(FORTUNE Small Business) – When two biotech executives wanted to try driving a Formula One car, they called Bluefish Concierge, a Palm Beach company that arranges luxury trips. For $25,000 a couple, Bluefish flew them to the Monaco Grand Prix in May, where they drove a few laps around the track and got VIP treatment during the race. "Our typical client is a business owner who doesn't have the time to make the right contacts for this type of trip," says Bluefish CEO Steve Sims, 38. A former stockbroker, Sims launched Bluefish in 1996 when he and two partners realized that their ability to get affluent clients into exclusive parties might work as a business.

Sims sketched the company's original logo (above left) on the back of a beer coaster. "The evil eyebrow, conniving look--you knew there was more to him than you could see," says Sims, who believed that exclusivity and intrigue were the keys to generating more customers. But a few years later, when Bluefish began co-sponsoring events such as the Mercedes-Benz Polo Challenge at the Bridgehampton Polo Club in New York, its logo started appearing alongside those of upscale brands such as Ferrari and Moët & Chandon. Sims wanted an upgrade. After talking with six design firms, he hired Cave Design Agency of Boca Raton.

The firm spent three months on the project and came up with two ideas: a page of shark-meets-piranha sketches that Sims had requested (one of them is shown above), and the blue shark, which he liked better. "The first sketches went too far in terms of attitude," says Matthew Cave, founder of the firm. "In the final concept the shark's toned down, yet his eyes and teeth still capture what Bluefish does--makes customers feel as if they're part of this underground club." The simplicity of the final logo has allowed Bluefish to reproduce it easily across different media, from ski hats handed out backstage at fashion shows to banners that hang at the Kentucky Derby. That increased brand awareness has helped Bluefish increase its revenues nearly sixfold, to more than $20 million, since the redesign in late 2002. "It's had a snowball effect on our business, allowing us to move our brand into places we initially couldn't go," Sims says.