Petra the Dragon

Petra started as something that I illustrated for the Employee Welcome kit when I started at Cambrian. We wanted a  lighthearted way to talk about the office dress code, which can be a vague and sometimes tense topic.
​After her first appearance, I began using Petra in internal company newsletter, as a cute or humorous element - as a company with one of our core values as "Humour" we thought it was a great way to add some play into the every day of employees.

As Petra's familiarity and popularity grew throughout the company, we started to incorporate her into the occasional client facing communication- most commonly in email signature banners letting customers know if we were out of the office for a holiday. At first, we weren't sure what people would think of a silly cartoon dragon in what can be seen as a very serious industry (ingredient and chemical distribution) but soon started receiving feedback that people "loved the cute dragon illustrations" and even had some customer calling their Cambrian contact "Petra's". 

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, we ramped up our usage of Petra as a friendly way to show we cared and to show our human side. Everything we were seeing at the time felt heavy and stressful. Petra helped lighten everyone's moods and was able to poke fun at some of the quirks of working from home.

A New Beginning
With the rebranding of Cambrian to Barentz in 2021, we knew some things were going to change. Our beloved green dragon was retiring, but we didn't want to lose the sense of fun and personality that she brought to our internal communications. With Petra's retirement brought the birth of Barry, the Barentz Bear, who is now used in the internal Canadian company newsletter.