HOW TO RELAUNCH A LEGENDARY BRAND

The key thing to keep in mind when doing a brand relaunch is the “re” part. You’re not starting from scratch. There’s a rich history behind most brands that has to either remain or come out to keep it authentic. I love working on brand relaunches for that very reason.

In the world of climbing, Royal Robbins is a legend. He was the first to climb Half Dome. The first to climb El Capitan. The first staunch free-climbing advocate who refused to use pitons, bolts, and other rock-damaging hardware. And his clean climbing ethics are still used today. Not to mention, his name was “Royal”. It gets no cooler than that.

The company he and his wife Liz started was conceived on top of Half Dome and born in Basecamp in Yosemite Valley in 1968. The clothes they made were for people like them. People who lived in basecamps all over the world so they could climb, hike, trek, ride, travel, and talk about it all night around the fire.

But somewhere along the way, the brand lost its luster. While Royal’s climbing buddy and old friend Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia and became a mainstay in outdoor gear and apparel, Royal Robbins sold the company in 2007 and it shifted toward more of a travel brand.

That’s where it was until 2018 when the brand was bought by Fenix Outdoor, which also owns brands Fjällräven, Tierra and Hanwag. And that’s when I got a call from an old friend. Erik Burbank, a client back in the Nike days and then again in 2019 when he was with Keen. He was hired as the GM of Royal Robbins and wanted to relaunch the brand. Needless to say, I was happy to help.

The thing about a guy like Royal Robbins is that he was gonna spend his life with someone even more impressive than he was. Royal’s wife Liz is a woman of incredible character and a helluva climber in her own right. She was the first woman to climb Half Dome and the first woman to ascend a grade 6 climb anywhere in the world. It was at the top of Half Dome that a famous picture was taken of the couple. Liz saw it, looked at her clothing and said to Royal, “We need to start a clothing company.” So they headed back down to Camp 4 and that’s just what they did.

Once we heard that story of Liz and Royal at the top of Half Dome, we had the line: “Conceived on Half Dome. Born in Basecamp.” Because every great adventure starts and ends in a basecamp somewhere. And that's where you'll find Royal Robbins clothes. 

Thanks to Erik Burbank, Gareth Martins and everyone at Royal Robbins. It’s been a long journey getting “Born in Basecamp” into the world. Thanks for inviting us on the adventure. There are lots of great San Francisco ad agencies. We’re glad you chose Division of Laborfor your brand relaunch.

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The Freelance Copywriter San Francisco Blog is written and produced by Josh Denberg; a top freelance copywriter, creative director, content writer and founder of Ad Agency Division of Labor. Click HERE to discuss a project.

Small San Francisco Ad Agencies Founded by Goodby Silverstein Alumni

Look around at the small ad agencies in San Francisco and you’ll find that a lot of the best ones have one thing in common. Yes, great creative advertising campaigns. Yes, smart strategic thinking. Yes, meticulous execution. But how they started is what many have in common.

Given the longevity of Goodby Silverstein and Partners’ and the talent that’s gone through the place over the years, I guess it’s not surprising that a good number of ex-GS&P employees started agencies. Some got big, some got mid, some stayed small, but all have pieces of what Jeff and Rich started 40 years ago.

Those guys pushed for fresh, weird, honest, funny, smart, and quirky and they wanted the place to be a reflection of the clients and the people who worked there, not of them. So if you’re looking for a freelancer, I’d start with folks who went through that place. And if you’re looking for an agency here are the ones founded by people who worked up on 720 California St or 921 Front St before that. They are in alphabetical order, not by ranking, as they’re all great shops. 

Argonaut - Hunter Hindman started it with Robert Ricardi, one of the best ad guys out there, and the place is a staple in the San Francisco scene.

BarrettSF - Founded by Jamie Barrett, ex Fallon, ex Weidan and Kennedy and ex Goodby Silverstein, the trifecta of agencies.

Butler Shine - The original spinoff. ButtShine has been doing it well for longer than all of us.

Camp King - Set in the Presidio, founded by Roger Camp and Jamie King. Roger did great work before he was at GS&P and they still do it today.

Cutwater - Founded by Chuck McBride, a great writer who also got to work under Lee Clow, so he has that going for him too.

Division of Labor - Founded by Josh Denberg and Paul Hirsch who spent 8 years at Goodby Silverstein they focus on Series B startups, tech companies and brand relaunches, plus they act as a freelance hub.

Erich & Kallman - These guys do some funny work and have grown steadily. Kallman spent time at both Goodby and Weiden.

Funworks - Founded by Craig Mangan and based on the idea that improv can lead to great advertising.

Odysseus Arms - I don’t know Libby, but I know Libby’s work and it’s good. Odysseus has stayed small but never compromises on quality.

Partners in Crime - Founded by Steven Goldblatt they work on technology brands and interactive projects while also handling production.

