Bulletproof

Senior Team

•  Gush Mundae is the founder of the company.
•  Kellie Chapple is the chief operating officer
•  Gabrielle Bell is the managing director.
•  Ed Silk is the head of strategy.
•  Tonny Connor is the executive creative director.
•  Josh Close is the business development manager.
•  Brian Hackett is the strategy director.
•  Jonny Stewart is the managing partner.
•  Sam Carring is the company's group business development director.
•  Nick Rees is a partner and the global creative director.
•  David Edwards is the new business manager.
•  Phoebe Ridley is the senior client manager.

Notable Turnover in Senior Team

• David Edwards joined Bulletproof as the new business manager in January 2019. Before joining the company, he worked at Coley Porter Bell as the head of new business.

Brands They Work With

• They work with the Coca Cola Company, Arla Foods, Unilever, SC Johnson, Heineken, Quorn Foods, Mondelez International, Warburtons, Kraft Heinz USA, Kellogg's, Pizza Express, and Yoomoo.

Awards Won in the Past 12 Months

• In June 2019, the company won Gold at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2019 
• In May 2019, the company won four awards at the Creativepool Annual 2019 Awards. The awards are, Cruzcampo Portfolio Branding and Packaging Design, Cruzcampo Best Packaging Design, Independent Agency of the Year, and the Best Branding Cruzcampo.
• In March 2019, the company won the Fort Hamilton Branding and Packaging Design and Cruzcampo Branding and Packaging Design awards at the 2019 PAC Global Leadership Awards.

Blue Marlin

Senior Team

• The Chief Executive Officer of Bluemarlin is Mr. Andrew Eyles.
•  Angela Wright is the finance director.
•  Philip Langford is the executive strategy director.
•  Katie Eaton is the creative director.
• Simon Thomas is the senior visualizer.

Notable Turnover in the Senior level team

•  Angela Wright was appointed as the finance director of Bluemarlin in January 2019. Before joining the company, she worked at Symec Technologies as the financial controller for seven months. She also worked at Mongoose Energy as a finance consultant for more than one year.
• On November 1st, 2019, the company announced vacant positions for account director and senior account manager. Joanna Peirce was the account manager, and she currently works at Sunhouse Creative Ltd as the business development and senior account director.

Brands They Work With

•  Schweppes, Ballantine's, Thatchers Rascal, Kinnie, Battery, Penfolds, Sensodyne, Britannia, Muller, Dr. Beckmann, Allt-A-Bhainne, Wainwright's, and Koff.

Awards

• The company won bronze for Crowmoor Cider, Wainwrights Honey, and Battery Energy at the 2019 Pentaward.

Landor

•  Landor is a branding agency with 26 offices around the globe.
• Their offices are located in Bangkok, Beijing, Cape Town, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dubai, Geneva, Guangzhou, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jakarta, London, Melbourne, Mexico City, Milan, Moscow, Mumbai, New York City, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo.

Senior Team

•  Gabriel Miller was recently appointed in early 2019 as President, Americas. "Miller recently served as executive partner and NYC studio leader at IBM iX, IBM’s digital and design agency. Prior to IBM, he held leadership positions on both the East and West Coasts and was president of Resource/Ammirati and co-president of Avrett Free Ginsberg. Miller has worked with a variety of top brands including Bacardi, Coca-Cola, Fox Sports, JetBlue, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Neutrogena and Toyota."
• The Executive Director of Business Development is Durk Barnhill. "Prior to his position at Landor, Barnhill was CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New York, where he served as a member of its worldwide executive board. His previous agency experience includes president of Taxi and business development leader at Mother in New York."

•  Jonas Hallberg was appointed as executive creative director in the New York office in November 2019.

Brands Worked With

• Landor's clients include Accenture, Barclays, Citi, Council on Foreign Relations, Diageo, FedEx, IAVA, Leviton, National September 11 Memorial & Museum, New York Life Insurance Company, and Sony.
•  Landor has also helped Petbarn, Kelloggs, British Airways, Brute, Nike, Apple, Volvix, Magrabi, Holler and Dash, Etihad Airways, Kraft, BMW, Henkel, Old Spice and BP with re-branding and refreshing.

Awards Won in the Past 12 Months

• Landor won a total of 18 awards at this year’s Transform MENA Awards.

CBX

•  CBX is a branding agency with a total of two offices located in New York City and in Minneapolis. They also have a sister agency called the Lionsdale Agency located in Paris.

