Brian Collins

Yesterday, when I asked our crew what to post for International Womens' Day, the answer I got back arrived late, but it was clear.

Everyone here felt there was nothing better for us to share today than this poster, written for the Girl Scouts of the USA by our remarkable colleague Maddy Carrucan.

This manifesto sums up an entire project that an incredible group of women at COLLINS led and poured themselves into for over three years. It also sums up how we view girls and our responsibility in helping them along their journeys into womanhood.

The team:

Madeleine Carrucan
Antonia Lazar
Dashiell Alison
Megan Bowker
Sanuk Kim
Kristine Lim
Mari Juliano
Camille Sauvé
Niamh Walsh

And, of course, the remarkable people at the Girl Scouts.

Because a girl with a dream is a girl with a match.

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From the very start of COLLINS, my creative partner Leland Maschmeyer and I – as well as our partners here – have all sought to nurture and meaningfully advance our people and their careers.

In looking to our next chapter, we have been seeking a seasoned leader to help us accelerate just that ambition.

Lauren Ranke - the legendary Director of Talent at Wieden + Kennedy - has been our benchmark for quite some time. Over the span of 14 years, Lauren has played an integral role in building and developing one of the world’s most celebrated creative cultures (and rosters). She crystalized exactly what we admired: generous, kind, beyond thoughtful, imaginative, lighthearted and honest to a fault.
 
So, in our hope to model who our next leader should emulate, I pointed to Lauren Ranke as just the kind of leader we wanted to find. 
 
Leland Maschmeyer just pointed to Lauren.
 
So he called Lauren.

And we could not have been more honored when she said “yes.”
 
So we are now beyond thrilled to have Lauren join COLLINS to help us all build what’s next for each other, for our company, for our clients and for the future of design.
 
Welcome, Lauren.

The way we see it, we're just getting started.

Cannes has invited us to speak. Tomorrow afternoon. Oh, dear.

Why?

Well, as it turns out, some in marketing still under-leverage brand. And they end up leaving insane amounts of money on the table.

Insane.

Why?

This happens because they still view brand as an end-of-the-value-chain aesthetic wrapper for products and services.

But since we began, we and our clients see the power of brand in a much different, more foundational, bigger and more valuable way.

This shift in perspective has paid off for them like gangbusters. Our clients - especially in the P.E. world – and specifically Blackstone – now use brand much differently.

Over the previous two years, COLLINS and Blackstone have pulled brand strategy far upstream in the crucial sequence of real value creation.

So, as I said, Cannes, has put us on stage to talk about all of this - and our POV on brand - with its attendees.

So, if you’re here, on Tuesday June 20th at #canneslions2023 Jonny Bauer (our friend and colleague at Blackstone) Deb Cloutier, CRE (our friend, client and great Blackstone portfolio company leader) and my business partner Leland Maschmeyer will share our approach, its remarkably outsized impact, and how any executive team can use brand to accelerate the three crucial drivers of every business:

1. Value
2. Values
3. Valuation

I so hope you can join us.

https://lnkd.in/eWdsMbYa

Tuesday, 20
14:30 - 15:00 (30 minutes)
2:30 - 3:00 (for we Americans)
The Forum
Palais I

Why?

We want your insight, too. We’ll need your help to push brand (and design and creativity, in turn) way up the powerful value chain. So to speak.

See you there.

I mean, uh…

À bientôt!
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