Phil Allen

Haberdashery is a small business with sizeable ambitions. We met at a point of transition, where the company was looking to stake a cultural claim and lead the evolution of their market by example, by championing the benefits and importance of emotional engagement through their unique approach and products.

Through a series of workshops and thought experiments, initially with the whole team then a focused group of stakeholders, we zeroed-in on their inherent values and unique approach to define their purpose and vision, set in the context of their cultural place now and in the future, ensuring that a rarefied product and brand will always provide tangible value to their customers and wider culture.

Having defined their comprehensive brand philosophy, we progressed to distil and interpret their worldview into an effective set of brand beliefs and behaviours. These assets provided guidance to the whole company around their purpose and trajectory, while protecting the personal creative freedoms that are fundamental to the company and products.

Furthermore, we developed a tone of voice system to safeguard and consistently reflect their purpose and values in all forms of communication, while still allowing the brand to emphasise different facets of their personality to best fit their momentary needs.

The depth and breadth of my own approach has been positively challenged at several points though our time together, testing my own rigour and intuitive depths to ensure that I have provided the best value to the brand and their

people, without losing sight of the wider context and influences that inform their values and vision.

My work with Haberdashery continues as brand guardian, messaging writer and content curator, guiding the development of assets and brand planning.

From emerging tech startups, to rarified luxury icons, to the most venerated British armed force, I have designed plans and written words for a wide strata of brands and organisations for over a decade, including:

Demystifying the work of DeepMind through concept development and applied storytelling.

Envisioning the value of emerging technologies for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Amplifying community values for Unilever through research, insights and expression.

Evolving the story of Velvet Badger by devising the framework for brand development.

Building a community for JCB through tone of voice and engagement strategies.

Defining the future of luxury culture for Haberdashery.

Translating brand values into music for Norwegian Group.

Leveraging audience diversity to define a common cause for the Royal Navy.

Velvet Badger was originally conceived as a content animation studio. Their ambitions quickly outgrew their message and market as they looked to the

future, aiming to incorporate emerging technology and innovative storytelling facilities into their arsenal.

To sell their work and tell their story, they needed a partnership of brand strategy and messaging approach that would be as compelling for the futurists as it is for current clients and culture; as relevant in a decade as it is at any point from now until then.

Through workshops, collaboration and brand modelling we defined the purpose and vision to anchor and elevate their ambitions, then extrapolated the values and customer benefits that would position them as pioneering practitioners for ambitious thinkers.

Defining a framework that speaks to the heart of their ambitions over time was imperative to combat brand dilution or messaging creep in a swiftly evolving technological landscape. In turn their narrative also needed to flex and develop in parallel, without losing sight of the core ethos that has sustained and elevated them.

Creative application of metaphor and storytelling devices were imperative to marry the name with the purpose and the purpose with saleable customer value, combining complex technical considerations with playful approaches to writing and brand expression in relatable and attractive ways.

Evolution is never done, so neither are the Badgers and I. I continue to consult for them as guardian for the Velvet Badger brand, while also developing concepts, strategies and expressions for their diverse roster of clients across luxury and fashion, sports and leisure, technology and beyond.