Senior Team

•  Rick Barrack is the Chief Creative Officer and a founding partner. Before founding CBX, he worked at Milton Glaser, Gerstman+Meyers, LPK, and FutureBrand.
•  Nancy Brown is a founding partner of CBX, and "responsible for the overall direction and management of creative, account, production and business development teams."
•  Todd Maute is a partner at CBX and is in charge of retail.
•  Gregg Lipman is a managing partner. He is responsible for the overall direction and management of the New York office.
•  James Berman is the CFO at CBX. Previous to this position, he worked as a CFO for HL Group Partners.
•  Satoru Wakeshima is the Chief Engagement Officer. Before joining CBX, "Satoru was Executive Vice President and General manager of the creative group at Sterling Brands, Group Director at Frankfurt Balkind, and Senior Account Director at Desgrippes Gobé."
• Our search for any senior employee turnover within the past 12 months turned up nothing. There was also nothing on their website that indicated there was any kind of turnover in the past 12 months that was relevant to their New York City office.

Brands Worked With

•  CBX has worked with Hormel, Maddy and Maize, Teawell, Bromley's for Men, Valvoline, MaraNathe, General Mills, Jason, The Art Of Shaving, Pillsbury, The Good Table, Land O Lakes, Green Valley, Brew York City, Vyze, Axion Spor Cafe, Baked by Melissa, Kotex, Man Cave Meats, BMW/Sotheby's, Avalon, Duane Reade, and Terra.

Awards Won in the Past 12 Months

• A press search on CBX's website as well as Google, turned up zero results for any awards won in 2019. In fact, the last time they posted about winning an award was back in 2016. 

Force Majeure

•  Force Majeure is a standalone brand agency that is domiciled in New York City.

Senior Team

• The founder of the company is Laurent Hainaut .
•  Catherine Mountain is a partner as well as the vice president and general manager.
• The strategy and creative director is Pierre Deleb ois .
•  Megan Bradley is the director of client services.
• Our search for any senior employee turnover within the past 12 months turned up nothing.

Brands Worked With

•  Force Majeure works with spirit and wine brands, beauty and wellness brands, as well as life style brands.
• The spirit and wine brands they have worked with are Zacapa, Ciroc, Penfolds, Comte de Dampierre, Johnnie Walker, Old Parr, Buchanan's, Don Julio, Orphan Barrel, Hillhaven Lodge, Blade and bow, Mortlach, Jeremiah Weed, and Cenote.
• The beauty and wellness brands Force Majeure works with are the Good Stuff, Dove, Caudalie, Signal, Avon, Regenerate, Zendium, and Orb.
• The lifestyle brands they collaborate with are The Thing about France, Robert Marc, and Wanted Design.

Awards Won in the Past 12 Months

• Force Majeure has been nominated for the PAC Global Leadership Awards (2020) for their work with Comte de Dampierre and The Good Stuff.
• The San Francisco World Spirits Competition held its annual packaging design awards "recognizing creativity, impact and execution within the spirits category." The 2019 panel of judges selected 50 entries and gave Cîroc Black Raspberry a bronze award for its design excellence.
•  Force Majeure's branding and packaging work for The Good Stuff won the A'Design Awards which is a "global competition recognizing the best of arts, architecture, fashion, communication and product design." In addition, The Good Stuff, an innovative range of no-rinse conditioners, won Silver in the Packaging Design Category.
•  Force Majeure's work for 44˚N by Comte de Grasse won Third Place in the Clear Spirits category at the Dieline Awards, which is the "industry leader in recognizing the best in consumer product packaging design worldwide."
• The brand and digital work for Robert Marc NYC done by Force Majeure won the Indigo Design Award which is a "global creative competition, celebrating the best of digital design." In addition, they also won for their brand work for WantedDesign.

Elmwood

•  Elmwood is a branding agency with offices in Leeds, London, New York City, Melbourne, and Singapore.

Senior Team

•  J. Nulty White is the managing partner in NYC.
•  Meg Beckum is the executive creative director based in NYC.
•  Steve Gatfield is the Group Chair at Elmwood Brand Consultancy.
• Our search for any senior employee turnover within the past 12 months turned up nothing. However, we did note that Elmwood appointed Ian Schofield as its sustainability advisor to help advise their clients as well as to guide their sustainability agenda.

Brands Worked With

•  Elmwood works with Carlsberg, Alpro Caffe, Knotel, Stirrd, Joii, Yushoi, HIgh5, Kopparberg, Lost Sheep Coffee, LW Theatres, Zenauto, and Rishi Tea.

Awards Won in the Past 12 Months

• Elmwood has won more DBA Design Effectiveness Awards  than any other agency. In 2019, they topped the DBA effectiveness league for a 10th year in a row.
• Elmwood has been named a Top Branding agency by DesignRush.

