In today’s consumer market, one thing is for sure: ideas are abundant, but individuals equipped with the necessary skill set to spread them around the world with meaning are few and far between. Talented creative director, Jeff Venida, is fortunate enough to call himself one of those people. He is well versed in the art of materializing concepts and building successful branding from the ground up. He has an eye for identifying advertising gaps in the consumer market and expertly develops branding strategies accordingly. For Venida, bombarding the world with tasteless ads and cheap commercials would be simple; however, his passion for branding that resonates with consumers on an emotional, personal level motivates him to create advertisements that will speak to his audiences on a deeper level and leave a lasting impression on the industry as a whole.
Venida has always had a passion for creative branding and has found himself fascinated by the psychology behind advertising for as long as he can remember. To be able to think back on the early days of his career and see how far he has come since then serves as a solid reminder that he has chosen the right professional path along the way. Knowing that he has worked with some of the industry’s household names is something that may never truly sink in for Venida. In fact, having worked with leading Canadian apparel brand, Herschel, serves as one of the highlights of Venida’s career.
Founded in 2009 by brothers Jamie and Lyndon Cormack, Herschel Supply Co. adopted the name of the town where three generations of their family grew up. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Herschel is a design driven global accessories brand that produces quality products with a fine regard for detail. A mere glance at the company’s website is an indication of just how prestigious and unique Herschel’s branding is. This remarkable online presence reaches hundreds of thousands of individuals on a daily basis and since the company was founded, they have grown into a $175 million business sold in over 7,000 retailers in over 70 countries. For this reason, it isn’t difficult to imagine how skilled a creative director would have to be to collaborate on their branding scheme. When Herschel set their sights on developing a new brand tone, they knew he was the right man for the job and they approached him to lend his expertise to their project. For Venida, it was a no-brainer. Not only would this be a large step in his career, it would also mean spreading his ideas across the grand scope of Herschel’s reach and he couldn’t resist seizing the opportunity with open arms.
Venida’s role with Herschel involved a substantial amount of content creation, but also writing for their brand. He was constantly revisiting their brand foundation in order to identify trends and gaps that he could address with his own flare. He embraced the understanding that he would have to master the brand’s language quickly, whilst also altering it in such a way that would best meet their sales needs. The pressure of creating a branding strategy that would reach such a large audience was intimidating at first; however, Venida grew more and more excited as every piece of the project came together. He immersed himself into every aspect of the project and watched his dreams come true as he worked with companies like Coca Cola and Disney along the way.
Overall, Venida proved himself to be invaluable to the entire operation. Being able to successfully collaborate between notable brands like Herschel, Coca Cola, and Disney, is not something that can be learned easily. It requires a specific skill set and a proficiency in the industry. Fortunately for Venida, he has developed these qualities seamlessly throughout his career as a creative director and he was able to pull off the project with ease. He simply focused his efforts on finding a balance between the collaborators and Herschel in order to ensure that all of the taglines, label copies, selling guides, and more, that he created would be uniform and authentic.
Mikey Scott, founder of Element of Thought Marketing Inc. and Global Marketing Director at Herschel, worked closely with Venida on the project and found himself taken aback by the level of professionalism and creative condor that Venida exudes. As he watched Venida develop a unique language, tone, and messaging for Herschel’s large catalog of products, he began to realize just how rare a creative director like Venida is. From developing storylines around the company’s projects, to writing press releases and managing their social media content, Venida blew his team members away day by day.
“Ultimately, he told hundreds of stories with clear voices and helped to shape the Herschel name in the exact way that we want our customers to know us by. His leading work with Herschel was highly conducive to the brand’s trend of intense commercial and critical success. He is a leading individual and should share his talents with every brand that distributes industry-leading products,” said Scott.
Knowing that the project was such a success puts all of Venida’s hard work into perspective. Seeing it become so well received by the community speaks volumes to the work that he and his team members put into the project and ultimately, he couldn't be prouder of what they accomplished together.