A Look Into the Career of a Local Brand Strategist

Strategic Thought Leader, Tiffany Williams, of Tōdem teaches Brand Strategy and Creative Thinking for Furman University’s Master of Arts in Strategic Design (MASD) program. She has answered some of our questions about the branding world, advice for aspiring brand strategists, and career opportunities in Greenville.

 

What does a regular week look like for a brand strategist?

No week looks the same at all for any of us. We get a project list every week, and we work through it. At any point, we could be working on five different projects, but we may be working on one all week. 

There are times that I’m working on visual things, there are times that I’m thinking of new ideas, and there are times that I’m working on post-visuals. Sometimes it’s creating something completely from scratch, and sometimes it’s coming up with a name for a company. I love that it’s always challenging, new, and never the same. 

The great thing about Tōdem is that one person doesn’t take one project; everyone in our whole company touches every project. I could be working on a social media launch for a company while sitting next to my co-worker who is working on something visual for ideas I had, but then we will work on the colors together to make sure everything goes together. Then, I might go into the other room where another co-worker might talk to me about wallpaper ideas. So, we are all collaborating all the time. It’s never boring. It’s fun, exciting, and always different. 

We have these actionable values that we live by. One of them is about work-life balance. Everyone we work with values a work-life balance. Even when you are creating a brand for a company, you have to include the internal culture and the kind of people who are hired because you want them to live out the brand. So, it’s nice because we actually live that, and that’s what we are teaching other people to do too. I feel like I’m in a place where my values are reflected, and my work is worthy of my time away from the people I love. 

 

What is your favorite aspect of the branding process?

My favorite aspect is coming up with concepts and ideas. I love being able to look at things to learn the personality of a company and discover something they may have not even realized about themselves. Making that visually and verbally unique, and telling a story that isn’t obvious, but authentic, true, creative, and fun is an amazing process to me. 

Once you have the concept, it has to be developed from there. How does it look visually? How does it translate verbally? What actions does it look like? How do you bring it to life? 

 

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on?

Naming is one of my favorite things that I do along the branding process. There are some companies that come to us and don’t have a name, so not only are we coming up with the concept and idea, but we’re thinking of it visually and verbally. I love names that aren’t obvious but give a nod to what they’re about. 

I helped name a financial company called Match Grade. Their company was all about precision. The owners both hunted, so the idea behind naming the company came from a type of ammunition (match grade), which is highly precise. Match Grade doesn’t sound like a bullet, but it sounds like it fits their company, which then made for cool visual branding. 

Another one of my favorite projects was Ducks and Drakes. The name is British for skipping stones, and it’s a new children’s clothing company for children with long legs. The idea behind the branding was about the ripple effect a pair of pants can have on someone’s confidence. They wanted to empower kids to unleash their potential and not be held back by lack of confidence because your pants don’t fit because you’re tall. The concepts and ideas behind their company are so much more than a pair of pants. The owner came to us wanting us to bring that confidence to the branding and gave us the privilege to tell that story. 

This makes me so excited to talk about branding. I don’t even think you realize the passion I have for it. People put so much of their life into their companies, and they hand you the gift of being able to show who they are to the world in an authentic and creative way. And they say, “I trust you.” For example, we have done some awesome work with Crigler Group, and they told us, “you have seen us in ways we didn’t even see ourselves but you nailed us.” That is so cool that people entrust that with you because people’s businesses are their livelihood. To see the return on investment they can get by having a great brand that people want to connect with and be a part of is so cool.

 

What advice do you have for students that are interested in pursuing  a career in branding?

First off, if you’re interested in branding, you need to research to understand exactly what branding is because it’s changed so much over the years. If you really love it, then find a way to learn as much as you can about how to do it because there are so many layers to it. 

People can act like a brand is just the logo and a website. There’s so many people that come to us at Tōdem or come to me personally and say, “I need a logo and a website for our company.” That’s not a brand, though. That’s a logo and a website, which is one component of a brand. 

I still feel branding is changing so rapidly. Teaching yourself the history of branding and then learning how it’s changing and adapting over time and how it will continue to change is important. The digital age has made it a completely different thing, too.  Be willing to adjust, grow, and learn. 

The article “The New Brand Culture” is a great condensed history of what branding was and what branding is today and why it’s so relevant. I think it will make people want to be a part of that because it’s exciting, unique, and fun. You can really make a bigger impact on the world than what your website does by being a branding strategist.

 

How have careers and branding grown in Greenville? What are the opportunities like now? 

Greenville has grown so much. It is exponential. I’ve heard in the next 15 to 20 years there’s going to be a 50% growth in population, which is insane. There’s so many new businesses and so much growth, excitement, and energy that they’re just going to be brands needing guidance. 

There are a lot of branding companies in Greenville that do work, not just locally, but regionally and nationally as well. I think the nature of Greenville having grown has allowed everything else to grow with it. Branding and the opportunity to be in branding has grown here too. The biggest thing for us, as a firm, is trying to tap into that. We ask ourselves, “How do we give ourselves the most opportunity to be a part of that growth? 

 

Are you interested in having a career in branding? 

Furman University’s Master of Arts in Strategic Design is a resourceful program that provides students with the necessary skills to have a successful career in branding and design. For more information about Furman University’s Master of Arts in Strategic Design program, click HERE.