The Brand GuildFounded by Barbara Martin and Jayne Sandman, The Brand Guild is a team of experts across PR, marketing, events, social media, branding and creative. The award-winning agency has a presence in Washington, DC and New York, and represents clients across hospitality, food and beverage and real estate. This year, The Brand Guild released its inaugural Commercial Real Estate Trend Report, titled ‘Live, Play Work: The Great American Shakeup’ – an extensive trend report analyzing consumer behavior through the lens of real estate and development. The Brand Guild also partnered with Uncle Nearest at the outset of the brand’s inception putting the brand on the map not only in the world of spirits, but also as a cultural movement across business and lifestyle media.
Notable long-term clients
Sweetgreen, Room & Board, Howard Hughes, Uncle Nearest, Hoffman & Associates, The Wharf
Recent client wins
Imperfect Foods, Eat Just (JUST Egg), Mint House, Icelandic Provisions, The Bouqs Company, Jaanuu
What was your biggest business challenge this year and how did your team overcome it?
The challenges year in and year out haven't changed: it's about finding and keeping great people, making sure they have the tools they need to do their jobs, and making sure they have the support they need in all directions. This year, these challenges were compounded by unrelenting tidal waves thrown in for good measure: Covid, then post-Covid exhaustion, and now, the uncertainty of what happens next (just when we were all feeling a bit more certain about the fall).
Now, it’s our job to give our team a steady ship as these waves keep hitting. To do that, we've done a few things: 1) made investments in our team wherever we could to make sure they could do their jobs from wherever they are; 2) really pushed to make sure our teams use their vacation, which includes making sure they're building plans beforehand so that they can use that time to really recharge -- and making sure those plans are honored; 3) growing our benefits, including things like mental health days; and 4) giving our teams budgets for fun things, whether they’re happy hours in directors’ backyards, virtual psychic readings, or Real Housewives get togethers over Zoom. Our team really likes each other, so any chance that we can bring them together to have fun really drives home how special everyone is and how important they are to each other.
