The capital’s best in building brands
ICON is lucky to work with some of the most creative businesses in London, helping them translate their brand vision into quality apparel and accessories. Whether it’s the playful approach to sustainability of Karma Kola, or the creative expertise of Company of Parrots, ICON has experience partnering with all kinds of brands as part of realising a bigger, smartly conceived brand identity.
If you have big ideas about your business or your product, but are struggling to communicate or articulate them to a wider audience, you might think about working with a brand consultant. (For further reading, read Allpress’ tips on speciality coffee, and Stonewall Housing’s pointers for charity t-shirt fundraising.)
They can be a great source of expertise about your sector, and can help you understand how to shape and express your brand identity. Unsurprisingly, there are lots of people out there offering their services – some better than others – so we have put together the consultants we have our eye on to help you get going.
Fabrik
Self appointed ‘masters of communication’, Fabrik believe focus is the key to good brand consultancy. They hone in on specific areas (brand strategy, branding, naming, visual identity, campaigns and digital marketing) and explicitly avoid spreading themselves too thin, or promising to deliver in areas where they aren’t absolute experts.
Saffron Consultants
Saffron also approach the idea of a brand through a kind of distillation, breaking down four elements of change that brands come up against: creation, growth, adaptation and transformation. They believe in making the idea of a ‘brand’ work for you, and not the other way around. Clients including YouTube, Asda and Visit London agree that the Saffron approach gets results.
Good
Good are all about thinking big and communicating clearly: they understand that getting bogged down in complexity and jargon are the last thing you need. The brand sees their name as a benchmark for their integrity and a promise of the quality of their work, and they publish a journal as part of their belief in transparency.
Purpose | Athlon
Purpose | Athlon sees the partnership of two sister agencies: the first are experts in brand consultancy, and the second a leader in experience design. This partnership is well suited to deliver complex targets for highly ambitious clients, and they have worked with some of the world’s most innovative brands.
The Clearing
The Clearing are all about ambition, and promise to deliver ‘clear, defendable territory’ for their clients. In practise this means carving out the space where your brand will thrive and form long-lasting connections with its clients and consumers. The Clearing have so far made space for startups like Ownable and industry leaders like the Eurostar.
Cara Bendon
Cara Bendon is a female-led agency, and they are eager to champion small businesses and female entrepreneurs. The agency offers free consultation to those who are unsure what services they need, and are all about educating and including their clients in the entire process. If you’re a smaller business making your first foray into more complex branding, this is the right kind of agency to look for.
Blast
Blast understand that bold ideas alone are not enough, and focus on carefully nurturing and beautifully executing the proposals they put forward. Another key element of their approach is the centrality of writing – what you say means nothing if you haven’t perfected how you say it. Their clients include a number of Universities as well as the BBC and Warner Brothers.
Honey
Another smaller agency, Honey operate as a family and expect that their clients will be part of that too. Allowing individuals in their team to thrive and express themselves is one of the ways in which they promise to deliver the absolute best for your brand. Their passion has seen them work on projects for Harrods, Tesco Finest and the National Grid.
Want to create custom merch for your brand or business? ICON Printing offer fast turnaround printing on a range of garments, counting clients ranging from the Tate to Boiler Room and WeWork. Get a quote in 2 minutes online.