A month ago we celebrated the fourth birthday of Chapter. It’s a moment that allows us to be a little nostalgic and to realize that some of the world’s most innovative companies have put their faith in us to help them solve their ‘wicked problems’. We’re beyond grateful for that trust and for the fact that virtually all have subsequently re-engaged with us, the result of which is that we have just begun our 100th project. For anyone counting, that works out to about one every 14 days, which makes us feel that for us, ‘small and nimble’ is now definitely more than a copy point.
Looking back, it’s highly rewarding and a little surprising to realize that, despite all the changes in the type of work we’ve made, we’ve managed to hold true to the six principles we started the company with.
Adherence to these principles has taught us to focus on two questions that we now realize are fundamental to the existence of Chapter. Which problems make the biggest difference to a client’s business? And which problems excite us to do our most distinctive work?
Today, we’re focusing Chapter on helping businesses reinvent themselves and the categories they operate in in favor of being more human friendly, not just human like. We’re bringing together the best of business consulting, design and ad agencies, in one thoughtful offering, based on a single, simple belief — that today only the human friendly will thrive.
Today, people expect more from their brands. Those expectations may seem unreasonable but they have been reset for good. Brands can no longer draw comfort from being a bit better than their direct competitors or doing what they’ve always done. They need a new playbook to not just meet but set new expectations. To be human friendly not just human like.
Chapter is a new type of creative studio focused on designing soulful brands that thrive in today’s world of unreasonable expectations. We focus our energy on rethinking products, communications and the way they work together to bring brands to life in more joyful, unexpected and human friendly ways.
We do this by colliding commercial and brand rigor, human empathy and multidisciplinary design to help businesses seize the right opportunity, reset their direction and reinvent themselves and the categories they operate in.
We feel more optimism about what we’re trying to build today than ever before. You feel you might be on to something when the CMO of P&G, the world’s biggest advertiser, says: “I would say that the days of advertising as we know it today are numbered. We need to start thinking about a world with no ads.”
You feel you are on to something when you are asked to answer ever more fundamental questions by some of the world’s most admired companies.
We’re full of hope and have more plans and schemes afoot than ever. You can get a sense of some of them on our new site. We’re always looking for brilliant, optimistic misfits to join our crew. People who are tired of the silos of the industry and just want to do the right thing and make in whatever shape it takes to solve the problem or seize the opportunity. If you’re interested, drop us a note at join@chaptersf.com
And if you work at a client organization that knows it needs to change to become more human friendly, we’d love to talk with you. Please just drop us a note on our website or email hello@chaptersf.com
It’s been a brilliant journey so far and we are excited for what 2019 and beyond will bring.
