heather-torreggiani-1524

Heather Torreggiani

Chief Marketing Officer

Like so many of us, the Great Debacle that is 2020 has made me quite reflective. This reflection is compounded by a pretty momentous professional milestone—25 years ago this week, I began my career. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long, but I have a drawer full of retinoids to prove it. Back then, I was fresh out of college, wearing an Ann Taylor pantsuit and hitting the streets of Manhattan to join a management training program at a Fortune 100 company. I was finally about to learn the things about business that my liberal arts degree didn’t teach me, and determined to make an impact on Corporate America. After some twists and turns, including ample soul-searching and pavement-pounding, I landed where I now know I belonged all along—right into the wonderworld of creative advertising. If your aim is to be in the “room where it happens” of Corporate America, there is no better position than business development. 

In this crazy agency pitch world, I’ve learned a ton about broader business—including the giants of industry—and what makes them so successful. While I don’t have a big quant study to substantiate my findings, I have probably gotten to know nearly 3,000 companies over the years. Plus, the pitch process gets you very close to several integral aspects of an organization: you get to see how they operate, what interactions feel like with one another and what’s most important to them. I’ve encountered tech titans like Facebook and Amazon, icons like McDonald’s and American Express, challengers such as Southwest Airlines and startups in plant based food alternatives and self driving cars, to Pfizer and Abbott in Big Pharma. 

During my tenure, I’ve seen firsthand how brands triumph and falter. And while all companies are unique and their business models and industries vary, there are three specific characteristics that create a powerful, successful company. 


They are keenly aware of what they are all about and what the company exists to do. You can feel that focused vision through each employee and how they talk about why they’re there. It doesn’t feel scripted from the employee handbook or the mantras painted on the walls, it comes across their true reason for being. Perhaps as importantly, they know what they don’t know. They’re not afraid to ask for help from potential partners. They’re clear about where they are open to having you challenge their thinking and where they’re most likely an expert. One time, the lead client said, “we love having agencies push back, but make sure it’s provocative when you do because we know a lot about ourselves!” It’s not only refreshing to see that self-awareness but it helps external partners do their best work.

I met with one CEO and Founder who said, “I hate when my employees don’t fail. Because if they’re not failing, they’re not truly innovating.” I’ve never forgotten that. He led an organization that embraced risk-taking and encouraged his team to take big swings. Sometimes this attitude is most associated with startups and disruptors, but I think it’s even more important and powerful for large, established entities. The more supported people feel, the more they want to do their best work and create the next chapter for the company. You can tell when clients feel this way because they talk in terms of what’s possible, instead of who has to approve decisions and why things can’t be done because of internal barriers. They rarely talk about how things used to be. They are continually learning, growing and pushing themselves in new ways.

I don’t know how many RFPs and briefs I’ve read in my career. Probably a million. (Okay, maybe that’s a stretch. But it’s a lot.) Only three that I remember started by describing the culture. And I don’t mean they said, “our culture is like this.” They simply talked about what matters most to them. While only a handful of companies I’ve encountered put this in their briefs, many of them make sure you know what they value early on. One of my favorite examples was from a company that described themselves as the kind of place that tips their umbrella away when encountering someone on a rainy day—as not to collide or get rain on the person approaching—and leaving towels on the bed for guests. The minute I heard that, I knew exactly who they were and the rest of our team did too. But not only did this idea of the company culture appear as an anecdote or words in a brief. We felt it. The entire team at this company treated us with respect from day one and their enthusiasm for their employer was contagious. Companies that lead with culture do more than talk about it—they implement and embody these traits, starting from the top down. When the CEO takes personal responsibility to be the type of person to tip their umbrella, they begin to build a company full of people that will do the same. This commitment creates an environment where culture is not only referenced as an imagined ideal, but is consistently implemented through daily, tangible moments. 

From tech to pharma, finance to home goods—great, successful, *powerful* companies exhibit these traits in abundance. But while it may look to an outsider like these characteristics existed all along, rarely are these inherent traits. The companies that have incorporated these values have done so with deliberate, consistent efforts, sometimes over decades, and have managed to course-correct when they’ve drifted. All this to say, if you’re managing a business that has found itself far away from embodying these traits, there is power in perception. As any good mentor will tell you, first you identify where you’re going, and then you get going. 

And if you’re at an agency, I’ve learned quite a bit about what leads to being the best there, too—but I’ll save *that* for another reflective moment. 

How to create a powerhouse business:  three attributes of successful companies

best_companies

Mike_Walsh

Mike Walsh

Associate Partner, Client Engagement 

“Let’s not use the word craft.” 

So began our pitch to VSA’s first prospective beer client. A craft beer client. 

In 2011, Goose Island Beer Co. had turned the craft beer world upside down by selling to Anheuser-Busch. As one of the “Class of ‘88” breweries—the breweries including Deschutes, Great Lakes, and Rogue that opened in 1988—Goose was an O.G. in craft beer. Their perceived defection to “big beer” was met with howls of outrage, including from within its own ranks. 

As Goose searched for an agency partner to tell the brewery’s story, one thing was clear: They cared as much as ever about their craft and the quality of their beer, and that needed to come through. 

And there we were telling them that that word—“craft”—had outlived its usefulness. 

Consumers still cared about quality, yes. But in the time since Goose Island opened in 1988, the beer landscape had changed. A newly legal-aged-drinker’s first beer is as likely to be a flavorful IPA or a rich amber ale as it is a watered-down light lager. For these drinkers, it wasn’t “craft beer.” It was just “beer.” 

The industry itself was also changing, fast. New breweries were opening every day. “Local” replaced “craft” as the signifier of quality (even if it was hit or miss). And big brewers were coming around to the need to broaden their portfolios.

At VSA, we were lucky to have a front-row seat for what unfolded next. 

We won the Goose Island work. We repositioned the brewery’s brand, redesigned its identity and packaging, and created its first national campaign. Then AB bought Blue Point Brewing in New York. And Breckenridge Brewery in Colorado. And Elysian. Golden Road. Four Peaks. Karbach. Virtue Cider. 

With each acquisition, VSA had the opportunity to do what we’d done with Goose Island. And over the next several years we learned a number of things about the beer business.


The influx of choice in the beer category has given drinkers permission to sleep around (metaphorically, mostly). Breweries have long cultivated deep relationships with serious fans—and even those lovers aren’t entirely loyal. Drinkers don’t have a steady go-to anymore. They have a handful of brands on their list at any given time. Breweries need to get into that selection set; a deep bench of “likers” is worth more than a bunch of somewhat committed lovers. 

It’s rare in packaged goods categories that the spiritual home of the brand is also its actual home. No one visits a diaper factory, or thinks much about who made their soap. And while breweries strive to build brands, those brands are inextricable from the place and the culture where they’re born. The “brewed and bottled by” statement on a can of beer is more than a legal requirement. It’s a badge, and part of the brand’s (that is, the brewery’s) essence. 