Safari Sundays

•  Safari Sundays is a standalone branding agency based in Brooklyn, New York.
• They position themselves as culturally driven brand consultants.

Senior Team

•  Safari Sundays does not have a search feature on their website, and they do not feature any of their senior team on the site, so a search for them was conducted from LinkedIn.
•  Georgia Levison is the Chief Strategy Officer at Safari Sundays, according to her LinkedIn account.
• According to his LinkedIn account, Craig Lewis heads up New Business Development at Safari Sundays.
•  Christopher Stern is a Partner-Creative Director at Safari Sundays.
•  Damon Gorrie is the Founder and CEO at Safari Sundays, according to LinkedIn and this article.
•  Kate Dell'Aquila is the Vice President of Client Services at Safari Sundays.
• The Creative Director at Safari Sundays is Adam Walko. 
• The search for any senior employee turnover within the past 12 months turned up nothing, and as mentioned above, their website does not have a search feature. However, the website was searched nonetheless, and nothing of note was found for 2019.

Brands Worked With

• Safari Sundays works with both startups and established brands. 
• The startups they are working with include Wild(ish), Omura, Super Hiro, Spilt Milk, The Drop, and Bobble.
• The established brands they work with are Gold Emblem, Lays, Pendleton, Oxo, Pepsi, Old Blue Last, and Ting.

Awards Won in the Past 12 Months

• After a search, one article was found announcing that Safari Sundays won a 2019 Cannabis Industry Graphics Awards. There is also this link detailing that they won a silver Pentaward for the same product that won the Cannibis Industry Graphic Award.
• Here is an article from 2014 that reported Safari Sundays won the ‘2014 Ad Age Small Agency of the Year award for culture‘. This was included because the 2019 awards were slim.
• No search of the company website could be conducted as there is no search feature.

Little Big Brands

•  Little Big Brands touts itself as a "branding agency that's different in all the best ways."
• It has one office and it is located in White Plains, New York. 
• They service a wide variety of clients from all verticals including healthcare, retail, and food items.

Senior Team

•  John Nunziato is the Chief Creative Officer and has been since 2001, as he is also the founder of the company.
•  Pamela Long is the Director/Client Services and is also a partner. She has been at the company since 2006.
• The Director/Business Development is Crystal Bennett. She is also a partner. She started with the company in 2011.
•  Meg Asaro is the Director/Strategy for Little Big Brands. She is the newest member of the senior team, being hired in February 2018.
• The Creative Director is Richard Palmer. He came onboard in 2014. 
• There has been no senior employee turnover for 2019. 

Brands Worked With

• Some clients that Little Big Brands work with are Bic, Henkel, Merz, Nestle, Pepperidge Farms, Pfizer, Unilever, Merck, Fleet, Wellspring, Bayer, Bolthouse Farms, Campbells, Colgate-Palmolive, and Georgia Pacific.
• Some brands that the company has worked with are Forth, Kind Kids, Compound W, White Rain, Yardley, Chabaso, Geritol, Lionshead, Midnite, Preparation H, Solemates, Fiber Choice, Contac, and Zicam.

Awards Won in the Past 12 Months

•  Little Big Brands won a Graphic Design USA Health + Wellness Award for their work for Forth™ CBD in their Cannabis Industry Graphic Award category.
• While not a direct award, GDUSA named Richard Palmer as a 2019 People to Watch. As mentioned earlier, Mr. Palmer is the Creative Director at LBB.
• Little Big Brands' website does not have a search feature, but they do have a news section that was scanned for all 2019 award news.
• A search was conducted and nothing additional was found for 2019.

Pentagram

Senior team

• The senior team at Pentagram in New York is as follows (together with links to their LinkedIn profiles):
• Michael Bierut: Partner and owner 
• Michael Gericke: Partner and owner 
• Luke Hayman: Partner 
• Natasha Jen: Partner 
• Giorgia Lupi: Partner 
• Abbott Miller: Partner 
• Emily Oberman: Partner 
• Eddie Opara: Partner 
• Paula Scher: Partner 
•  Matt Willey: Partner

Recent turnover in Pentagram's senior team

• In May 2019, Giorgia Lupi was added to Pentagram as a partner, the company's first new partner hire since 2012. She is a data visualization specialist who has worked with Starbucks, IBM, Google, the World Health Organization and United Nations.
• Pentagram also recently announced that they were bringing on Matt Willey as a partner. For the past five years, he has been the art director of The New York Times Magazine.

