StormBrands is a global branding and creative agency that brings ideas, people and ways of working to brands that can seize the moment, kill problems and stimulate audiences. Established in 1994, StormBrands has growing studios in London, Leeds and Hong Kong delivering award-winning brand design and creative to clients in corporate, consumer and retail markets. Writing for the Leaders Council of Great Britain & Northern Ireland about his experience of leading the company, CEO Bruce Drinkwater tells its story.
Bruce describes his role as being to "challenge and help the StormBrands team to think globally and act with an agile start-up mentality." He has over 30 years’ experience in branding design and innovation, with particular expertise in the FMCG sector. Among others over his extensive and varied career, Bruce has worked for Nestle, Kaleidoscope, Iceland and Campbell Soup Company.
When I launched Storm Brand Design Limited in Yorkshire in 1994, the world was a very different place. There were only five television channels, mobile phones were bricks, and the Internet and email were still creaking into life many thousands of miles away. In my industry, design, we were still working with pantone and overlays, magic markers, and printers where one had to haul great drums in and out of the machines.
But throughout the 26 years since then, we’ve embraced every new technology that’s come along. We were one of the first agencies to use digital photography, and today as a global brand design agency with offices in London and Leeds, and clients right across the world, we rely on tools like Zoom. Very often our creatives won’t schedule a Zoom meeting, but they’ll have it open on their desktops while they work together on a project - they’ll feel like they’re sitting next to each other.
“We’ve embraced every new technology that’s come along."
In 1994 it was quite possible for me to pick up the phone to a client on the other side of the world, or to get on a plane to see how people lived and consumed products in a totally different country; in 2020, all of that is commonplace.
When we worked in Pakistan with food company EBM, we immersed ourselves in how people there choose to shop, use digital media and experience products, and that insight was invaluable in our work with the brand.
So much has changed, but the fundamentals have remained constant. Still, our role is to help our clients understand who their customers are, what those customers want and need, and then deliver engaging and relevant creative through the channels those people consume.
Above all else we need to challenge those clients. When we started working with The Tofoo Company four years ago for example, we could have agreed with them that specialising solely in tofu was too niche, and they should be a broader vegetarian brand. We didn’t agree. We persuaded them to own tofu – even changing their name to reflect that. Four years later the business has grown annual turnover from £600,000 to £4 million.
“Above all else we need to challenge [those] clients...Four years later the business has grown annual turnover from £600,000 to £4 million.”
Furthermore, we are seeing larger numbers of companies adopt this strategy of tight product specialism delivered to a global audience, with consistent brand messaging adapted for local nuances. You need to know the core value you add to people’s lives, but also have an understanding of how to communicate that differently depending on where they are. For example, in Pakistan packaging is bright there because shops are dark, and often you point to what you want from the shopfront.
Today, we’re a 30-person company, and we help brands like Tropicana, Quaker Oats, GHD, Air Partner, EBM, DeSpar and Aldi deliver these consistent global messages with localised nuances.
We believe that there is a vast appetite for British design. It truly is in a class of its own and is respected around the world. But we do need help from the government. We need to stop the absurdity where after a certain point you need to pay VAT on invoices rather than cash, and we need the government to introduce legislation stipulating a strict 30-day payment window. Failure to adhere should result in fines applied by the government.
The Federation of Small Businesses has estimated that ending the culture of late payment in UK business could provide an immediate £2.5 billion boost to our economy. With Covid-19 seemingly set to impose an immediate economic hit, this could be just the boost we need to see ourselves through.
But of course, while those measures would do much to boost our economy, whether or not an individual business succeeds is down to the entrepreneur more than it is to any government policy. In my case, I’ve learnt a great deal about leadership in my time running StormBrands.
I’ve learnt the importance of plans. I always wanted to work with global brands like Tropicana and Quaker Oats as well as with inspiring local businesses, but I knew it wouldn’t happen immediately. We set out three and five-year plans to get there and then we worked hard to make them happen.
I’ve learnt the importance of having an opinion. So many people are scared to say what they really think but, in my experience, you pick up more work if you do have an opinion. For example, we showed Aldi a deck full of criticisms of what they were doing. They were reasoned, constructive criticisms, supported by evidence and pointed towards solutions, but they were criticisms nonetheless. The client loved it. He said no one had ever given him such a forthright opinion before, and awarded us the contract.
I’ve learnt the importance of listening. You have to encourage people to come forward with ideas, listen to them, and take action. If you don’t do this then your people stop coming to you with ideas, and that’s when your business is in trouble.
Finally, I’ve learnt not to expect it all to happen overnight. Some people start a business expecting a six-figure salary immediately, and they’re usually in for a major shock. I took a large pay cut when I moved from a steady job to set up StormBrands.
It’s been a lot of hard work since those heady days back in 1994, with many highs and lows, but I can honestly say I’ve loved every minute of it, and I can’t wait to see where we can take this firm in the years ahead.