Working with founder-led businesses is different. It’s a gift to have their thumbprint to use as a roadmap to brand character. A brewery takes its cues from the tone they set. The culture flows from there, along with the choices about beers and brand. Does the founder exude sunny optimism and love pop art? Are they counterculture rebels? Are they khakis-and-a-button-down kinda guys? Embracing the founders’ ethos keeps the brand true and helps deepen its ability to connect.

Someone once once quipped that breweries are like pizza shops: there’s no such thing as too many. And it’s true—there’s never been a better time to be a beer lover (or a pizza lover, for that matter) in terms of quality and choice. But it’s downright daunting for the consumer at the shelf. Even with the power of strong distribution, breweries need to work hard to break through. A Super Bowl ad may not be the answer, but investing in creating mental availability is a must. Counting on a New Year’s Eve post to become a meme won’t cut it. 

In the end, craft still matters. Consumers are over bad craft beer. They’ve been burned too many times by the local brew pub or an out-of-code can of IPA. So they look for familiarity, and for cues that the brewery cares about what’s in the package. Those cues come from what’s on the package, and what comes from the brand. Craftsmanship of communication is every bit as important as the beer itself.  

A few things we have learned over a few beers

Variety of beer brands that VSA has helped elevate.

beer-convo

josh_berta.jpg

Josh Berta

Creative Director

*This article is part of an on-going research initiative at VSA to help companies understand the evolving needs of their employees in the remote workplace. To learn more about our findings (and to discover your own work personality), check out [“Understanding the Needs of Your Remote Workers”](/understanding-the-needs-of-your-remote-workers) and download our study.*

&nbsp;  
The other day as I finished a Zoom call with a designer, my daughter looked over with eyebrows raised. “That was a short meeting,” she said. I had to explain that the call wasn’t a meeting, at least not in the pre-COVID sense. In the world of working from my living room, that call was my replacement for being able to swivel my chair around to face my co-worker, and quickly suggest we make X, Y, and Z changes.

As managers, we have lost the ability to practice one of the most simultaneously valuable and fraught exercises: The Hover. The Hover is universal. We’ve all done it, and we’ve certainly all been subjected to it. But like any habit, some of us are more dependent on that type of working than others, and anxiety ensues when it’s suddenly pulled away.

How can we hover? How, while we’re all working remotely, can I stand behind a designer, gesturing at their screen and asking them to try this and that? In these past few weeks, managers have been trying to adapt The Hover, having their teams share screens and push pixels on command. If you’re prone to hovering, this tactic might be the best proxy. Even so, it’s no stand-in for the real thing, and could have an unwelcome side effect of piling on the Zoom Gloom. It’s also already facing a phase-out. As we all return to the office after a prolonged period of increased autonomy and independence, I can only imagine that The Hover might be less welcome after months of working without it.

There is value in this kind of collaborative, in-real-time editing. It’s one of the reasons we all love The Hover: it gets things done, exactly how we want it. But because it works, it’s often overused, leading to inefficiency and needless repetition. We’ve been given a chance to hit the reset button, and my hope is that we can find a better way to work—one that is built on trust, learning, and letting go (just a little).

**Let’s start with trust.** Managers, if you’ve had trouble trusting your team before now, it would be a good time to start developing some faith. If you have notes, share them. Send an email, have a quick Zoom call, do what you need to do to get the message across. And then let your team work. Make it clear you’re giving them the space to try things, even occasionally fail, but that you are looking forward to seeing a product closer to the finish line than it was before you gave the notes.

Teams, you aren’t off the hook—you need to step it up too. If you have been given autonomy and ownership of the work, show your stuff! And be prepared to defend your choices. If you’re not entirely sure what to do, try it all, and then try some more. Reward the trust you’ve been given and take advantage of this new terrain. Understand this: it’s going to make you better at your job.

**Get learning!** Teams should also be using this time to learn, and their leaders should become more patient in their teaching (which means they might have some stuff to learn as well). For team members, your new-found autonomy might be a crash course in solving problems on your own, or using new tools. If you’re confused, ask questions. Confer with your fellow teammates. Rely on each other’s expertise and experience. Ask the internet. Do what it takes to get up and running.

For managers, it is crucial that you invite those questions, be open to conferring, and share your experiences. In other words, teach. If your usual way of hovering is simply a shortcut to finishing the work and not using it as a teaching moment, learn to be more open with your thinking and your process. Teams who understand why you want it to be blue instead of red are more likely to meet your expectations when you give them all that trust we talked about.

**I know it’s hard, but you might have to let go, just a little.** It’s time we acknowledge why we hover: we want to control the output to make it the way we want it. And yes, we all want the work to be as perfect as possible. But perfection is subjective. Your perfect is another person’s meh. Part of trusting your team is seeing the value in the choices they make. They’re not the choices you would make? Get over it (or engage in some of that learning/teaching I’m endorsing).

This brings me to my most important point: sometimes hovering can get in the way of understanding what your company or clients value and prioritize. If you like to hover because you’re obsessed with kerning, but your client doesn’t know Comic Sans from Neue Haas Grotesk, set aside your obsession—at least for a little while. Prioritize your team’s efforts for the forest, not the trees. I’m not advocating we entirely abandon the hallmarks of our crafts. I’m simply saying, as belts are tightened globally, efficiency in objective becomes paramount. And as we all struggle to make the best of a bad situation in work as well as life—let’s not make “the perfect” the enemy of “the good.” Afterall, we could all use some good right about now.

Direction at a distance

direction-at-a-distance

michael_girts.jpg

Michael Girts

Strategy Director

I’ll admit I said it.

I said it out loud, before all the shutdowns, and before we knew how long this would last.

And for a while, it wasn’t so bad. I liked sleeping in an extra hour. I enjoyed making my own lunch in my own kitchen. And it was a treat to spend more quality time with my significant other.

Today? I miss going to the office. Working from home has been a little tough on me because I’m a **Connector.** That’s my work personality.

**Connectors** feel a deep need to share their truest, honest selves with their teammates and their bosses. We want to connect as people—not just co-workers. We think it’s important to go through the ups and downs together. We believe those experiences tend to facilitate collaboration, which leads to better work.

There are lots of employees out there just like me, but importantly, there are even more employees out there who are not like me. And we have the data to prove it.

You see, different employees care about different things. Yes, all of us value functional, tangible benefits like perks, paychecks and job security. But when it comes to emotional needs—the intangible stuff that rarely appears in a job description—that’s where we start to segment into different work personalities.

We conducted a quantitative survey of 1,100 employees who are working primarily from home. We asked them to identify what they most want—functionally and emotionally—from their employer. We also interrogated them about their attitudes on working from home, and we sought to understand their WFH conditions. (Do they have kids? Do they have roommates? How big is their living space? Are they in the city or the country or the suburbs?)

This study is helping us and our clients better understand how we can motivate, retain and reward our people in this new remote working environment.

The quantitative study revealed five distinct needs-based segments. Because their needs differ, their employers must add value in different ways.