Brands that Pentagram works with

• Pentagram has worked with several brands including Warner Bros., Yahoo, Oppo, Hay Festival, Snoop Dogg POUNDS, Slack, Ungifted Secret Santa, London Fashion Week, Starbucks, Netflix and MIT Technology Review.

Awards that Pentagram has won in the past 12 months

• In February 2019, Sascha Lobe, a partner at Pentagram, won a Wallpaper Design Award for her signage at the Amorepacific headquarters in Seoul.
• Pentagram was also among "The Top 50 Companies Creatives Would Love To Work For" in 2018.

Dragonfly

Senior team

• The senior team at Dragonfly is as follows (together with links to their LinkedIn profiles):


•  Kim Davis: Founder
• Sam Davis: Partner 
•  Jennifer Hart: Creative Director
• Stephanie Davis: Marketing and Event Planning Consultant 
•  Brittany Beam: Independent Marketing Consultant

Brands that Dragonfly works with

• Some of the brands that Dragonfly has worked with include The American Legion World Series and Cleveland County Water. 

Awards that Dragonfly has won in the past 12 months

•  In January 2019, the Cleveland County Chamber and the Fox Family named Dragonfly Marketing the Carson L. Fox Entrepreneur of the Year. 

Research Strategy

Sterling Brands

Senior Team

•  Susan Cantor is the CEO at Sterling Brands.
•  Peter Mundy is the Chief Financial Officer.
•  David Israel is the Chief Creative Officer.
• Scott Lucas is the Chief Growth Manager at Sterling Brands.
• Lisa Eschmeyer is the senior vice president, account services at Sterling Brands.
• Mike Bainbridge is the executive vice president, strategy.
•  Lisa Koenigsberg-Turek is the executive director of client services.
• Jessica Trief is executive director and senior vice president of brand strategy.

Senior Team Turnover

• Susan Cantor replaced Scott Lucas as the CEO of Sterling Brands in 2019.

Recent Works

• Sterling Brands's clients are Pedigree Pet Food, Bare, Proctor & Gamble, Aden & Anais, Krispy Kreme, Topo Chico, Stoli, Louisville Slugger, Skittles, 5 Gum, Signature Reserve, Chandon, Corona, J.R. Watkins.

Awards

• A search through media and Sterling Brands press releases shows that the company did not receive any award within the last 12 months.

WPP Group

Senior Team

•  Kristal Herr is the president of WPP New York office.

•  Jacqui Canney is the Global Chief People Officer at WPP.
• Andy Maxwell is the Chief Information Officer at the company.
• Howard Daniels is the vice president, executive recruitment.
• Firouzeh Bahrampour is the executive vice president and general counsel.
• Kyla Jacobs is the executive vice president of marketing and growth.
•  Mitchell Jacobs is the vice president of procurement.
•  Marjolein Bruurs is the vice president, acquisition services.
• Kristine Orvos is the vice president, talent team and executive recruitment.
•  Kristin Martin is the senior vice president, talent team.
• Gaston Levin is the senior vice president, corporate development.
• Martina Suess is the vice president, communications and engagement.
• Sanja Partalo is the senior vice president and global head of strategic development and partnerships.
• Peter Law-Gisiko is the global client chief financial officer.
• Laurent Ezekiel is the chief marketing and growth officer. 
• Jamie McLellan is the chief technology officer.
•  Lisa Berotti is the vice president and commercial director at the company.
•  Alexander Bekkerman is the senior vice president, global client finance and operations director.

Senior Team Turnover

• John Rogers will succeed Paul Richardson as the Chief Financial Officer of WPP in 2020.
•  Jacqui Canney was appointed the Global Chief People Officer, replacing Mark Linaugh.

Recent Works

• The company's clients include 369 of the Fortune Global 500, all 30 of the Dow Jones 30 and 71 of the NASDA,Q 100 companies.
• Some of the brands WPP has worked with are Nike, Volvo, Adidas, Fanta, Dove, Verizon, IBM, Adobe.

Awards

• WPP was named the world’s most effective communications company in 2019.
• Little x Little, an initiative to raise awareness and drive the UN’s sustainable development agenda among Generation Z by WPP and five of the largest advertising holding companies, won the Global Leadership Award from United Nations Foundation.
• WPP was awarded the HIPOWER’s “Highest Overall Sales” award.
• Mondelēz International named WPP Group among its two winners in its creative review.
• The company is recognized as Gartner Magic Quadrant Global Marketing Leader 2019 and the most effective group in the Effie Global Effectiveness Index.

