Client
Onterris
Project type
Transformation
Unifying a fragmented identity and telling the story straight.
Montrose is a global environmental solutions business built from the expertise of more than ten specialist companies spanning testing, advisory, permitting, remediation, emergency response and sustainability. Headquartered in the US, with operations across North America, Europe and beyond, the organisation had grown rapidly through acquisition, bringing together deep technical expertise across a wide range of environmental disciplines.
But while the capability was world class, the structure had become increasingly complex. Multiple businesses, brands and service lines had created fragmentation in how the organisation presented itself to clients, employees and the wider market. The challenge was not simply to unify businesses under one identity, but to create a clearer and more cohesive story around what the organisation stood for, how its expertise connected and why it mattered.
A name grounded in action, responsibility and intent.
Mammoth partnered with Montrose to simplify that complexity into a unified strategic and creative platform. We developed a new naming architecture, clarified service propositions and created a brand system capable of bringing together diverse expertise under one coherent identity. That transformation centred around the creation of a new identity, Onterris – developed through extensive stakeholder engagement, strategic workshops and creative exploration.
The name combines two simple ideas. "On" signals momentum, action and progress, while "Terris", derived from Earth, grounds the organisation in environmental responsibility and scientific rigour. Together, they create a name that feels practical, confident and purposeful – one that gave the organisation a clearer way to speak about itself, creating alignment across teams, regions and disciplines.
A shared purpose built around planet and progress.
With the new identity established, we developed a purpose platform capable of aligning the organisation around a common ambition. For Planet & Progress became the unifying idea – a simple but powerful articulation of the balance at the heart of the organisation's work, enabling industrial and societal advancement while protecting the ecosystems that sustain it.
Rather than positioning environmental responsibility and progress as opposing forces, the platform reframed them as inseparable priorities. That thinking became central to how Onterris communicated its role in the world, creating a shared language across every team, role and region and a creative and strategic foundation for the wider brand system.
A visual identity shaped by perspective.
Mammoth built the visual system around a single idea: seeing Earth differently. Inspired by the "Pale Blue Dot" photograph captured by NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1990, the Onterris symbol was designed as a simple but powerful abstraction of Earth viewed from distance – a metaphor for planetary thinking, scientific precision and interconnected systems.
The pale blue core colour was derived from the tonal value of Earth within the original Voyager imagery. Typography was stripped back, confident and highly legible, and motion behaviour mirrored planetary movement through orbital transitions and rotational axes inspired by the Earth's 23.4° tilt. The result was a brand system where every decision connected back to the central metaphor – not decoration applied onto strategy, but strategy expressed consistently through naming, language, motion and form.