Understanding the Needs of Your Remote Workers Five Needs-Based Segments

img_5-across

Understanding the Needs of Your Remote Workers: The Climber

img_climber

Climbers are frustrated by the lack of consistency, clarity and structure in their WFH routine. It’s harder for them to feel acknowledged or rewarded for the work they’re doing, and they are less likely to see a path forward with their company.

Understanding the Needs of Your Remote Workers: The Connector

img_connector

Connectors derive a lot of their self-identity from their workplace relationships. When they WFH, they feel distant from what they value most: their team and workplace culture.

Understanding the Needs of Your Remote Workers: The Believer

img_beliver

Believers know their company’s mission—but not always the company’s plan. They refuse to let these strange circumstances slow them down. They’re working more than ever—and burnout is a risk.

Understanding the Needs of Your Remote Workers: The Grinder

img_grinder

Grinders love the work for its own sake. WFH helps them focus more deeply, and they love how productive they feel. They already tend to detach from their teammates and workplace culture, and remote work pushes them even further away.

Understanding the Needs of Your Remote Workers: The Balancer

img_balancer

Balancers put their personal life ahead of their work life, and for the most part, remote work allows them to better achieve the balance they seek. The increasingly blurred lines between when they’re “at work” and when they’re not is a creeping frustration.


If you run a business or manage a team, there’s a good chance you have folks in all five of these segments. If we understand what motivates them, we can design solutions and communications that drive happiness, engagement and productivity for all types.

To read more about each work personality, [download this PDF.](https://s3.amazonaws.com/vsapartners.com-assets/VSA-Remote-Worker-Study_de3592e9e1.pdf) And if you’d like our help assessing how your own workforce fits into these segments, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Seriously, I’d love to connect. It’s kind of my thing.





*Study conducted by Michael Girts, Kyle Flynn, Elizabeth Hancock, Ryan Monroe, Joe Nio, Linda Vo and Emily Woodward.*

Understanding the needs of your remote workers

remote-worker-study

ariadna-navarro-1524

Ariadna Navarro

Partner, Head of Strategy

fay-scott

Fay Scott

The COVID-19 global pandemic has created seismic shifts within our culture for individuals and companies alike. In mid-March, VSA decided to start tracking and predicting sociological changes in this global crisis. The goal of this study was not to **report on the obvious and immediate shifts** in spend, lifestyle, and habits brought on by social distancing in response to the COVID-19 outbreak — we see those as ephemeral, reactive symptoms. Instead, we wanted to understand how our **individual lenses may be shifting** through the collective experience of this pandemic, and hypothesize its implications for the future.

We used a social listening tool to analyze tens of millions of digital posts (December to April) as well as dozens of industry reports released within the first month of social distancing (March to early April) to identify the tectonic patterns of behavioral and perceptual shifts happening through the varied experiences of Americans.

COVID-19 Behavioral and Perceptual Shifts metrics

COVID-Strategy_LB_R5

At the macro level, we found the largest topic was ‘Government Handling’ which was mostly attributed to a growing distrust of government and institutional leaders. In that thread of conversations, we also saw a desire and an expectation for companies to play a larger role in helping and supporting people in not only combatting the virus, but also adapting to a new way of life.

COVID-19 Behavioral and Perceptual Shifts statistics

COVID-Strategy_LB_R5_2

And although we are all coping in various ways, there were several universal shifts that we are all experiencing to some degree that have the potential to fundamentally shape our post-COVID reality:

- We are rapidly **adapting to new constraints** with the help of brands that have taken on expanded roles in our lives, including figuring out how to create a new ‘normal’ with less physical proximity in our social interactions, reacting to an increased reliance on technology and devices, and living with an inability to plan for the future.
- We are **imbuing new meaning to the words ‘valuable,’ ‘essential,’ and ‘necessary’** in the context of quarantine, shifting power and importance to populations and products previously overlooked.
- We are less trusting of large institutions, and more reliant on community-level organization, with our level of **trust correlated to perceived brand selflessness.**

As we think about the future of our business and our clients’ businesses, we see this as a tremendous opportunity for companies to play **more meaningful and potentially new roles in customers’ and employees’ lives** as important conduits to the new ‘normal.’ A massive global disruption is ripe for rapid innovation and brands that rise to the occasion can and will emerge stronger and more valuable to daily life than they were before.

Our report details how companies must disrupt their own businesses by redefining:

- **The value** you deliver
- **How** your value is delivered
- **Who** are your most valuable customers and stakeholders

We are already seeing a new class of brands forming: quick service restaurants hosting virtual parties with high-profile celebrity programming, technology companies known for charging fees and overages providing free services to all customers, and delivery services creating coalitions with their competitors to keep restaurants in business. These leaders are rising to the top through their ability to be nimble, responsive and selfless to exceed expectations in meeting their customers’ changing needs.

When we work with companies, we break out their response capacity into two categories: operational agility and strategic adaptability. As defined by [Gary Hamel](http://www.garyhamel.com/), operational agility implies an ability to respond quickly to shifts in demand or customer preference within the boundaries of an existing business model. Strategic adaptability, by contrast, refers to a company’s capacity to reconfigure its underlying business concept by dramatically rethinking the existing business model. This includes massive alterations of key structures — everything from its core mission to its pricing model to even the basic way in which it produces products and services.

This crisis has become a true test of both a company’s operational and strategic agility. As businesses undergo immense change, it can be tempting to limit strategy to just keeping up with the surface-level demands of the present. Our data-driven framework creates a game-plan to move companies beyond just playing defense (with reactions tied solely to the here and now), to curating a strong offense position within the competitive market. By utilizing these tools, companies can meet marketplace changes with agility, and set their business up for a stronger, more resilient future.

To read our full perspective, [download the PDF](https://s3.amazonaws.com/vsapartners.com-assets/COVID-19-Behavioral-and-Perceptual-Shifts_VSA_e655593bc6.pdf).

Behavioral and perceptual shifts from COVID-19

COVID-19 Behavioral and Perceptual Shifts booklet

covid-cover-v2

Zach Frazer

Senior Copywriter

ariel_bolles.jpg

Ariel Bolles

Former Associate Director, Content Strategy

jlooby

Josh Looby

Senior Strategist & Analytics Manager

It’s an odd feeling, knowing that we’re in the midst of a major historical event. COVID-19 has quickly taken over our lives, foisting on us a new normal that now colors everything we do (and that has made “unprecedented” the most popular word in the English language). As brand stewards work from their homes and try to plot the best path forward, that path is proving difficult to determine. When every commercial break swells with emotional music and platitudes about how we’re “stronger together,” the brands that have been making a genuine impression have taken one thing to heart.

These strange times we’re living in have made people highly sensitive to branded messages. Money suddenly seems scarcer than it used to be—and not just for the 30+ million Americans who recently filed for unemployment. No one knows how long this pandemic response will last and how much of an effect it will have on any industry, putting future incomes at risk almost across the board. And in the middle of a crisis, when economic futures are uncertain, trying overtly to convince people to spend on your product or service feels tone deaf (and that’s not even mentioning anyone using “COVID19” as a promo code).