Design Bridge - 1986 to 1990s

• Design Bridge was founded in 1986 by Graham Shearsby and Nick Verebelyi in London, UK.
• It was established as a brand design agency that offers branding strategies and marketing services.  
• In 1995, the company expanded its market by opening an office in Amsterdam. Its Amsterdam office was set up with eight professionals and led by David Rivett. The company mentioned that it would offer the same services it offered in its London location - corporate work, graphics, and branding.
• Design Bridge only had 76 employees in 1995 and three divisions - packaging, graphics, and structure.

Design Bridge - 2000s

• Design Bridge opened a New York location in 2008.  
•  By 2009, the company set up base in India and already had an established location in Singapore. The company stated that its expansion to India was fueled by its portfolio of clients in Asia-Pacific, including Tiger Beer, Unilever, Tata Group, Sara Lee, and J&J, among several others. It partnered with Brandscapes, an analytics firm in India, to have a seamless expansion and appeal to locals in the country. DesignBridge catered to clients in more than 40 countries in 2009.
• The same year (2009), one of Design Bridge's founders, Nick Verebelyi, left the company to pursue new opportunities. Verebelyi left Design Bridge following the "amalgamation of 3D branding and structural packaging arm Design Bridge Structure into the Design Bridge London business." Prior to the merger, Design Bridge Structure and Design Bridge London were different entities.

Design Bridge - 2010s

• In 2011, Design Bridge opened a new location in Shanghai as its Asia-Pacific clients were increasing. It reported having 94 employees by this time.
• The company was acquired by WPP Group in 2017 for an undisclosed amount. It reported a 2016 revenue of £40 million with gross assets of about £28 million. Design Bridge also announced that it employed about 400 people across all its locations. It was reported that Design Bridge would still operate as an independently-positioned and distinct brand. The deal was done to strengthen WPP's "capability in branding and identity." 
• Currently, Design Bridge works with and caters to well-known companies like Diageo, Mondelez, MasterCard, Fortnum & Mason, and Unilever.
• The company has won several international creative awards "including Pentawards, Clio Awards, FAB Awards, New York Festivals, D&AD and DBA Design Effectiveness."
• Although WPP Group is a public company, its 2018 annual report mentions nothing about Design Bridge. This could be due to the fact that Design Bridge still operates as an independent company.
• As of 2019, it appears the company no longer has a location in India.  

Bulletproof Company History

• How: The founders of Bulletproof met in art school where they were studying advertising and graphic design. This was in the early 90's. The pair bonded over shared beliefs. After graduation, one of the founders became frustrated with the advertising companies they had tried to work for and decided to launch their own, Bulletproof.
• When: Bulletproof has been in business for 21 years. The company was founded in 1998.
• Who: Gush Mundae and Johnny Stewart 

Bulletproof Growth Journey

• Bulletproof's founder, Gush Mundae, stated in an interview that when they first founded the company, they would pitch for "everything and pretty much worked seven days a week."
• Six months after founding Bulletproof, Mundae was invited to pitch for a Disney campaign. After winning the campaign, Mundae convinced their college friend, Johnny, to hop on board.
• Mundae notes that they couldn't afford to hire experienced advertisers in the beginning, so they looked for fresh talent and focused on nurturing it.
• The company eventually went on to win campaigns for Coca-Cola, which Mundae says was a "huge turning point for the business." This campaign allowed Bulletproof to grow their team and provided the opportunity for them to work with very experienced marketers.
• By 2012, the company had a slew of high-profile clients including, Kraft, Heineken, and Georgia Pacific.
• Mundae notes that the company's biggest growth challenge to date is scaling their team to meet their growing demand and finding the right individuals to add to the team.
• Bulletproof currently employs over 200 people. This has grown from 50 employees in 2012.
• They currently operate in four cities (London, New York, Singapore, and Amsterdam. London is the company's headquarters location). As of 2016, the company was only operating in three cities (London, New York, and Singapore). As of 2012, the company was only operating in two cities (London and New York).
• Bulletproof won a Gold Award at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards in 2019.
• In 2011, the company was rated among the top five independent design agencies in the UK, according to an industry survey published by Design Week.

bluemarlin Company History

• How: The company was originally founded as a packaging design firm.
• When: Blue Marlin was founded in 1993.
• Who: Andrew Eyles and David Hodgson.

bluemarlin Growth Journey

• In 2011, bluemarlin began expanding its business globally, expanding their presence in the U.S., Australia, and the UK. The company added 15 new staff positions.
• In 2011, bluemarlin acquired $3.5 million worth of new business from major brands such as Unilever and Dole.
• In 2013, Blue Marlin rebranded itself as bluemarlin.
• In 2014, bluemarlin began recruiting for a global brand director and senior brand strategist.  
• bluemarlin was a finalist in the 2014 Grocer Marketing, Advertising & PR Awards for their ZEO campaign, followed by bluemarlin winning a Pent Award for their Forces Sauces campaign.
• In 2015, bluemarlin announced that they were striving to penetrate the Asian market.  
• bluemarlin currently has offices in London, New York, Mumbai, and Bath. Their headquarters is in Bath. However, in 2013, the firm had a total of five locations.

