We’re not a design firm

This is the fourth in a series of four postings, and certainly, for me, the hardest one to write. (See postings under “What we’re not” for the others.)
That’s because I have so much affection for the legacy of graphic design as a field, and because graphic design is uniquely tied to a much larger artistic [...]

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We’re not an interactive agency

I once was, but I got better.
As one of the founders of Paris France, an interactive agency in Portland, which existed between 1999 and 2003, I was privileged to work with some amazingly bright people, like Jeff Faulkner, Chuck Nobles, Erik Falat, and others, and to do some work I’m still quite proud of. It [...]

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Creative Revolution No. 3

Or, We’re Not an Ad Agency, Part 2.
Brian Collins, the ex-ECD of Ogilvy’s Brand Integration Group (BIG), who has just launched his own agency, Collins, nailed the difference between design and advertising in a talk he gave during the the One Show week in New York last Spring. He showed images of Philadelphia’s [...]

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We’re not an ad agency

I’ve been in advertising for the last 20 years – at least the way I define advertising. But the way advertising agencies define it, well, I guess I haven’t.
Ad agencies, at least the majority of them, have an economic model based on selling certain media. Sure, they’re not getting the commissions they used to. But [...]

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We’re not a branding firm

Given my recent (minor) mishap with a motorcycle I’ve had a fair amount of time to contemplate scabs. (The owie-kind, not the labor relations kind.) Watching them form and then slowly go away, I had a small epiphany about branding firms.
My conclusion is that branding firms, as we know them today, are essentially scabs.
How are [...]

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