Even brands who didn’t take any action to adjust their normal strategy ended up catching some flak. When the first lockdown orders were issued and panic-buying at grocery stores was in full swing, social media lit up with people appalled that certain cleaning brands were still running ads despite their products having already been cleaned out at most retail stores. As one Twitter user who replied to a sponsored tweet about crackers put it, “Read the room, baby.”

So what do you do when most promotional, traditional advertising feels wrong? Let’s take, for example, a Vietnamese bistro that opened recently in St. Louis—recently, by the way, meaning they hadn’t yet been open a month before the stay-at-home orders went into effect across the country. In the face of mounting adversity, wondering where sales would come from and how long they would be able to stay open, they packed up a bunch of sandwiches and meal kits and took them to a local hospital to feed healthcare workers on the frontlines. Local news outlets picked up their story, and after a barrage of articles and on-air coverage, they put together a successful restaurant launch in the middle of a pandemic.

The brands that have been succeeding in this torrid time haven’t been focused on selling—**they’ve been focused on helping.** They have put their promotions on hold in favor of putting time and energy and resources toward making a real difference in people’s lives. Giving back has moved their brand forward. Because when you do the right thing, people take notice.

Brands that are focused on helping rather than selling are succeeding right now for a few reasons. First, temporarily deprioritizing business needs and leading with empathy helps build brand affinity—when people feel they share common values with a brand, the emotional part of a purchasing decision is more likely to play a larger role. Recent studies have shown that brand affinity helps raise conversions [by a staggering 131%](https://www.shopkick.com/partners/blog/how-to-build-brand-affinity-why-your-brands-personality-matters-fc/), while [81% of people](https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2019-06/2019_edelman_trust_barometer_special_report_in_brands_we_trust.pdf) felt brand trust was a deal breaker or deciding factor when considering a purchase.

Doing good out in the world humanizes brands. It makes companies seem less like money-driven soulless entities and more like collections of people working together for a common goal. And that ‘feel-good’ factor, in turn, puts those companies into more consideration sets and gives people a reason to buy or spend on them in the future—in fact, [study](https://studylib.net/doc/8817665/does-business-ethics-pay%3F---institute-of-business-ethics) after [study](https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergeorgescu/2017/07/26/doing-the-right-thing-is-just-profitable/#6687d4f27488), from the UK’s Institute of Business Ethics to the nonprofit organization JUST Capital, has shown that the most ethical companies consistently outperform their industry competitors.

Helping also attracts media coverage, which generally carries more trust with consumers than traditional advertising. Earned media get the word out and builds positive perception without relying on owned channels that can be seen as self-serving and insincere. At a time when people are often more skeptical when hearing about companies talk about themselves—and when every TV spot is the same piano-driven montage of stills—this is one of the best ways for brands to stay top-of-mind and grow that brand affinity.

We’ve all gotten emails from brands we haven’t interacted with in years about their response to the coronavirus crisis. While this information is great to reassure potential customers that you’re taking the current situation into account, it’s certainly not going to stand out or make an impact. Some brands have gone a bit farther by changing their logos or taglines to promote social distancing. And again, it’s commendable that they’re raising awareness for and supporting the stay-at-home cause—but the brand actions that have really resonated with people and have dominated conversations have been those that make a difference out in the world.

As the adage goes, actions speak louder than words (and in this case, logo redesigns too). The most impactful brand responses to this crisis have been helpful actions—giving aid to our tireless healthcare workers on the frontlines, repurposing resources to produce helpful products, or simply providing a bit of relief to the everyday Americans that are doing their best to stop the spread. There are plenty of lists full of distilleries and perfume makers that have outfitted their assembly lines to make hand sanitizer and delivery services that have cut fees to support people and restaurants (if you haven’t read one yet, [here](https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/how-marketers-responded-coronavirus-first-three-months/2244251) [are](https://www.growwire.com/coronavirus-relief) [a few](https://www.adweek.com/creativity/brands-launch-creative-initiatives-to-help-people-impacted-by-covid-19-tuesdays-first-things-first/)), so we wanted to highlight one small business we love as well as one of our clients here at VSA that have really taken helping to heart.

The first is a tech company called Wyze, headquartered out in Seattle, WA. They’re a smart home device maker that set out to make things like smart plugs and wifi-connected light bulbs cheaper and more accessible to the everyday consumer. As part of their [COVID-19 response](https://wyze.com/wyze-in-response), they set up a program to donate their popular Wyze Cam wifi cameras to small business owners across the state of Washington to help them look after their stores while they are self-isolating. Brilliant. (author’s note: I may or may not have bought another pack of their smart plugs after reading about their efforts just to show my support)

The second is VSA’s client [Arity](https://www.arity.com/), a company that gathers mobility data and turns it into insights to make transportation safer, smarter and more useful for everyone. They recently determined that there had been a [drastic decrease in people on the roads](https://www.arity.com/move/americans-starting-cope-covid-19-driving-less/) due to the many shelter-in-place orders in effect. This insight was integral to their parent company Allstate’s decision to return to their customers an estimated $600 million in insurance premiums—an action that has spurred many competitors to follow suit. And as an added bonus, Arity offered up their insights and COVID-19 driving reports to any insurance company in the industry in hopes that those companies can use their data to help their customers in a time of need. That’s how you make an impact.

1. As for us at VSA, we recognize that we are incredibly fortunate to be able to continue our work (remotely, of course) and we’ve been doing our best to help, too. VSA is partnering with Barrel Maker Printing to use our collective creative talent to help keep some of our favorite small businesses in business through and beyond the current crisis. Our talented team of designers have been hard at work creating designs for t-shirts, the proceeds from the sale of which will be donated to the participating local businesses to help keep them afloat. You can help support the cause [by checking out the shirts](http://localinsideandout.com/).

In addition to helping at company-wide level, it’s important to support individual employees as they help, too. Here are some of the ways our brilliant employees are doing their part: 

**Designer Johnny Mei** is donating all sales of his [photographs on Society6](https://society6.com/imperfectday) this year to Doctors Without Borders. He says, “Their support for countries in conflict zones is continuously important. In addition, the organization’s emphasis on being independent, impartial, and neutral also resonates with me.

**Content Strategist Ariel Bolles** is working with a community-based mutual aid group in her area, and built and maintains a [simple website](https://www.bcmutualaid.com/) for the cause. The bilingual website provides general and local resources in addition to links to request help and volunteer.

- **Talent Manager Lauren Nadel** has been receiving messages from former employees, friends and friends of friends who have lost their jobs, internships or freelance gigs. She also works with program representatives at Pursuit, BUILT BY GIRLS, and Here Are All the Black People who’ve been forwarding resumes to her. Even though at the moment VSA doesn’t have any open roles, in her spare time she’s taken the time to chat with each and every one of these people. She says, “I feel fortunate every morning knowing I still have my position and if there is anything I can do to help others ease the anxiety of being without a job or opportunity to grow, I do what I can to make sure they feel supported.”

