Small business owners need the right financial tools to deal with complexity and keep things running smoothly. Getting your head around the money part can be tricky. There’s a platform to send invoices, another to receive payments, and another to send payments. Not a single tool does everything in one place. And the real kicker? They all charge transaction fees.

Laying the foundation of a brand requires a methodical process. The Motto Method® has been honed and proven over 17 years to ensure the dots strategically connect. For Hopscotch, the process clarified the vision, uncovered the DNA of the culture and brand, and set the foundation for success.

Motto began with strategic workshops, high-energy facilitation, and productive “big brand” discussions with key stakeholders. We spent the first month digging into purpose, vision, and values and helping the founders define the culture they wanted to build. We researched the competitive landscape and customer pain points to define product experience goals. The process helped lay the groundwork for the brand strategy.

The Hopscotch brand strategy became a tool for leadership at all levels. It clarified the big brand questions: who we are, what we do, and what we stand for. The strategy served as an internal directive; a compass to align the verbal and visual development and key business decisions moving forward. Motto’s deep strategy spoke to the challenges involved in managing a business. The late nights. The headaches. The time-sucking, anxiety-inducing reality of managing the money side of things. The pains of running a business are real. Avoiding this type of BS is where the brand flag was planted.

Hopscotch approached Motto under the stealth name ‘Zuro’ needing to rename due to a trademark conflict. We tethered a new name to the strategy concept of flow: removing friction, and creating efficiency. The idea to name the platform Hopscotch was inspired by the popular playground game where players hop and jump over obstacles. Hopscotch suggests finding the quickest path through and around to achieve a goal. With Hopscotch, small business owners can seamlessly hop, skip, and jump through the hoops of B2B payments.

The Hopscotch voice is about more than how it sounds. It’s about how it makes people feel. Powerful voices don’t speak to sell. They speak to connect and inspire. The same approachable feeling of the name drove the brand voice. We decided to make brand communications sound like a 1:1 conversation. Pithy copy beats like, “Skip the B.S.” and “The last jump you’ll ever make for your business”, gives Hopscotch unforgettable soundbites.

Hopscotch opened its virtual doors to thousands of waitlisted customers. And a crucial part of that rested on the shoulders of the brand identity. Bright, pleasant, and above all approachable, Hopscotch’s brand system is designed to emanate the simplicity of the platform and help users ‘skip’ the typical business pain points – fees, platform incompatibility, and the ‘boringness’ of B2B payments. We used shapes from a hopscotch board to create graphic interest, paired with elements like squiggly lines and colors inspired by sidewalk chalk.

From strategy to visual to activation, Motto keeps launch initiatives on track. We led Hopscotch through a go-to-market strategy and advised leadership to plan project roll-outs. This included website and social planning sprints, and overseeing new ideas as projects developed.

Within just a few short months of launching Hopscotch, the investment in Motto paid off. Motto’s strategic and creative guidance led Hopscotch to launch a highly effective brand that immediately started turning heads. It wasn’t just customers who noticed the approachable tone of voice. It was a key element in their hiring success and ability to grow.