BEARDWOOD&CO TURNS 13
2017 marked the 13th year of Beardwood&Co., now entering adolescence full of promise and change.
This past year delivered bigger opportunities, including two global brand portfolio projects that will be launching soon. (Trust us, we’re eager to show them right now.)
Our goal, as it has been since our start in 2004, is to bring together strategic wisdom with courageous creativity for brands that want to stand out and stand tall. And to do it without the barriers that can get in the way, like silos, egos and bureaucracy.
We don’t claim perfection, but glow when clients give us praise like “Your team is incredibly talented, but humble and approachable.”
Some highlights from 2017…
We won one of the first Nielsen Design Impact Awards
One of our proudest moments was winning a Nielsen Design Impact Award for our redesign of Honest Tea packaging. This is the first time that packaging effectiveness has been recognized and measured publicly in the US, representing a real change in our industry. We congratulate and thank Co-founder Seth Goldman and General Manager Ami Mathur over at Honest Tea for their leadership on this amazing brand.
We got sporty
Soon after we helped Columbia Athletics craft a new positioning and branded environments campaign, they received a whole lot of attention for their winning streak in football. Our “Only Here” positioning and visual system highlights Columbia as the only Ivy League athletics program located in a world class city.
For boutique fitness challenger, Cyc, we identified “beat-based cycling” as a key differentiator and helped them develop a distinctive brand world in their studios and online, including a new website and booking app developed in partnership with our friends at Free Association.
We celebrated real good food
We continued our partnership with the amazing team at Sabra to extend their delicious dips into new categories and new countries. Our guacamole redesign helped Sabra take category leadership of guacamole, and we helped launch Obela (Sabra’s sister brand outside North America) into Europe. And finally, a new category, Mediterranean Bean Dips launched this month. More Sabra news coming soon!
Meanwhile, Boulder-based Little Secrets is growing steadily and happily becoming less of a secret. We worked with this delicious entrepreneurial challenger brand to redesign their packaging, highlighting the candy-covered dark chocolate product form, along with irresistible new seasonal flavors.
We helped make the world more S’well
Did you notice how S’well bottles were popping up everywhere in 2017? To keep up the momentum, we had the privilege of working with CEO Sarah Kauss and her terrific team to develop a 5-year innovation pipeline for S’well. A line of wide-mouthed travelers (perfect for coffee in the car — hot or iced) and tumblers (for stylish non-sweat tableware) were the first new products to launch.
We helped Infusium get their hair care mojo back
It was exciting to have the opportunity to work with Helen of Troy Beauty to revamp Infusium from top to bottom. The faceted bottle structure and garnet color give Infusium a glamorous makeover and powerful presence while reclaiming its hair expert credentials online and in-store.
We worked to rid the world of uncomfortable shoes.
We’re rocking the footwear world with Aravon and Dunham, two fast-growing brands in the house of Rockport. Aravon is championing foot health for women because an astonishing 8 out of 10 of us deal with foot pain at some point. Dunham is an American heritage bootmaking brand started in Vermont in 1885. They’re delivering hardworking versatility with “Dunham Gets It Done.”
We welcomed new faces at Beardwood&Co.
As we grow, we’re constantly searching for world class talent to keep us fresh in all the right ways. This year we welcomed Isabella Ossott, Senior Designer; Mark Webb, Design Director; Hannah Bardwell, Designer; Deon Mixon, Design Intern; Erin Marucco, Design Director; Allie Wong, Associate Designer; Liz Rose Schneider, Senior Strategist
We did good works in addition to good work
It’s important to use our skills to help our community as well as our clients. We’ve had a long relationship with CAMBA, a large non-profit based in Brooklyn that helps low income New Yorkers improve their lives. This year we helped CAMBA identify five values for their employees, and designed posters to highlight the values throughout their buildings.
And we were super happy to connect Dunham with our friends at Furnishing A Future, a non-profit in Philadelphia that trains men in woodworking skills. Now, all graduates get a pair of Dunham boots to go to work in.
We celebrated wisely with Wise Apple Cider
Since our anniversary falls in December, we celebrated with our own hand-made cider, Wise Apple, produced by our friends at Grape Hollow Farm in the Hudson Valley. Wise Apple is an apt statement for who we want to be in the world: crisp, fresh, thoughtful and different.
Looking back makes us supremely grateful for this wonderful year, and excited for what’s to come. Deepest thanks to our clients for these amazing opportunities for growth for us all.
Cheers!
Julia, Sarah, Ryan