Uniting around putting our expertise to work for local groups and friends is just one way we’re committed to helping—we’ve got plenty more in the works, and we hope to see plenty more from you, too.

Marketing in the time of COVID-19

marketing-in-the-time-of-COVID-19

Culture is the glue that binds us. As people, as ethnicities, as companies.

So naturally every company tries to “create” a culture that is (circle one or more): innovative / agile / compelling / inspirational / progressive…you get the idea. You’ve done it before. A common set of values, beliefs and behaviors that define a “way of being,” help drive a business forward and motivate people.

But honestly, how are you supposed to maintain a company’s culture when the very essence of culture that we have relied on over the past 2,000+ years — personal connection — has been taken away?

At the center of culture is people. So what happens when we’re no longer together, when we’re working alone, from home, connecting to each other through a screen that allows for limited, artificial moments of interaction? When we can’t show up and lead by physical example? When actions are not overt and can’t be shared and seen?

When digital communications that were meant to be a substitute for the real thing are the ONLY thing?

When we do Culture Transformation work we tell our clients “Culture is a process. It’s not an event or a moment in time.” Not a list of words on a page. Ok yes it has to be words on a page somewhere, but it only comes alive and resonates if realized consistently and credibly, every day, in every action. Either as deliberate acts that help nurture it or as spontaneous gestures of meaning and support. It’s a system and as such it has to be treated in a systematic way.

However given today’s circumstances you need to simplify. We’ve been focusing on three core pillars to maintain our culture:

Trust, shared rituals and meaningful connectivity.

Trust is the mother of all cultural glue. You can’t “offer it or promise it,” it can only be earned through transparency, respect and backing up your words with actions. It’s the pillar to all other aspirations of creating culture. In a time of unprecedented uncertainty, it’s your duty to offer a clear representation of reality — of the company’s views, actions and decisions, of even your personal fears. And more importantly, it’s your duty to put the interests of the people first. It’s hard to earn trust if people don’t feel you have their back.

Rituals and moments of surprise and delight create shared experiences and nurture a sense of belonging. At VSA we’ve done it in an amplified way to counter the physical absence.  Everything from virtual bingo to talent contests to dress up day to sending someone who needed extra care a bottle of wine. It hasn’t been scripted or forced — we just became even more sensitive to when it was needed. This requires you to be really tuned in to your teams. Sometimes you need to bring joy and levity to the group, other times support and empathy, other times clarity and leadership.

Meaningful connections, both big and small, are at the center of managing culture in absentia. And we’re being purposeful here about the word “meaningful.” This is about making a gigantic space, literally time on your calendar, to allow you to reach out to people. To ensure you know what’s going on with their families, to give someone some free time if you think they need a break, or to celebrate their achievements. But you have to mean it.

And here’s a little hint. Omissions count as much. If you forget to congratulate someone who aced a presentation or forget to check in if you heard their kids are sick, that leaves a hole. It just does. And it’s very hard to fill back. Times are sensitive. Today, hyper-sensitive might not be a strong enough way to describe how people feel. To describe all of us.

During these past weeks, when so much has been at stake, those are the few things that have truly mattered, that have kept us sane as a team and actually brought us even closer together and allowed us to continue to do great work in the process.

It’s the art of marrying people’s dreams and beliefs with your company’s and finding a way to dance together through this difficult time. And when it’s over we’ll all be that much stronger. Together.

Be well.

Creating virtual culture in a virtual world

VSA-apart

VSA Creative Director Josh Berta found a creative outlet by designing a number of COVID-themed parodies of famous book covers. Check out his collection of COVID covers and see if you recognize any of these from your own library.

The Great Fauci (The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

the-great-fauci

catch-it

Children of Zoom (Children of Dune, by Frank Herbert)

children-of-zoom

The Amazing Adventures of Shelter & Stay (The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon)

shelter-and-stay

The Curve Also Flattens (The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway)

curve-also-flattens

Infinite Germs (Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace)

infinite-germs

Oh, the Places You'll Stay! (Oh, the Places You'll Go!, by Dr. Seuss)

the-places-youll-stay

Great Vaccinations (Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens)

great-vaccinations

Harry Potter and the Hoarder of the Kleenex (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling)

harry-potter

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Living Room (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams)

hitchhikers-guide

Hoard of Supplies (Lord of the Flies, by William Golding)

hoard-of-supplies

The Odyssey of Home (The Odyssey of Homer)

the-odyssey

High Virality (High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby)

high-virality

The Hoard of the Things (The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien)

hoard-of-the-rings

Muddlemarch (Middlemarch, by George Eliot)

muddledmarch

Memes in the Time of COVID-19 (Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

memes-in-the-time-of-covid

Maybe Sick; or, The Well (Moby Dick; or, The Whale, by Herman Melville)

maybe-sick

COVID-1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell)

1984

Near, The Child Things Are (Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak )

the-child-things-are

the-ill-advised

Walled In (Walden, by Henry David Thoreau)

walled-in

Journey to the Back of the Fridge (Journey to the End of the Night, by Louis-Ferdinand Céline)

journey-to-the-fridge

Tasks in Masks (Fox in Socks, by Dr. Seuss)

tasks-in-masks

Gathering Likes (Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë)

gathering-likes

Cruiseship Troopers (Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein)

cruiseship-troopers

Brioche, Challah, Soda, Rye (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John le Carré)

brioche

Everything's Closed in Brooklyn (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith)

closed-in-brooklyn

COVID covers

the-great-fauci-leadspace2

anne-marie-rosser-1524

Anne-Marie Rosser

Partner, Client Engagement Practice Lead

In times of crisis, our first instinct is to slow down. If it’s a global pandemic, it may feel more like “come to a screeching halt.” It makes sense, right? The road is unknown, things are changing quickly, and plowing ahead may set you up for an unplanned cliff dive. But standing still can be just as dangerous, and a few months of non-movement as a business can leave you years if not decades behind. So it’s eyes up and forward march. But why is it that some companies seem to be better at adapting to the changing landscape than others? 

A few months ago, I was reflecting on my work experience and observations born largely from working with West Coast versus East Coast clients. My experience over decades of working with established blue chip companies (think at least 100 years old) was that they tended to favor rigor and, not surprisingly, logic in driving sound decisions. When I transitioned to working for more West Coast companies (think 20 years old or younger) there was an almost opposite dynamic. These companies seemed comfortable working within ambiguity, and the trick was figuring out how to do great work within that ambiguity instead of seeking to eradicate it. 

Here’s the thing: both are right. There’s a benefit to guidelines and process just as there’s an advantage to innovation and risk-taking.  When I see companies thrive in times of uncertainty, young and old, it’s because they’ve taken lessons from both ends of the spectrum. In short, they’ve created a framework for ambiguity. By working with ambiguity in a systematic way, they’re providing the checks and balances necessary to correct direction as needed while still continuing their momentum. They’re meeting ambiguity with increased velocity. 

