Transformational brand moments: a case study

This case study shows how earning trust can lead to deeper relationships, award-winning design, and transformational brand moments.

It is a story about trust, its impact on client work, and how that leads to transformational moments for a brand.

Ocean Brands is known for its seafood brands like Ocean's, Gold Seal, and Millionnaires. Our first project together was a small package redesign. The work had a big impact, though. Industry, competitors, and award granting bodies acclaimed the new design, and sales increased. As a result, we had more design leeway in our following projects, and our design work expanded creatively.

In our experience, great creative work comes from relationships and collaboration. Trust, pride, and objectivity are the three significant contributing factors. Trust gives the design team more freedom to explore ways to tell the brand story.  When the creative and client teams are proud of their work, they feel engaged and enthusiastic, and everyone is motivated to pursue excellence in this project or the next. Regarding objectivity, one person on the client team challenged our thinking. She placed herself outside the design solution work to evaluate it. Her feedback, and her collaborative contribution, were invaluable.

The account teams on both sides were in sync, too, and the relationships at the strategic level deepened.

"The strongest overall client tie we have is when there are relationships at multiple levels in the organization," says Invok Brands CEO Anne Marie Pagliacci. 

VP Marketing Ocean Brands, Nola Martin, agrees. "The best relationships are built on trust at all levels, which lets us support the work and deal with any challenges transparently. With Invok, we have one of our most trusted relationships."

Would you like to assess your client-agency relationship? Download and print this one-page tool now.