Research Strategy

Landor

• Landor was founded by a German expatriate — Walter Landor — in 1941 as Walter Landor & Associates.
• The company specializes on using "design and visual imagery to create recognized brands and corporate identities for clients and their commodity products."
• In 1964, Mr. Walter moved the company's headquarters from his small Russian Hill in San Francisco to a ferryboat named the Klamath. 
• In 1974, John M. Diefenbach became the CEO and president of Landor. Diefenbach oversaw the day-to-day running of the company and its expansion into Tokyo, Mexico City, and Europe with some large clients such as Bank of America, Hewlett-Packard, Cotton, Oscar Mayer & Co., and San Francisco International Airport.
• In 1988, the company was renamed from Walter Landor & Associates to Landor Associates and its headquarters was moved once more from the Klamath to a new office in San Francisco.
• In 1989, Landor Associates was acquired by Young & Rubicam (Y & R) and it became a subsidiary of the WPP Group PLC. Following the acquisition, Diefenbach became the director of corporate development with Y & R having been replaced by Donald M. Casey as the CEO of Landor Associates. Casey was replaced by Edward Vick two years later, and in 1993, Clay Timon replaced Vick.
• From 1990 through 1992, Vick turned around the financial state of the company by downsizing the company's global workforce by 30% to 350 people, and shut down "5 of its 21 offices as revenues dropped to about $40 million." 
• In 1995, Walter Landor died aged 81. Between 1990 to 2000, some prominent projects executed by Landor Associates were the branding of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Nagano in 1994, and Salt Lake City in 1996.
• In 2000, Landor Associates acquired St. James Associates, a strategic brand consultancy based in Chicago.
• In 2003, Craig Branigan replaced Timon as the company's CEO and president.
• Landor Associates also completed the acquisition of an Australian branding firm, LKS, in 2004.
• Landor currently has offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
• Kellogg's, GE, Fuji Film, 20th Century Fox, Philip Morris, and 3M are some of Landor's clients.

CBX

• CBX was founded in 2003 by four of the partners — Gregg Lipman, Nancy Brown, Rick Barrack, and Richard Villante — as a "brand agency specializing in corporate identity, consumer branding and retail."
• CBX is headquartered in New York with offices in Minneapolis and San Francisco. 
•  Del Monte, General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, A&P, and Pathmark are some of its clients.

Research Strategy

Force Majeure

History of the Company

• Force Majeure (forceMAJEURE) was previously known as Raison Pure International or Raison Pure NYC. The company was founded in 1998 as a management consulting services company.
• It has headquarters in Brooklyn, New York and has between 11 and 50 employees. Their LinkedIn profile shows they specialize in creation of brands, renovation of brands, product design and creativity. That they have a wide range of expert services: strategy, visual & brand identity, product packaging, brand content creation and brand experiences.
•  Laurent Hainaut is the founder partner, president and creative director of Force Majeure. He founded Raison Pure in Paris in 1987 and inaugurated Raison Pure International in New York in 1998. In 2016, Raison Pure NYC was named Force Majeure.
• Laurent Hainut studied industrial design at 'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Appliques et Metiers d'Art'. He has close to three decades of experience in visual strategy, brand identity, product design, packaging design, retail environments & experiences, consumer product innovation and global design management. He has offered consultancy services to companies like Unilever, Diageo, Pepsico, Danone Waters, L’Oreal and Revlon among others.

• Force Majeure employees are a highly diversified team offering services to clients in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia among others.
• The company's contacts can be found here.

Company's Growth Journey

•  Force Majeure hires employees from all over the world and their employees are all experts in the design industry. Having been in this industry for about 20 years now, Force Majeure is now a globally respected consultant in several sectors including beauty, fine fragrance, home and personal care, liquors, and food & Beverage.
• Several companies for which Force Majeure created brand designs have won prestigious global awards over the years. The design they created for company called Comte de Dampierre was nominated for the 2020 PAC Global Leadership Awards. Early this year, the work they did for a company called The Good Stuff won a silver award at the A'Design Awards, a global competition that recognizes unique creativity.
• The work environment at Force Majeure is very conducive leading to highly level of creativity and productivity. Every staff is an expert in what they do, staff work as a team and have excellent motivation and support from management. They all have one goal in their work; to amaze their clients.