Meeting ambiguity with increased velocity in a thoughtful, systematic way is the key to successfully navigating a rapidly changing landscape. If I knew it a few months ago I definitely know it now, even as the notion of “ambiguity” has taken on an entirely new resonance. There’s something emotionally comforting in finding that some of the same tools still apply, and that my natural propensity to take action (fly by the seat of my pants?) is still as good a bet as any. So I thought I would share some of the steps I’ve learned along the way. 

If you’re ready to make friends with ambiguity, here’s how to get started.

The goal here is to embrace the ambiguity, but still be disciplined enough to define a singular problem that you are trying to solve. In reality, the challenge in front of you may be multidimensional, but sometimes you just need to define one dimension to move forward. I often found that in organizations that move quickly, the problem state is either broadly defined or often wrongly stated. If you interrogate the stated problem and relate it back to either a business challenge or a customer need, you’ll get a pretty good sense of whether it is the right problem to run at or not. And if you do identify multiple problems—prioritize. There’s usually a sequence where solving one will naturally begin to unlock the others.

Hypothesizing is my BFF. It is a really critical tool in beginning to address “velocity”—allowing a team to move quickly through relative ambiguity to still deliver great work. Today, there are more tools that allow you to get both quant and qual research fairly quickly, making the chances of true insight much more likely. But even if you aren’t able to do any primary research, fast synthesis of past learning and current landscape dynamics can still generate enough to help you hypothesize. I find that “narrative hypothesizing” where you build out a story or argument is really helpful. You learn quickly whether the argument can hold water, or whether it’s a weak hypothesis and you need to keep working.



One of the hardest parts about working in ambiguity is the natural desire to want to work sequentially. Ah, if only this were possible in every circumstance. But this is where the idea of “velocity” becomes even more important. It’s counter-intuitive to start on creative solutions before strategy is fully baked, or perhaps before insights are identified. But if you’ve done the hypothesizing, you have enough of a framework to understand what to create, and also where to modify when you need to (which you likely will.) My creative colleagues have become adept at understanding that much of the work they begin to develop will never see the light of day, because strategy work is happening in parallel. The creative work may not be bad, it may just prove to be “wrong” once strategy gets farther along. It takes a pretty amazing dose of confidence coupled with a rare lack of ego to really make this work. My hats off to our creative teams everyday for their winning combo in driving with velocity.



Sometimes I forget how comfortable I’ve become working in ambiguity. As new team members join projects for our clients, I’m reminded of just how overwhelming it can feel at first. And that’s where trust comes in. This style of work can take a lot out of you. But it can also be energizing and incredibly exciting. I remain in awe of the rabbits I see my colleagues pulling out of hats every…single…week. And I believe it’s because we’ve built a culture of trust that allows people to work this quickly, fail together, rebuild and build again. Trust is built from each discipline in the group bringing their best, and trusting in the rest of the team to do the same. Generally, there is at least one team member (from strategy or account) who is responsible for keeping the hypothesis thread in mind. They keep the team focused or re-focus as work develops. The lack of ego comes into play when it’s time to tweak, or even abandon good ideas that no longer serve the hypothesis. Having a shared goal, in a high degree of ambiguity, while working with velocity makes this kind of trust a necessity. Ideas are fragile, and they need care when they are being discarded or rebuilt. When you see creative leads who really know how to do this well, and validate the intent (if not the final idea) you see how valuable and motivating that skill is. Be a builder.

These four lessons have helped me and my teams deliver some of the work that I am most proud of, and have kept me nimble and flexible as a leader. When I think about the ambiguity we’re all living through right now, the language we tend to see is largely around inertia. And while it’s true that we must stay home to stay safe, it’s also true that our brains are free to roam. Defining problems, hypothesizing insights, breaking white paper and being a builder are tools I’ll use personally and professionally to help navigate these strange times we’re in. If we’re lucky, perhaps we can turn some of that inertia into ingenuity.


Meeting ambiguity with velocity

2020-04-16-1

jeff-walker-1524

Jeff Walker

Senior Partner

Much has been captured and codified over the years about the power of a strong sense of purpose for organizations and companies. It’s been debated and diagnosed that companies with a clear, poignant definition of their purpose — essentially, why they exist at a higher order — typically end up having stronger financial performance, more resonant cultures and reasons to join, and very motivated and precise commercial strategies. More often than not, their purpose acts as a beacon in which to refer back, redirect, and refocus plans for continually moving forward, particularly in challenging times.

Well, now is one of those times. People, organizations, companies, and entire systems are in an unprecedented swirl of uncertainty — not exactly sure what to say or do in this state of near societal paralysis. With the exception of the fearless healthcare workers, scientists searching for remedies, and civic and governmental responders in full action mode, nearly all other institutions are still searching for answers on how to move forward with clear conviction and impact. And many of us at a personal level are coming to question and realize the very basic necessities we need in our lives for survival, challenging many of the things we deemed so important to us. This brings into question the value and role of many of the brands and experiences we’ve come to take for granted, or blindly adopted. Are they completely necessary? What are these companies and brands doing to help this crisis? How are they behaving? 

While it is enormously difficult for organizations to think about doing “societal work” when their businesses are likely under enormous pressure to just stay afloat, or keep people employed, this is the very time when actions connected to your purpose can ring true, long after this event has transpired. 

Did we as an organization look to our reasons for being, and why we exist, to find meaning in our communications and actions? Did our purpose help us find a sense of truth and transparency to our authentic and genuine decision-making? If so, your organization may emerge different, and no doubt made countless difficult decisions along the way, but will have gained respect and appreciation for leadership, clarity and the long view of your role in the world.  

Take for example, IBM’s purpose of “Making the World Work Better,” a simple and directional phrase that some might suggest is even generic. But purpose statements are true to the core, provide clarity before cleverness, and help an organization reach deep into its institution, capabilities and character to take action — in good times and in bad. IBM can lean into their purpose as it guides everyday actions and the ongoing evolution of their business model and populace. But in IBM’s recent announcement that it would be a leading member of the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium to use supercomputers to tackle the massive challenges of helping scientists crunch the data and sequence possible solutions to this virus, they took another step toward using this purpose as a driving force. IBM is not alone in this effort, in fact, it is aligned in the consortium with several companies considered direct competitors, along with many institutions and laboratories, to crack this code. This action would seem to be a tremendous demonstration of their purpose of helping the world work better. 

There are an array of companies seeking ways to help the global charge against the challenge — Crocs donating its comfortable and easily washable shoes to exhausted and strained healthcare workers, or Dyson using its air-flow innovation to create a new, more efficient ventilator in just ten days. These are emerging examples of companies trying to use their core beliefs and capabilities to make a difference, no matter how big or small. And while your company may not make actual things, or have technologies to jump into this fray, the challenge remains the same. Why are we here and what can we do with what we’ve built? If you have a clear purpose, there is a bottomless well of ideas and concepts that could be generated to give your organization renewed meaning and action, nearly immediately. Delivering on these ideas in times like these will be rewarded in the long run. 

