Work Update

I want to share my excitement with you. It's totally work related, yeah yeah, yawn right. so click away now if that bothers you.
A little story first...
Just about four months ago Yakima hired a new Director of Marketing, the director came from many prestigious companies and represented some large consumer focused brands. After a while and many discussions with the director, it was clear we had things in common. Three of these strongest connects are around consumer branding.

1) We both have a natural consumer centric perspective, with our respective backgrounds of design and marketing leading us in companies.
From my design perspective, holistically it is a requirement to understand the brand in which you are designing, the overlaps between brand and product design are huge. A shared core concern is the  target user, essential for relevant meaningful design and also for the same attributes in marketing and communicating the correct message.

2) The shared and fostered idea that brand naturally spans across and impacts everything in the company, this may seem obvious to an outsider, but in our day to day role of getting wrapped up in our individual expertise there are mindsets that naturally don't consider this and thus functions within companies get developed as silo's of information and in the end result in a message that is not as cohesive as it could be. Naturally there is room for improvement and change within any institution of more than 2 people.

3) Certain parts of Yakima and it's house of brands are yearning a lot of internal attention to really define, shape and enhance the internal message and collaboration. This work naturally leads to how this message is communicated externally, strengthening the brand and making a difference in the marketplace.

So now, Yakima is on the up, sales up, momentum is growing, spreading, creating and addressing new segments. On the run up to my news we had a few discussions about where things could go, tools to getting there, change and behaviors that reflect the exciting things to come.

So a few days ago, I accepted the offer of a new job, an internal position within Yakima.

"Brand Creative and Insights manager" - hello. James.

What is it you say... well there's a title and then there is an actuality of what you do affect. Lets talk about what I see as the affects. The new job is naturally both brand and consumer related. Understanding consumers and making sure the brand is on track and appropriately communicated, top line simple as that. In details it's as always much more complex, research, way-finding, understanding, creating, involving, collaborating.

The role covers three areas of responsibility and these are the functional aspects that are exciting to me:
- Insights - understanding of consumers, trends, markets and where we go and how we apply that knowledge.
- Creative - the creation of appropriate messages and communications working with top notch digital and print companies that make Yakima stronger.
- Sustainability - this too much of a long story to go into here, but an opportunity to impact the future of sustainable corporate practices at Yakima.

for me
- a lot of learning.
- working with a more strategic mindset.
- employing my creative mindset in a slightly different way
- working with some of the best agencies / consultants. North and Pollinate
- have a louder voice, influencing the Yakima business some more.

On a side note:
A recent business article about Yakima and how it's doing so well

http://www.oregonlive.com/playbooks-profits/index.ssf/2011/10/yakima_products_inc_boosts_roo.html