Elmwood

History of the Company

• Elmwood is a private company that started in 1977 as an agency in Leeds, New Yorkshire. They have between 51 and 200 employees and are experts in graphic packaging design, corporate communications, web design, naming, copywriting, brand strategy, brand architecture, marketing, brand identity, corporate identity, brand activation, brand experience, communications design, brand positioning, marketing innovation, digital marketing and digital design.
• Elmwood offers services in a wide range of sectors: retail, government, sport, media, FMCG and B2B among others. They have ventured into structural design and innovation jointly with Tin Horse. They have activities in Leeds, London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and Melbourne.
• Elmwood was founded by Jonathan Sands who has more than 35 years experience in the design industry. He has won received several international awards for excellent service in this industry. Jonathan Sands studied at the University of Huddersfield and is a visiting professor of innovation at the same university.
• Elmwood contacts can be found here.

Company's Growth Journey

•  Elmwood boasts of being the global authority in design consultancy. Founder, Jonathan Sands thinks Elmwood is a great success because they have won the highest number of DBA Design Effectiveness awards.
•  Elmwood strategy is to influence their clients' behavior by using the latest technology that gives their clients extra ordinary experience. They believe in beating their competition by being truly unique.
• Jonathan Sands in an interview with the UK Association of Designers, DBA shares the Elmwood journey. He reckons that one of the things that has really changed over their decades of operation is the speed of service, they now take a very short time to deliver products for their clients. The other thing he says is that the mode of meetings both with staff and with clients has really changed. Whereas meetings in the old days were always face to face, today, most of their meetings are done over the internet.
• He attributes Elmwood's success to the people he has worked with from the '70s to date. The skill, teamwork and diligence they put in the company is what makes Elmwood what it is today.

Little Big Brands

1. Founding Date, Founder, & How It Was Founded

• Little Big Brands was founded in 2001.
•  John Nunziato is the founder of Little Big Brands. He is now the company's Chief Creative Officer.
• To start Little Big Brands, "John left the 'big agency world' in 2001 . . . and successfully grew the business [Little Big Brands] solo for the next [five] years."

2. Founding Business Principles & Model

• Little Big Brands was founded with the mission of "always doing what’s right for clients while fostering an environment where employees can thrive and truly find balance."
• At the time of its founding, Little Big Brands implemented "a boutique, hands-on approach."
• As the company grew and become more well-known, it hired "world-class talent" (staff).

3. Transition to a Partnership Business Model

• Little Big Brands currently has three partners who were close friends before John Nunziato ever founded the company. Two of its current partners (John Nunziato and Crystal Bennett) worked together before Little Big Brands was founded.
• Before John Nunziato founded Little Big Brands, the company's current partners (mentioned above) talked "about the possibility of working together." As one of the partners (Crystal Bennett) said, their discussions eventually transitioned "from '[w]ouldn’t it be cool to work together?' to '[h]ow can we actually make this happen?'"
• After John Nunziato managed the company on his own for its first five years, the company transitioned to a partnership model when his friend Pamela Long joined the company as John's first business partner at Little Big Brands. About five years later (2011), Crystal Bennett joined the company as its third business partner.
• Each partner focuses on a specific aspect of the business. John Nunziato focuses on the company's creative (as Chief Creative Officer), Pamela Long focuses on client management, and business development matters are what Crystal Bennett focuses on.

4. Company Culture & New Office

• Little Big Brands' "strong company culture" has been important to its growth, as it was named "one of the country’s [U.S.] best places to work" in 2016 by Business Intelligence Group.
• Little Big Brands partner Crystal Bennett inferred that the three partners' early career experiences influenced the business model that was implemented at Little Big Brands, as she said their earlier-career work "frustrations [were] mostly related to big firm politics, more focus on profitability than quality and attempts to be everything to every client."
• On its 16th anniversary, the company moved to/opened "a brand new state-of-the-art office in . . . White Plains, New York[,]" that's "four times larger than" its prior office was.

Safari Sundays

• Safari Sundays was founded in either 2005 or 2006. The company's website states "since 2005" and other sources state 2006 (such as this article).

•  Damon Gorrie is the founder of Safari Sundays.

• Safari Sundays was founded in New York.
• The company's Facebook page includes a statement that Safari Sundays is "Seeking People Like Us." That statement could reasonably be interpreted to mean that its recruiting philosophy is to hire like-minded individuals, which could be/have been part of its growth journey.

