grapevine, Texas shipped with the rebrand and continues to support promotional work.
• Brand impression lift in third party survey of a 5-point increase (22% => 27%) stating they are very familiar with ATI, and 9-point lift in premier brand belief (32% => 41%)