Our Five Biggest Takeaways from First Round NYC

Insight
Written By Rick Hickey

Last Friday, Max, Laura, and I met up in New York for our annual EightySeven studio summit, and stopped by the TriBeCa Performing Arts Center to check out the First Round NYC Conference.

First Round (organized by the branding nerds at UnderConsideration, LLC and BrandNew) is a “one-day showcase of original presentations made to clients showing initial design explorations for logo, identity, and branding projects.” New York has SO much talent, especially when it comes to branding. And First Round NYC was a chance for us to see some of the best in the branding biz showcase their work, their thinking, and lessons from their experiences. 

It was an incredible experience, and I came away from it feeling super inspired. I could easily list 50+ takeaways from First Round NYC, but this is LinkedIn, and we’re all busy, so here are Rick’s personal Top 5: 

 
 

#1 - Great branding is for businesses of all sizes.

Over the course of eight hours, we saw twelve presentations from individual independent brand designers, boutique studios, and branding titans for clients of every size. The range of perspectives and thinking was surreal, and the work was excellent across the board.

We saw presentations for everything from legacy brands to startups, even an independent author and podcaster. I loved the work that was presented by larger branding teams, like DesignStudio, Koto, and JKR. The depth of their thinking and the speed at which they created such elegant solutions was awe-inspiring. 

That said, I was also floored by the elegance and originality of the work from individual designers. The work Stefanie Bruckler created for the home decor gallery, Atrio, and the brandwork by Badal Patel to launch Kulfi Beauty were especially stunning. Seeing the diversity of approaches from brand makers big and small for brands big and small was definitely one of the highlights of the day for me.

 

#2 - Simple ideas power impactful brands.

Simple ideas are easier for people to remember. That’s probably why simple ideas make for more cohesive and impactful branding. The team at Together called this core idea is called a “creative brand idea.” At JKR, they call it the “Brand Behavioral Idea,” or BBI. At EightySeven, we call it a “Brand Spark.”

The cool thing about these super-simple ideas is that they’re a way to tie everything together around a common theme, so all of the brand’s elements can work together to communicate a message more completely. 

Take the Bolt work presented by Arthur Foliard and Koto Studio for example. They built their branding around the core concept of “speed,” – Bolt by name, bolt by nature – so everything from the color palette to the personality of the copy could creatively communicate the value of a one-click e-commerce company for multiple audiences.    

 

#3 - Great brand work dares to be different.

No surprise, positioning and differentiation were major themes at First Round, but I found a competitive audit slide in Jones Knowles Richie and Kate Johnson’s Nordstrom Rack presentation to be especially interesting. 

It featured ads from Nordstrom Rack (pre-rebrand) alongside three of their competitors. The ads were almost indistinguishable, down to the colors, font choices, and even the use of diagonal design elements that were slashing in the same direction. Such a smart way to show a client the importance of zigging when others are zagging. 

It was also fascinating to see how the two teams that worked on Movado and Welsbro watches took such WILDLY different approaches to “luxury” and “heritage” to stand out in a sea of sameness.

 

#4 - Building effective brands takes time.

Some of the presentation decks we saw at First Round were – I’m not joking – hundreds of pages long. They were stuffed with brilliant consumer insights, in-depth strategies, and competitive research. A few of the presentations didn’t get to the creative work until they were 200 pages in.

So much goes into building brands that are as impactful as the ones we saw at First Round last week. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes research, insight, imagination, skill, and time to develop solutions that truly break through. Even the teams with dozens of strategists, account folks, and creatives working on them took as long as a year from discovery to launch. Whether it’s developing a name or crafting a complete brand, quality solutions take time. 

 

#5 - Even our branding heroes can run into roadblocks.

First Round speakers typically use their time to share their successes. This year, I thought a few of the more enlightening presentations were the ones where the speaker took a slightly different approach.

Eric Ng of DesignStudio and Kendall Henderson of Please Respect Our Neighbors took their presentations in a much different direction. They both shared their experiences on projects where, for a number of reasons, it just didn’t work out. As a Brand Director at an independent studio, who can struggle with imposter syndrome from time to time, this was a friendly reminder that branding projects can be…really freakin’ hard. It was reassuring to see that even the superstars of our industry hit snags from time to time.

 

Thank You First Round!

A quick shoutout and special thank you to Armin Vit and Bryony Gomez-Palacio of Under Consideration, LLC for putting on a great show, and to all of the amazing presenters, and their teams, for sharing such beautiful and inspiring work:

We had such an amazing time, and I cannot wait until next year! 

#Branding #Brand #BrandStrategy #FirstRoundNYC #BrandingAdvice

 
Rick Hickey
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