We’ve always done things differently. From our founding in 2007, we introduced a retainer-based financial model that helped us build long-term strategic partnerships. Unusual at the time for a brand design agency. We also championed a return to in-person working, believing that being physically together powers collaboration, boosts creativity, and gets to better outcomes faster. It’s what makes our work more effective and more enjoyable.
In 2020, we became an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), meaning everyone at BrandOpus is a partner and invested in the agency’s success.
Long-term partnerships and strategic client relationships are still at the heart of our model. But by 2023, it was clear the landscape and our clients’ needs had significantly changed. Larger agencies were getting even bigger, with many becoming part of sprawling networks. At the same time, smaller agencies were emerging at pace, and more clients were building in-house teams.
We knew we had to evolve again and communicate our creative difference as an independent agency, louder and clearer.
We’re doubling down on our superpower: creating meaningful, connected, and effective visual identity systems. This is where we add the most value for our clients. By focusing on where we make the biggest impact, we’ve become more confident and discerning about the opportunities we pursue. We’ve bolstered our senior team, welcomed new talent, and streamlined our pitch and new business processes.
We recognised that brands are fighting an uphill battle for attention and our clients and brand owners are under pressure with multiple channels, endless touchpoints and interactions. Brands end up as fragmented pieces in consumers’ minds, adding up to less than the sum of their parts and making the need for more meaningful and connected identity systems stronger than ever. At the same time marketing budgets are under scrutiny and marketeers need to demonstrate effectiveness of activity.
That’s why we developed The Magnetism Test, a diagnostic tool that quantifies the strength of any brand identity system. Developed in partnership with neuro insights specialists, it provides robust data and insights to help clients make smarter brand decisions.