Introducing “Brand on the Run”

The idea for this Medium publication started as a conversation over a beer with my friend and Marketing Manager, Greg Hoy. Chats over (delicious, Texas) beers often spark spirited ideas that make work fun. Our conversation ping-ponged from new business, to how we might celebrate our 10th year as a creative agency, to pork ribs, to what we love about what we do at Helms Workshop.

Oh, wait, first, a bit about us. Helms Workshop is a brand building agency. We work with startups, young businesses and legacy brands that span industries from consumer packaged goods to hospitality, outdoor adventure and tech. We partner with big names like Jack Daniel’s and Nestle, build and launch hospitality destinations like Blackberry Mountain, refresh brands like Tecovas and Southern Comfort and create new brands like Austin Beerworks and Howler Bros. What they share in common is humanity, character and personality. We love building brands that, each in their own way, bring value and joy to people’s lives. If we can make an everyday moment extraordinary for someone, we’re doing our job well.

Over 23 years in the industry (wow, what happened?) one of the things I still love is shedding light on the branding process for potential clients, new entrepreneurs, and emerging brands.

If you’re looking to embark upon a brand project, it can be intimidating and confusing. Picking an agency partner is scary. You can perform all of the due diligence you want, but is your agency partner going to get it? Are they going to be trustworthy? Will the process be fun? Are they going to speak in industry jargon leaving you only to scratch your head? Will they understand your business and its challenges, or simply design? When I get an opportunity to demystify this stuff, immediately I see a huge look of relief on folks’ faces. Knowledge is power, and just a half an hour ago, they felt powerless. Now, they have some context to make a good decision — even if it’s not with our shop (I’ll often do this for companies that aren’t a fit for our studio before referring them to one of our colleagues).

“You should write about that,” interjected Greg.

“I sort of hate design writing,” I said.

“You should write about that too,” replied Greg.

I wasn’t sold, but we ordered more beers, so we kept talking. Greg suggested starting a publication on Medium, and getting some of the team involved in writing for it. That piqued my interest. (Not being solely responsible for content is a great motivator.)

So, this only works if we can successfully provide insight from the trenches in a way that avoids the “my-way-or-the-highway” missives that dominate so much of what we read. Ultimately, I decided to apply some of the thinking we employ in brand building to find an answer:

• Ask questions. Listen and learn.
• Define the audience.
• Identify goals.
• Create a roadmap for success.

The questions we aim to answer

The first thing we do in building a brand is to ask questions. Big questions. Tiny, detailed questions. All the questions. We ask about the business mechanics, the culture, the distribution model, or production process. Logistics. Passions. Pets. Spirit animals (favorite answer ever: “fried chicken”). Sometimes, they’re not sure what the answers are, which means we need to dig deeper. The more we know about our partners, the more we can surface the little (or huge) things that define their brand and make them special. So I did the same thing when thinking about this publication.

I emailed a handful of folks that we consider our closest collaborators, best client relationships, and most difficult brand challenges, and I asked them questions. What you would have loved to hear about in terms of branding when you were early in the process of building your business? What was tough to understand or figure out? What scared or confused you? What went wrong? If you could have asked any questions and gotten a straight answer, what would they have been?

The audience we aim to serve

This isn’t about what we want to write about, it’s about who we want to reach. Do we want to appeal to our peers, or do we want to speak to the folks that could benefit from our services? Can’t we offer a little something for everyone to keep everyone happy?

Nope. We’d never let our clients get away without zeroing in on their tribe.

Thus, this publication isn’t for everyone. It’s for entrepreneurs building businesses, people managing emerging brands, and established businesses who could benefit from a clearer picture of how branding works. Students? Probably not. This will be less about theory and more about what we’ve learned over our years in the business.

The goal we hope to achieve

Next, what’s our goal? To pull back the curtain on the thinking and doing, the blocking and tackling of building a brand. To help folks building brands gain valuable insight. To demystify, clarify and make it all less intimidating (and, maybe even entertaining).

What’s our roadmap for success?

First off, I want the publication to be honest, a warts-and-all look into the challenges, opportunities and successes in building brands. Second, the writing needs to be fun — for us, and for readers (that whole “bring joy” thing). The pieces will be brief. We’ll use a range of voices in our world (employees, clients, friends) to share a diverse perspective on topics spanning the branding journey. We’ll publish them consistently. We’ll help people sell more stuff, make smarter decisions and avoid pitfalls and landmines.

As we launch and grow “Brand on the Run” we would love for you to join in the conversation. What would you like to hear about? Let us know what you think, and we hope you enjoy what we have to say.