The longer this extends, the more and more companies will seek to find ways to help — or may be forced by the Federal Government to convert capabilities to combat this crisis. The ones that have the ability to look at themselves in the mirror, and can lean on their clear sense of purpose to help on a proactive basis, will emerge stronger than before. This will lead to positive credit, even if the commercial gains are nonexistent or nominal at best. On the contrary, the companies that did not have a true grasp of this critical prism in which to gauge all of their actions may feel even more lost during these times, and quite possibly, struggle to find their footing when we have moved beyond this urgent response. Others may have leapfrogged them.

When we’ve worked with companies to help sharpen or solidify their purpose, the most frequent question can often be “what do we do with that?” Leadership is often much more interested in the external manifestation of the purpose, typically characterized as the value proposition or commercial differentiators to go sell something. They often have difficulty seeing their purpose playing a meaningful and sustainable role in their long-term success. But in this very moment, when selling something feels inherently wrong or inappropriate, there may be no better time to prove the power of purpose.

The power of purpose

power-of-purpose

hugh_allspaugh.jpg

Hugh Allspaugh

Associate Partner, Strategy

We’re just kicking off our second week of the new normal: working from home, social distancing, shelter-in-place, non-stop Zoom meetings. It’s been more weird than wonderful, and mildly exhausting as we all grapple personally and professionally to comprehend what is happening and how to prepare for an uncertain future.

Many brands are doing their best to respond to the crisis, to reassure their customers, and to make sure that they have an economic future once this crisis is over. The past week provided a deluge of CEO emails and an abundance of brands adapting to the rapidly changing reality of a global pandemic. The messages and responses were all over the map. While some fell flat — if not completely tone deaf — other brands rose to the occasion with authenticity and ingenuity.

The brands that have been most successful have done so because they know who they are, so their response times have been swift and their messages and actions seem genuine, not self-serving. I have three favorites (from the past week).

“Time Out” adopted “Time In” branding. Brilliant.

TimeOut logo with Out crossed out and In added

Time_In

Time Out logo with Out crossed out and In added

Louis Vuitton owner LVMH will use its perfume production lines to start making hand sanitizer to protect people against the coronavirus outbreak. This is a significant manufacturing pivot — and one we’re seeing more of by craft breweries and distilleries in the US. *And they are giving it away.*

Who let the penguins out? The aquarium is letting the penguins explore various exhibits, providing us with an inside-view of the space while on lockdown.

Penguins Edward and Annie explore the Shedd Aquarium

penguins

No doubt, these brands have advantages that not all companies can offer in these moments. But all companies should know who they are and how to respond in ways that are authentic to their identity, their culture, and their values.

VSA Partners is a brand and design firm. We have a brand strategy framework we call The Brand Character model. The word “character” has never mattered more. Character is a summation of all the different aspects a corporation and their employees embody: what you stand for, why you exist, what you value, how you live those values, and ultimately how you behave — especially in times of trial. This self-understanding is what differentiates brands and enables — even empowers — companies to act with confidence and courage in good times and bad.

Which leads me to my final “best of” observation this past week: my VSA Partners colleagues. We all had a day to process the new work-from-home mandate, grab our stuff in the office and start working remotely. Zoom has been the hub for meeting, connecting, collaborating, and socializing. We’ve been able to peek inside one another’s homes. We’ve met new pets. Seen spouses and partners in the background. Learned (and shared) before unknown Zoom features like Virtual Background. And we’re still exploring our new normal and trying new things like virtual bingo social hours, an all-company weekly check-in via Zoom, and tinkering with the interactive features of collaboration and video tools as we discover how to accomplish things through a computer screen that we have mastered in person. And while VSA doesn’t have posters of our values smattered around our office walls, we all seem to have a very clear understanding of what we collectively stand for: Partnership. Partnership means we care about our clients and each other’s well-being. We’re empathetic to the challenges we individually may face, be it childcare or space or just getting used to being at home working all day with our partners, spouses, and families. And yet we’re also still focused on making an impact on the day’s task-at-hand, and doing so with the same drive and focus on quality we have when we’re collaborating in person. I have never been more proud of our character.

Stay true.

Staying true in the new normal

staying-true

james_wood.jpg

James Wood

As more and more office workers transition to working away from each other, I thought it would help to share what I’ve learned during my 18-month odyssey of working remote.

Working from home requires routine and discipline. Your commute and the meetings that move you around the office create a structure that remote does not. Left to your own devices you have to be much more on top of your day than you realize. Start and end your work day at the same time. Enforce and protect your lunch break.

Don’t sit on the couch. Don’t lounge on your bed. Have a dedicated space for business. Use a nook, a window space, a corner, a spare room, the finished basement, or even your shed (I use mine in the summer). The best reason for this is the “separation of church and state”. You’ll be able to close the laptop and physically walk away at the end of the day. You don’t want work taking over your home, and you don’t want home taking over your work.

Under normal circumstances I’d recommend walking to get coffee or going to the gym, but these are not normal circumstances. Try to do something unrelated to work to fill the void of your commute. I hang out with my 4-month-old son. I fold laundry (exciting, I know!). I bake bread. It simply sucks to just plop down in front of a screen and start working.

I have worn my PJs for an entire day like, three times, and it was awful, I think I would probably be depressed if I did that all the time. Wear real clothes.

I became one of the worst offenders for leaving the camera off and have recently begun to correct that. Try not to hide behind your avatar or photo, that way we all get to look into your home to see your cat or your taste in art. However, this is more about staying connected. I’ve felt a lot more distant from teams by keeping the camera off. And try to use mute when you’re not talking, it’s weird what the mic picks up.

This is one of the biggest factors that has made my time working remote successful. I’m lucky enough to have a team that trusts me to get the work done. We’re all professionals, and we’ve proven it to each other in person on multiple occasions. Now let’s prove it to each other online.

I know, this sounds counter-productive, but it isn’t. In an office you stop all the time for small talk or just to walk to the snack drawer, bathroom or downstairs to eat at whatever’s around your office. At home, you just sit, and work and sit, and sit. I usually get up and walk around a bit after every meeting. If you nail this and a daily structure, you’ll be surprised how effective you are remote.

Kids are usually the reason for this, so communicate with your team that your day might be interrupted, don’t hide the fact that your personal and professional lives have to temporarily collide. Again, if your team trusts you to be the awesome professional you are, you’re fine. Plus, I think we will all have added empathy for one another right now.

Gchat, email, text, all the things all the time. This is hard, but thankfully we have about 35 different ways to reach each other these days. It’s easy to drop off the face of the earth when you’re remote. It can look like you’re disengaged, you have to push against it.

Technology has made remote work possible, but digital tools can’t always fully re-create in-person communication (sorry video conferencing, you’re pretty great but no equivalent). It’s important to recognize that this is very very different from working in the office and that you have to find ways to compensate for the interactions you are used to. I’m a notorious introvert, but I still need my people. I can’t tell you what the solutions are for you, especially in this developing situation. What I can tell you is that based on the fact that we don’t know how long this will last, take some time to think about how you can try to replace the social interactions you’ve come to take for granted. Set up a lunch hangout with your work friends, or have open office hours on your calendar for your teammates to call into if they want to talk about current projects, or just to talk.