Venables Bell - Paul and Greg started their place with Bob Molineaux and had Audi within 4 years. Still have no idea how they did that!

So if you’re looking for a shortlist of San Francisco ad agencies, skip the pitch and contact a few of these places. Though my completely biased opinion says, start by clicking here.

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The Freelance Copywriter San Francisco Blog is written and produced by Josh Denberg; a top freelance copywriter, creative director, content writer and founder of Ad Agency Division of Labor. Click HERE to discuss a project.

Ad Agency or Freelance Creative? Which is right for your startup?

Startups that are Series B and above finally have the cash to get serious about their marketing efforts. Sometimes the in-house creative teams are well up to the challenge of developing and building out whatever campaign and brand assets are necessary. But when they need some help, is it best to turn to an ad agency or freelance team?

Depending on the in-house capabilities, a freelance copywriter and freelance designer/art director is a great place to start. A creative team can work seamlessly with an in-house group without causing the same kind of friction as bringing in an outside agency. A freelance copywriter can often work with resources a company already has to accomplish a ton of work for a fraction of the cost of an agency. 

But there are certainly times when an agency is more cost-effective and efficient than a freelance copywriter or designer, especially when big project deadlines are looming and the in-house team is already stretched. So here are a few things to think about when deciding between hiring a freelancer or an agency: 

Consider Your Budget

Ad Agency: If your marketing budget exceeds $50,000 and you have specific marketing challenges that require comprehensive solutions, an agency might be the better choice. Ad agencies excel at addressing complex problems and have the capacity to coordinate multiple disciplines to execute a seamless marketing strategy. 

Freelancer: If your marketing budget is limited to less than $50,000, hiring a freelancer or freelance team is the way to go. Freelance copywriters and freelance art directors or designers typically earn between $700 and $1700 a day, depending on their level of experience. (Of course, there are those who charge less and more, but these numbers should give you an idea.) When you don’t have huge budgets but still require senior, specialized expertise for a defined project or campaign, a freelancer is the way to go.

Are you buying media?

Ad Agency: If you have an approved budget for paid media and need strategic planning, creative execution, and production for social ads, digital ads, video ads, billboards, broadcast, or other media placements, an ad agency can provide better rates and handle the coordination effectively.

Freelancer: If you have no approved media budget but need to build your brand and create assets for social media, website, or sales meetings, hiring a freelance team can deliver significant value. Freelancers can assist in designing and creating brand assets on a smaller scale for specific projects.

Freelancer: If you have media already purchased and now need to execute a campaign quickly, bring in a freelance team to work with your internal resources and execute to the media plan.

Full Funnel Media Campaign or a few executions?

Ad Agency: If you envision a multi-media campaign that builds awareness, drives consideration and initiates conversions across multiple media touchpoints, you want an agency. An advertising agency brings together the strategy, creative, account management, project management, production capabilities and media planning, buying and tracking that you don’t want to try to replicate on your own

Freelancer: If you have one or two media channels and you’re looking to execute creative in a defined set of assets, hire a freelancer. Maybe you need some out-of-home or a radio campaign or a couple social campaigns to A/B test. A good freelance team will knock it out faster and for a lot less money. And if you already have an in-house producer and need video scripts and campaign ideas, hire a freelance copywriter to develop a number of ideas and have that person work with the in-house design team and production team to knock it out.

New Product Launch:

Ad Agency: When launching a new product or service in multiple markets using various media touchpoints, an agency's ability to coordinate PR, social, digital, outdoor, audio, events, and tradeshows becomes indispensable. They excel at managing complex launches and ensuring a coordinated execution across multiple channels.

Freelancer: If you’re looking for a campaign to execute in your home market and you understand the media landscape, a freelance team can be a great way to get exceptional creative thinking and budget-friendly campaign execution. 

Freelancers are also ideal for preliminary presentations for internal approval. Or if you want to explore launch ideas without committing to anything, working with a freelance team can offer tremendous flexibility. Freelancers can collaborate closely with you, present ideas, and develop presentations to showcase to management before proceeding to production.

Strategy/Research:

Ad Agency: When strategic research is needed to gain insights into marketing problems that require creative solutions, involving an agency ahead of time is recommended. Agencies can offer valuable perspectives on research outcomes and guide you in identifying the most actionable insights to inform your marketing strategy.

Freelancer: If you have an in-house planner who is looking into target audience segmentation, or evaluating current market awareness, hiring a freelancer to assist with implementing focus groups, tallying polls, and tracking surveys can be helpful. 

Website Development:

Ad Agency: If you are planning a multimedia campaign that requires a comprehensive website redesign, along with landing pages linked to various media placements, an agency is better equipped to handle the project. Agencies possess the expertise to integrate multiple disciplines and ensure a cohesive execution of your site build. 

