Welcome to Broad Street Brand Partners – we’re a brand strategy shop excited to partner with businesses looking to realize their brand’s full potential. As we launch this endeavor, I’d like to share a little about our background and vision.
Any brand strategist worth their salt knows the 4 Cs and 5 Ps. But what about the 5 Ws? As a former journalist, I am a firm believer those Ws are often the key in understanding just about anything. We use them as the basis for our approach to brand strategy - and today, I’ll use them to tell you about our new venture, Broad Street Brand Partners.
Who: Armand LeVasseur and Clay Gaynor. Some of you likely know us; hopefully a lot of you don’t (that means we’re getting in front of new eyeballs!). Armand and I are brand strategy and marketing vets who most recently worked together for one of the top brands in travel for the past eight years.
Over that time, we’ve discovered a lot of commonalities: we’re both dog people; we both have two kids; we both live in Falls Church, Va. (which Broad Street runs through, hence the company name); and we both truly enjoy building brands, creating ownable positionings, and telling those stories to consumers.
What: Broad Street Brand Partners, our just-launched brand strategy partnership. We’re calling it a partnership and not an agency for a reason. We believe nobody knows your business better than you do. That’s why we don’t want to do all the thinking for you, we want to do the thinking with you – as a thought partner from start to finish.
We’re focused on relationships that are simple, transparent and efficient.
We keep it simple, which means our partners never have to wonder why every call requires a small army or worry their goals will get lost in translation as they work their way up the account chain. That’s because there is no account chain – you’ll work directly with one of us as we partner on the right strategy for your brand or business. Simple, right?
Our low overhead model is transparent and means our partners only pay for the services they need. And you’ll always be partnering with the people who sat across the table – or Zoom – from you on day one.
We believe in one-page briefs. You’ll never see a Broad Street presentation with 90 pages of fluff before the big idea. Because focusing on the fluff is inefficient and often how the big picture gets lost. Our efficient approach keeps things focused – and results in focused work.
When: Now. 2020 has been a lot of things. Scary and uncertain, with a dash of anticipation and resilience. After years in big, corporate environs, Armand and I are experiencing a microcosm of those 2020 feels as we strike out on our own. It IS a little scary and uncertain, but the anticipation of doing something great with great people outweighs the jitters. As for resilience, that brings us to “why.”
Why: Armand and I have worked with countless agencies (most of them really good) and have always batted around what we would do different if the shoe were on the other foot.
We recognized an opportunity to develop our ideas and build the plan for what has become Broad Street - and quickly came to realize how excited we are about launching this thing and the prospect of building something that’s ours, partnering with great people and pioneering a new approach.
Where: We’re based in Falls Church, Va. It’s a small enclave that punches above its weight in the crowded D.C. metro area. We’re looking at our venture much the same way: there will always be bigger shops, but good ideas can come from anywhere.
What’s Next: Bonus W! We’re live and rolling. If you or someone you know is undertaking a branding project, considering a repositioning or tackling a business or marketing challenge, we’d love to connect and talk about why Broad Street is the right strategy partner to make it happen.
-Clay