And finally, we’re all in this together.&nbsp;  
We’re all adjusting. We’re all figuring this out.&nbsp;  
The good news is, our clients look to us to be problem solvers.&nbsp;  
We’ll find ways to work through issues, and we won’t do it alone.

How to work from home (by somebody who knows how weird it is to work from home)

work-from-home

I survived ten years working in business development, and boy, do I have some stories to tell. 

Like the time I fell asleep on the curb waiting for the FedEx Office to open. Or the time I had to fly from Florida to New York on Christmas Eve, leaving my new girlfriend alone with my parents. (Sorry, Sarah.) Or the time a surprise second pitch popped up in Dallas while I was already in Dallas, so I had to purchase (and expense) new underwear.

I fondly remember the incredible people I got to work with. People like what’s-her-face. And the two guys with the shirts. And who could forget the tall one?

When I think about the people on my favorite and most effective pitch teams, they share a few important traits. First, I tend to remember their actual names. Secondly, and more importantly, they didn’t rigidly adhere to their prescribed roles. They flexed and adapted. They complemented each other in ways that eased the process and enhanced the final product. They innately understood how the pitch world is different from their usual world, and they modified their focus and their behavior accordingly.

It’s a phenomenon I call The Virtuous Circle of Highly Unusual, Highly Successful Pitch Teams. Here’s how it works.

**The account lead thinks like a strategist.** Winning a pitch requires more than great client management; we need to understand what makes the client tick. What drives her? What gets under her skin? What’s the problem beneath the problem? Why did she just say that? What is she not telling us? On my favorite pitch teams, the account lead clearly defines the objective and deeply understands human nature—just like a strategist would.

**The strategy lead thinks like a creative.** The strategy has to be right, and it has to be supported… but it has to be much more than that. It has to be memorable. It has to be sticky. It has to be beautifully written and artfully presented. We want the client to walk out of the room with that strategy stuck in her head like a catchy pop song. We want her humming our strategy during the next two agency presentations. On my favorite pitch teams, the strategy lead is a master of language who crafts and perfects her story with dexterity and care until it soars—just like a creative would.

**The creative lead thinks like an account person.** Why doesn’t great work win every time? Because creativity is subjective. We may be selling cereal to 10-year-olds, but they’re not our audience for the pitch. The client is. When creatives are in it to win it, they tend to ask questions like, “What does the client need? What kind of work has she bought in the past? How can I authentically connect with this client and exceed her expectations at every step of this process?” On my favorite pitch teams, the creative lead focuses on understanding the client’s objectives and delivering work that will win—just like an account person would.

See? It’s a virtuous circle because everyone rotates their focus—and therefore their role—ever so slightly. It’s a veritable do-si-do of pitch-winning power.

Diagram for The Virtuous Circle of Highly Unusual, Highly Successful Pitch Teams

Diagram

It feels like I should end this article with a piece of advice, so here I go: to all the business development directors out there, remember that 90% of your job is casting. Find the chameleons. Draft the utility players. Encourage the shapeshifters. And tell them all to pack an extra pair of underwear.

The virtuous circle of highly unusual, highly successful pitch teams

The Virtuous Circle of Highly Unusual, Highly Successful Pitch Teams

virtuous-circle

curt-schreiber-1524

Curt Schreiber

Chief Design Officer & President

Movie posters are one of my favorite forms of communication design. They evoke a range of emotions—scary, heartfelt, epic, ironic or fun. Good ones capture the spirit and story of the film. And obviously, promote and motivate people to invest a few hours of their time.

Most people decide to see a movie for one of three reasons: they read a favorable review, get a recommendation at a cocktail party, or find the trailer interesting enough to see the film.

But unless you’re at the theater, you really don’t encounter movie posters these days. Today’s posters are primarily experienced as small “postage stamp” sized images that pop up in search results or on websites. Even the need for VHS and DVD cover art is long gone or waning.

Still, many posters are works of art. They are beautifully crafted, typographically stunning and—in some cases—become iconic.

While browsing this year’s Best Picture nominations on [oscar.com](https://oscar.go.com/), a few posters really stood out as exceptional. And I wondered, if the Academy decided to give an Oscar for Best Poster, who would they pick?

Since the Academy reaches out for votes, I thought I would too. I polled 100 fellow VSAers to pick their favorite, and the top results were amazingly close.

**Parasite**—27%
**Joker**—26%
**Ford v Ferrari**—18%
**1917**—16%
**Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood**—7%
**JoJo Rabbit**—5%
**Marriage Story**—1%
**Little Women**—0%
**The Irishman**—0%

Personally, six posters stood out… 

**Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood is perfect.** It nailed the genre and was quintessential Quentin. Can’t get better than stars, cars and the City of Angels illustrated with ink and gouache-like technique.

**1917 nailed it.** Bold Futura serves as the window into the cinematic action this poster promises. The numerals intentionally mask the scenery into narrow, confining spaces that gives a sense of the claustrophobic and limited vantages of trench warfare. The colorful gradation in the skyline is dramatic and the running soldiers convey the tension.

**Joker is the perfect balance of sadness and triumph.** There is tremendous depth in this poster. The image and typography is both bold and distressed. And all the color, and thus focus, is on the Joker. Well done. 

**Ford v Ferrari is visually stunning.** Like Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood, this poster is inspired by the era and race. Albeit a bit more modern. The white space, reduction of color and the restraint of the typography harkens back to midcentury 24 Hours of Le Mans poster design. 

**JoJo Rabbit is disturbingly funny.** All the design elements are clearly inspired by Second World War propaganda posters. The collage of the cast is well done and just a hint of color is a nice finishing touch.

**Parasite is the most intriguing.** Whose legs are those? Why are their eyes blocked out? Is that a teepee? It makes me want to see the film… Plus, I love one-point perspective photography. Everything looks so formal. (One detail that may have been overlooked: the shadows. They suggest different times of day, which means it’s probably a composite of 10 images.)

I feel like these missed the mark from a design perspective… 

**Marriage Story is gimmicky.** Isn’t that Kylo Ren? It seems more like a graphic treatment than a real communication device. And I feel like I’ve seen it before. 

**Little Women is really boring.** It’s too bad because the film is exceptional. The photography makes the cast look like Madame Tussauds wax figures and the typography is a bit goth for my taste. 

**The Irishman is painfully sleepy.** I’m not surprised, I fell asleep after the first 90 min of the film. 

My vote? Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood. If you want to learn how artist Steve Chorney created the hand-painted art for the poster, check out [this article](https://www.motionpictures.org/2019/08/artist-steve-chorney-on-crafting-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywoods-poster-more/).

The end.

The latest from inside VSA

Let’s talk

Let’s talk