Freelancer: If your in-house team is in control of the website and you need a refresh, redesign or new sections written, hire a freelancer. Or if you’re just starting out, a freelance team can quickly design and build a website using platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow, Shopify, Weebly, IONOS, GoDaddy, or Wix. If you’re still not sure, click HERE and I’ll let you know my thoughts. Or fill out this form if you want to get more specific insight on which way to go.

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The Freelance Copywriter San Francisco Blog is written and produced by Josh Denberg; a top freelance copywriter, creative director, content writer and founder of Ad Agency Division of Labor. Click HERE to discuss a project.

Copywriting, Outdoor and Startups in San Francisco

Hatred of passwords is universal.

No matter what color state you live in or what language you speak, you speak ill of passwords. From the technophile to the Luddite, Gen Z to Gen X, Forever Trumpers and Never Trumpers, one of the few things the internet can actually agree on is our collective hatred of passwords.

That universal truth, that thing we can all agree on, that’s what we look for in advertising to create campaigns that make an emotional connection with people. Find that little piece of truth and make it big. That’s all great advertising does. It makes people feel something they already feel and then promotes something related to it.

Don’t you hate it when there’s just a drop of milk in the carton? Why yes, I should get off my fat ass and just do it. Finding that universal truth is what ad people do.  And the truth is, passwords make the internet a frustrating, incongruous collection of sputtering starts and stops - Login, reset, verify your account, enter this code, re-login, incorrect password, ping customer service, scream profanity, wake your sleeping spouse. You know the drill because we’ve all been there. And we all hate passwords.

Enter Stytch, a San Francisco startup that recently closed series B funding, with a billion-dollar valuation. Stytch founders Julianna Lamb and Reed McGinley-Stempel come from Plaid, so they know the sector, have the product, and are confident in their vision of a passwordless future. Their brief to us was a simple blog post with the title #KillThePassword. And that title is the strategic underpinning for this campaign.

One of the ways people try to remember all the passwords they have crammed into their brains is by writing them down on Post-it Notes and sticking them to computer screens, bulletin boards and cubicle walls. And we thought it would be pretty amazing to take all those sticky notes and cover billboards with them. A brilliantly colorful hodgepodge of notes, reminders, and passwords. An analog announcement that the world was going to be changing. Not a picture of Post-its or a computer-generated recreation, mind you, thousands of handwritten Post-its stuck onto billboards around the city. 

When we presented it they were like, “Yes! We love that idea!” And we were like, “Yes! Of course, you do because you’re amazing and smart and you have a billion-dollar startup as proof!”

So then we had to make it happen.

To do that you need a media guy like Kasper Koczab. Kasper arranged custom-built glass enclosures to house the hand-made boards. He arranged execution tests to ensure the backlighting would be right and got a local artist to assemble each board by hand. Then we ordered 10,000 Post-it Extremes and Post-it Super Stickies and got to work writing.

We brought in about 25 production assistants to create the notes during three marathon sessions with more multicolored Sharpies than I’d seen since high school art class. But by the deadline, we were still short by over a thousand notes. So we arranged one final Friday night Shabbat charity session, invited friends and donated $400 per finished Post-it Note pad to the relief efforts in Ukraine. Thirteen pads amounted to over $5000 raised and pushed us over the number of Post-its needed.

Ron Lester at Iron Maverick is a San Francisco artist and metal worker who took on the task of arranging each board and layering the thousands of notes so people could just barely read the headline “Never remember a password again.”

There are also buses covered in cryptic, password-style headlines like, d0nTUh8pA55w0rD5L1kETh15? And K1LLpA55W0rD5oNcE&4aLL! Plus about a billion other billboards, bus shelters and bulletins with reminders like “Your dog’s name123 is not a password.” And “The average person resets passwords more than they have sex.”

Huge thank you to ad agency Division of Labor and everyone involved: Julianna Lamb, Reed McGinley-Stempel, Ali Pulver, Aiden Forest Rebecca Reid, Faruk Sagcan, Dom Haury, Vassil Vassilev, Dawn Margolis, Kasper Koczab, Ron Lester

All our Post-it Note creators:

Anita Avila, Maia Sullivan, Henry Denberg, Raney Wolfers, Hennessy Boyarski, Lincoln Brown, Gabriel Aal, Jordyn Okumura, Shivani Amin, Sachie Ohara, Dani Steinberg, Bella Hann, Dahlia Zail, Gabriel Lobet, Sophie Letts, Brit Norris, Julia Sigel, Masina Tufa, Julia Dearing, Colton Kitan, David Wong, Mary Friedman, Vanessa Friedman, Deb Toizer and Eric Toizer, Ellie and Lydia Reid, Nils Krueger, Nikita Sriram, Lauren and Cora Arebalo, Emma and Katelyn Daniel, Emma, Eva and Elissa Holyoke, Alessandra and Guiliana Mancini.

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The Freelance Copywriter San Francisco Blog is written and produced by Josh Denberg; a top freelance copywriter, creative director, content writer and founder of Ad Agency Division of Labor. Click HERE to discuss a project.