Cobranding with Salesforce

A primer on how Slack and Salesforce both exist as unique brands and coexist as one.

Highlights

To respect and honor the brands individually, lead with 90% of the branding of whichever company owns the message or space when cobranding
Choose the right logo for your scenario—we have both a Slack and Salesforce logo and a paired lockup of the two
Look to the brand’s core visual system for your foundational branding, like color, typography and illustration

Introduction

Slack is unique because it is both an independent brand and exists within a parent brand—Salesforce. While this opens up a lot of opportunities, we know it can also be confusing to know which brand to use where.
‍
Our guiding philosophy is to lead with the branding of whichever company is communicating the message or owns the space. Here’s how that actually shakes out.

Cobranding considerations

Slack-only branding

Slack is unique within the Salesforce ecosystem as its own product (literally) at the fingertips of millions of people every day. When we’re talking about Slack as an independent product, we show up 100% as the Slack brand. This includes:

slack.com
Slack customer stories
Slack educational videos
Slack campaigns
Slack social media channels

Slack-first branding

We aim to be inclusive and considerate toward both our parent brand and our customers. In order to create clarity along the customer journey, we lead with 90% of Slack branding and 10% of Salesforce branding in Slack-led scenarios. This includes:

Slack-led events such as Frontiers
Third-party events where Slack shows up as the primary brand
Ads mentioning both brands, with a CTA that leads to slack.com or another Slack-owned destination
Any content living on slack.com that refers to both Slack and Salesforce

Salesforce-first branding

Salesforce is a well-known brand that can greatly benefit Slack! In these scenarios, please with 90% of Salesforce branding and 10% of Slack branding:

Salesforce-led events, such as Dreamforce and TDX
Third-party events where Salesforce shows up as the primary brand
Ads mentioning both brands, with a CTA that leads to salesforce.com or another Salesforce-owned destination
Any content living on salesforce.com that refers to both Slack and Salesforce

Don’t forget to follow all Salesforce guidance as outlined in Salesforce Brand Central.

If you’re not sure

You might encounter some scenarios where the solution of 90/10 branding doesn’t meet your goals or is not so clear cut. In those cases, please reach out to the Slack creative team in #slack-brand-center-help or brand@slack-corp.com.

Logo usage

We have certain requirements to establish our connection to Salesforce that will influence how you use the following logos.

Slack logo

Use this logo in Slack-led communications when the connection to Salesforce is established in another way. If space is limited or the full logo proves to be too distracting, use the mark (octothorpe).

Download Slack logo

Slack from Salesforce logo

Use this logo where data sharing occurs and we don’t indicate elsewhere that Slack is a Salesforce company. It should also be used if Salesforce is not present, such as third-party events. Additionally, you can also use this logo to emphasize Salesforce as the owner and endorser of Slack as a product brand.

At small sizes, this logo is not legible; default to the paired logo lockup instead.

Download Slack from Salesforce logo

Paired logo lockup

Use this lockup when cross-promoting or co-presenting Slack and Salesforce. This is the Slack-first lockup, and it is placed on communications led by Slack or on Slack properties. For communication led by Salesforce or a third party, use the Salesforce-first lockup.

The Slack mark (octothorpe) may also be used in place of the Slack logo in any orientation of the paired logo lockup.

Use this lockup when cross-promoting or co-presenting Slack and Salesforce. This is the Slack-first lockup, and it is placed on communications led by Slack or on Slack properties. For communication led by Salesforce or a third party, use the the Salesforce-first lockup.

The Slack mark (octothorpe) may also be used in place of the Slack logo in any orientation of the paired logo lockup.

Download paired logo lockups

Salesforce logo

Use this logo in communications led by Salesforce. Always adhere to Salesforce guidelines around logo usage.

Download Salesforce logo

Retired logos

Please do not use these logos or lockups.

Slack branding elements

When communication comes from Slack or a deliverable leads to Slack properties, use our brand elements as your foundation (90%) to help drive Slack brand recognition and maintain consistency.

Best practices

Build designs from Slack’s core visual system, including typography, colors, illustration, photography and brand shapes
Apply Slack’s voice, tone and editorial style
Use the Slack logo or Slack-first paired logo lockup
Lean on aubergine and horchata as grounding Slack colors; leverage Salesforce core colors if you are promoting both brands and a more prominent Salesforce presence is helpful
Bring in Salesforce elements that are relevant to the content, such as product iconography or messaging

Things to avoid

Don’t use Salesforce illustrations, photography, brand colors, fonts or characters to promote or describe Slack
Don’t apply Salesforce’s voice or editorial style for Slack messaging
Don't integrate Slack design elements into Salesforce visuals
Don’t use Salesforce illustrations as decorative elements in Slack-first branding

Salesforce branding elements

Deliverables and communication from Salesforce should use Salesforce brand elements as the foundation (90%) and adhere to Salesforce brand guidelines and templates.

Salesforce Brand Central

Best practices

Build designs from Salesforce’s core visual system, including typography, colors and illustration
Apply Salesforce’s voice, tone and editorial style
Lead with Salesforce or Salesforce-first paired logos; use the Slack octothorpe in applications with limited space
Represent Slack through our UI screens, as well as brand elements like our core colors and brand shapes
Stick to templated Salesforce designs
Adhere to approved use of emoji

Things to avoid

Don’t lean on overly playful executions
Don’t pair Salesforce characters with Slack illustrations
Don’t use Salesforce characters to promote Slack