We work with brands to solve very specific challenges. We’re not an agency-of-record. We’re project-based with a well-defined and agreed-upon scope and deliverables. We apply decades of real-world experience working with the world’s greatest brands. We listen. We ask questions no one has asked before. And we work efficiently to present clear, innovative and on-strategy recommendations and how to make them happen.
WHERE BRAND MEETS VISION
OUR AREAS OF FOCUS
BRAND ARCHITECTURE
We’ve worked with companies who – through organic growth or acquisition – have unintentionally created a disarray of names and sub-brands lacking brand and strategic cohesion. There is no “best” brand architecture. Your solution needs to be tailored to your business strategy and future growth plans. We have a specific approach for developing, designing and evaluating potential new brand architectures.
BRAND PARTNERSHIPS AND SPONSORSHIPS
We help brands identify partners that reinforce their business strategy and complement their brand identity. And we help rights holders go beyond just selling impressions and identify partners that grow their own audience base. In both instances, it begins with more deeply understanding your own brand. We have a specific tool for articulating your brand and assessing brand fit, as well as providing a visual identity for the partnership/sponsorship.
BRAND REPOSITIONING
Brands can’t remain static when the competitive environment around them changes. We’ve worked with brands facing new threats, a changing demographic, or an evolution of the category. We deliver a Brand Platform that articulates a new brand positioning that addresses specific audience segments and their needs, as well as how to differentiate your brand from competitors.
VISUAL IDENTITY AUDIT AND REALIGNMENT
A brand’s visual identify often doesn’t keep up with where the brand is headed. As a brand pivots towards new markets, new target audiences and a new competitive environment, its visual identity needs to reinforce the business of today and tomorrow, not the business of yesterday. We create a leverage an updated strategic Brand Platform to assess whether your brand’s identity could benefit from an strategically aligned update.
BRAND STORYTELLING
In our experience, brands don’t tell enough stories. About why they were founded. About their customers. About their people. We help craft stories and guide how and where you tell them.
SEGMENTED BRAND MESSAGING
For brands with multiple audience segments, one message often can’t address the specific needs of a particular segment. Two different segments may both be potential customers for a given product, but they may have very different needs that lead them to your brand. Recognizing these different needs, and crafting messages that address them, increases your brand relevancy and engagement.
BRAND EXTENSION
Many brands leave significant revenue on the table by not fully exploring other categories the brand can extend into. Disney successfully extended the brand into the cruise industry by imagining how it can provide its signature experience in an entirely different context. And we've forgotten that Apple originally just made computers. Extending the brand to iPods and watches -- and of course, the iPhone -- involved taking a holistic look at their customers and their needs. We help brands evaluate potential extensions with a data-driven analytical framework that assesses brand strength and competitive advantage.
REBRANDING
Rebranding can take many forms – some subtle, and others all-encompassing. It may be focused on tightening up messaging and your brand positioning, or visually directed towards
your logo and overall brand look and feel. We assess your competitive environment, the extent of your brand evolution and future direction, and the changing needs and lifestyles of your most valuable customers. We develop strategic positioning and message enhancement, culminating in a rebranding platform. And we also provide design services including logo and branding element redesign and a comprehensive set of style guidelines to ease implementation
across channels and marketing activities.
WEBSITE DESIGN
As part of a brand audit or rebranding engagement, we'll assess and help refine your website's design and messaging. For those of you just launching a brand, we can provide design and content development and create the site with you using existing website builders. In addition to our design expertise, you'll benefit from our experience in naming, brand positioning and personality, and message development.
Who We Are
David Vazdauskas
Founder
David has worked with many of the world’s most iconic brands while a Partner at leading global management consulting and brand strategy firms, including Oliver Wyman and Lippincott. He’s also experienced what it’s like to be a client, having senior brand strategy and marketing roles at a large financial services institution and two tech start-ups. Those who’ve worked with David describe him as empathetic, inquisitive, collaborative and someone who isn’t afraid to ask the questions no one else has asked.
David is a proud Polar Bear, receiving his B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College. He attended the General Course program at London School of Economics & Political Science, and received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School
He’s an avid trail runner and cross-county skier and is always on the lookout for that rare vinyl record to add to this collection. And in his spare time he’s a playwright and has been fortunate to have his plays produced at theatres and festivals here in the U.S. and around the world.
HOW WE WORK
WE LISTEN.
Before describing what we can do, we make sure we understand what you need. And if we can’t provide it, we’ll tell you.
WE ASK TOUGH QUESTIONS.
Don’t be offended if we ask you how you got to this place. If we ask what’s at stake. And for your tolerance for doing things differently.
WE PROVIDE A DETAILED PROPOSAL. AND WE STICK TO IT.
We outline a timeline, a specific project cost, and what the exact deliverables will be.
WE COMMUNICATE EARLY AND OFTEN.
Regular check-ins, progress reports and buy-in to next steps are an important part of how we work.
WE COMMUNICATE EARLY AND OFTEN.
Regular check-ins, progress reports and buy-in to next steps are an important part of how we work.
Blog
We’d love to hear what brand challenges or opportunities you're facing today, and to see if we can help. Maybe we'll just have a good (and hopefully helpful) conversation, or perhaps it'll be the beginning of an engagement. But we’re always happy to talk.
