Brand Strategy in Lawrence, Indiana

Brand Strategy in Lawrence’s Redefining Market

Lawrence is one of the largest cities on the east side of Indianapolis, with a population just over 50,000 and its own municipal government within Marion County. The city’s economic story tracks back to Fort Benjamin Harrison, which anchored the local economy for most of the twentieth century. Since the fort’s closure in 1996, more than $200 million has been invested in redeveloping the campus into a mix of residential, retail, tech, and cultural space. Pendleton Pike is the commercial backbone, currently undergoing a major INDOT reconstruction, and two new mixed-use projects at Fort Ben are set to open in 2026.

Fort Benjamin Harrison shaped Lawrence’s economy for most of the twentieth century, and the businesses that grew here built their brands around that gravity. The fort closed thirty years ago. The campus is becoming something new. But many of the companies along Pendleton Pike and in the surrounding neighborhoods still carry positioning that was built for a market that no longer exists in the same form. Strategy is what keeps the organization legible when the anchor disappears. A clear account of what the business does now, who it serves, and why it matters in a Lawrence that looks different than the one it started in.

Subverse is based in Brownsburg, about 40 minutes west across Indianapolis. Lawrence is a market we’ve watched reinvent itself around a single, defining question: what comes after the institution that built you. The businesses navigating that question are the ones we understand best.