There’s an exciting entrepreneurial spirit with startups that is desperately lost in many established brand atmospheres. But most traditional agencies “just aren’t that into them” for a host of reasons. As a (former) freelancer, however, I love a good startup. It’s what this business is all about. Helping a company brand themselves, disrupt a market, and succeed. And the key to success for a startup is the ability to break through the noise and seemingly infinite choices of how customers and investors spend their time and money. To use your brand to create an emotional connection. Understand who your audience is and why your product should matter to them. Then convey your “why” using your unique voice.
Think big. Think disruptive.
Over the years I’ve worked on some notable startups: In 1993 I helped brand Citrix prior to their public offering in 1995. In 2002, I followed Iacobucci (Citrix’s co–founder) to a new startup, Jetson Systems (DayJet), an on-demand airline service. When my client, Motorola, dropped Air Apparent in 1995 as part of a downsizing process, I was tapped by the startup Absoft (Emergin) to help rebrand and market this product (acquired by Philips in 2007 for 75 million). In 2016 I created branding and marketing materials for Fielding Homes, a subsidiary of Crescent Communities, who was later acquired by Sumitomo Forestry (a 320 year old company!), along with Crescent Communities, for $370 million, in late 2018. Currently, I am designing private label “Challenger brands” that once launched successfully compete and sometimes outsell the national brands.