A practice that needed a brand to match the work.
Malish + Michel is a Chartered Professional Accountants practice in Langley. The partners have spent much of their lives living and working there, and built a team that loves the area as much as they do. Their clients are small and medium businesses across Langley, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Abbotsford and Mission. Owner-operators, husband and wife teams, leadership groups running companies of up to 500 people. They spend their time building the business and want reliable expertise in an area foreign to them. They also want no surprise invoices. The brand had to make that promise before the first meeting.
Every firm said the same thing.
The review looked at established firms across Cloverdale, Maple Ridge and Langley. The promises were interchangeable. More than just accountants. Beyond the numbers. Relationships that last. The identities were too: monograms, safe teal and black, stock landscapes, blogs that had gone quiet. Meanwhile client expectations were climbing. Service was becoming the deciding factor in who people chose, and who they stayed with. Malish + Michel did not need another claim. It needed proof built into how the practice works.
Accountable service.
The brand essence came down to two words. The personality followed: professional, reliable, honest, friendly, transparent. The difference was operational, not decorative. The practice runs on current technology, with communication checkpoints built into every process. Clients never wonder who is working on their file, where it is, or when it will land. Five shared values hold it up. Relationships, accountability, trust, integrity and open communication. The line put the client first. We excel in helping you excel.
A plus, where the ampersand would go.
Accounting firms tend to join partner names with an ampersand. Malish + Michel uses a plus. It speaks to the work, puts two partners on equal footing, and gives the brand one device to build on. A bold, contemporary sans sets the names in deep navy. Chartered Professional Accountants sits beneath in green at full weight, so the credential carries as much as the names. The plus then became a layout system. In advertising, a vertical photograph crossed by a centred line of type forms the plus on the page, with local Langley imagery and people at the centre of the frame.
Two names. One clear promise.
Malish + Michel came away with a strategy, messaging and identity that point the same way. Mission, values, audience and competitive position. A plain-spoken voice. A logo suite, stationery, an advertising system and direction for an interim website ahead of a full build. The plus runs from the letterhead to the ad to the website banner: Accounting + Tax + Advisory + Bookkeeping. The principle holds for any partnership. Choose the join carefully. It says how you work together.
Questions
How does an accounting firm stand out when every firm makes the same promises?
With proof instead of another claim. For Malish + Michel, a Langley CPA practice, the difference was operational: current technology and communication checkpoints built into every process, so clients never wonder who is working on their file, where it is or when it will land. The brand essence is accountable service.
Why does the Malish + Michel logo use a plus instead of an ampersand?
The plus speaks to the work, puts two partners on equal footing and gives the brand one device to build on. It became a layout system too, running from the letterhead to the ad to the website banner: Accounting + Tax + Advisory + Bookkeeping.
Who created the Malish + Michel brand?
Aaron Armstrong of Serif + Gold led creative direction, brand strategy and identity as the solo lead creative on the project at Blue Meta. The scope covered audience and competitor research, positioning, messaging, logo and identity, stationery, an advertising system and website direction.
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