Thumbtack Brand

Rebranding a Billion Dollar unicorn to stand apart in a crowded field.

Thumbtack was founded on a question. “In a world where everything is becoming easier and more instant, why is it still so hard to hire a plumber?” The team spent 9 years solving that problem, through savvy SEO-optimization and endless A/B testing. As of 2015, they achieved Silicon Valley “unicorn” status with a valuation of nearly $1.5 Billion. All the while, however, Thumbtack’s brand had taken a backseat. In 2017, the team set about to reinvent the brand from the ground up. Our CEO’s instructions were simple: “Change anything but the name.” I co-led the rebrand and implementation efforts, resulting in a holistic update including new logo, proprietary typeface, illustration and photo system, art direction guidelines, and iconography system. We partnered with product management to bring visual updates to our web and native platforms, and our facilities team to install updates to our physical offices in San Francisco and Salt Lake City.