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Pentagram

• In 1972, Colin Forbes along with Alan Fletcher, Mervyn Kurlansky, Theo Crosby, and Kenneth Grange created Pentagram, a design company. As per Forbes's vision, this London firm was organized to enable all partners "to work both independently and in collaboration," which is how Pentagram still works.
• In its early years, Forbes was the partner who worried about cash flow, the need for studio space, and the future of the business, which is why he got the permanent job of "planning the progress of the firm." According to him, they were a "round table" organization, but he was in charge of developing the shareholder agreements and the constitution with lawyers, refining the financial reporting, and mapping out a five-year plan. Since its foundation, Forbes chaired all the partners’ meetings, and continued to do so for the next 18 years.
• In 1978, Forbes moved to New York to establish an office there and, in 1986, another office was established in San Francisco.
• In 1991, Forbes announced that he wanted to resign his position of chairman. This led to the creation of a Pentagram constitution to help them carry on through the next period. It was based on the division of responsibility to allow the rotation of chairmanship in the meetings and to establish permanent elected committees to execute the major functions. This constitution is still working as of 2019 and the firm has never had a CEO.
• In 2002, the company opened another office in Berlin, Germany. This was done to win business in the East European market and, since then, is headed by Justus Oehler.
• According to Pentagram’s partner structure, each partner forms its own team of designers who only work for him/her, and is responsible for bringing in his/her own clients, but the studio and all other staff work across all the business. Throughout the years, the list of Pentagram's partners has grown and currently has 24 members across its 4 offices (London, New York, Berlin, Austin, and San Francisco).

Dragonfly

• In 2011, Kim Davis founded KD Marketing, now known as Dragonfly Marketing. It started as a boutique marketing agency to provide service to Cleveland County and the surrounding area. It is headquartered in Shelby, North Carolina.
• In 2016, for its 5th anniversary, the company decided to rename and rebrand itself. Because they felt that the name KD marketing was not representing them, they developed a new name and logo. Since then, the company is known as Dragonfly Marketing.
• As of 2019, the company provides "strategic, creative, and effective marketing plans and ideas." It specializes in website development, graphic design, branding campaigns, and developing marketing plans.

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Sterling Brands

• Founded in 1992, Sterling Brands is headquartered in New York. It has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Cincinnati.
•  Sterling Brands focuses on brand strategy, brand design, and brand innovation.
• In 2001, Sterling Brands acquired Grizzard Communications Group Inc. 
• In 2005, it acquired Corporate Technology Communications Inc. 
• In 2006, the company completed the acquisitions of Aaron Walton Entertainment, OMD UK, and EVB LLC.
• In 2008, the company became part of the Omnicom family.
• Sterling Brands acquired BioPharm Communications LLC and Carson Analytics, LLC. in 2016.
• In November 2019, Susan Cantor was announced as the CEO of the company.
• Google, Visa, Disney, Nestlé, and P&G are some of its clients. 

WPP Group

• WPP was founded by Martin Sorrell when he took a controlling stake of UK-based wire baskets and teapots company called Wire and Plastic Products in 1985. 
• Sorrell changed the name of the company to WPP Group plc and served as the CEO of the company as marketing services were added to the activities of the company.
• In 1986, the company made "eleven acquisitions including design houses, incentive specialists, sales promotion consultants, and an audio-visual company."
• WPP launched itself to the U.S. market in 1987 with the acquisition of JWC Group which became the company's first media advertising agency for $566 million. Following the acquisition, WPP's earnings before tax rose from £1.7 million in 1986 to £40.3 million in 1988.
• Sorrell pulled what was regarded as his biggest coup in 1989 when WPP acquired Ogilvy Group in 1989 for $864 million. Ogilvy Groups was an international network of agencies and companies as large as WPP Group at the time.
• Following the acquisition, David Ogilvy — founder of Ogilvy Group — was made the chairman of WPP in order to retain Ogilvy Group's clients. The acquisition of Ogilvy also made WPP the largest advertising group at the time, ahead of Saatchi & Saatchi. WPP's earnings before tax rose from £75 million in 1989 to £90 million in 1990.
• However, during the recession period in the final quarter of 1990, WPP announced a warning of lower profits in 1991 which led to investors scrambling to abandon the company, hence, WPP's shares lost 2/3 of their value. 
• From 1990 through to 2017, WPP completed several more acquisitions such as Thomas G. Ferguson Associates, Peapod, Syzygy, Management Ventures, Inc., Young & Rubicam Group, and others.
• In April 2018, Sorrell resigned as the CEO of WPP Group due to alleged personal misconduct issues.
• WPP has over 600 offices in 64 countries around the globe.
• JWT Group Inc., Ogilvy & Mather, Hill and Knowlton Inc., and over non-media advertising and communications companies are under the WPP Group. 

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