Lauren Ranke’s Post

I am getting my mom her lunch when I find out.  My colleague Alex Athanasiou calls me with the news. I have to sit down. "Are you all right?" my mother asks. She is 92 and watching "Murder She Wrote," her favorite TV show. "Yes. I'm fine, Mom. Apparently, we are going to be AdAge's Design Firm of the Year, again. I did not think that was even possible," I say. "Five times in six years. I am shocked." "Well, you all work so hard. You're on the phone all the time whenever you're here. I don't think any of you people sleep." Still sitting on her couch, I watch as Angela Landsbury, sporting a ridiculously large, floppy, furry winter hat, is discovering yet another frozen corpse in yet another seaside motel. "That's the second body," my mom says. "I know exactly who murdered them." "Hell, I'd murder that terrifying thing on her head," I say. "I mean, doesn't Angela Landsbury have any gay friends?" My mom gets angry. One does not mock Holy Saint Angela. "She is IN CHARACTER, Brian. And besides, I sent you to art school to become an artist. Not a snob." For the next few minutes we discuss who she believes the killer really is. And then, suddenly, she says this: "So, you know...congratulations. I am so happy for you. That's quite a thing," my mother says and then adds, "but do NOT be a snob." ..... This morning I am still shocked. But more importantly, I am now grateful for my co-founder Leland Maschmeyer and each one of the extraordinary clients, partners and the people we get to be transformative artists with every single day. With insane gratitude to: Andmore Assurance Bose Blackstone Equinox Disney/Freeform Google Guild Intercom Legence Mural Red Wing Sustana Target Unsplash+ West Side Fest YouTube Good clients get good work. And to our people: Nick Ace Stalyn Almanzar Taamrat Amaize Alex Athanasiou Rebeka Arce Alex Blumfelder Jordan Bosse Katie Branham Yale Buchwald Mariah Bush Tim Cairns Madeleine Carrucan David Chathas Jaeyou Chung Brian Collins Nicole Cousins Olivia Crandall Tom Elia Sam Eliot Jing Qi Fan Daniel Ferro Klaudia Gladysz Joseph Han Rik Ito Beth Johnson Sanuk Kim Kelly Kraft Arielle Kroloff Jade Kuzak Victoria Lewis Antonia Lazar Morgan Light Kristine Lim Mason Lin Eron Lutterman Cas Malo Tomas Markevicius Leland Maschmeyer Oilang Maui Lorena Ortiz Eric Park Sharon Park Lauren Ranke Rohan Rege Zuzanna Rogatty Indgila Samad Ali Rebecca Smith Emily Sneddon Allison Solomson Dilayla Solorzano David Terry Kim Unger Dev Valladares Katya Watkins Taylor Zahrt All of them, great artists of many different crafts. And not one, a snob. Congratulations to every single A-List 2024 winner and to all who are being recognized by AdAge this year, especially to our friends at Mischief, 72 and Sunny, Wieden + Kennedy, The Martin Agency, Edelman, Mother, Joan, Gut and Ogilvy. And thank you to the people at AdAge. Again. .

We began our relationship with the remarkable people at Figma over three years ago. Working closely with their leaders, we set out to tell the world about a truth that history often hides: Nothing great is made alone. Today, Fast Company named our efforts together as the Best Brand Work of the Year. It’s as much an honor as it is startling. Because the work is, well… weird. References to Stonehenge, goth teens, Mary Shelly, art thieves and the like aren’t what immediately come to mind when you think about "tech." But they all point back to “Nothing Great is Made Alone,” a universal truth you’ll find humming at the center of Figma as a company, a product, a team, and their growing community. They are wholly committed to unlocking the creativity in groups of people, wherever they are, whatever they do. From the start, it was clear we’d anchor our work in that spirit as it was a value we not only admired, but one we aspire to, here. It stands at the core of COLLINS’ beliefs about bringing meaningful ideas into the world. You can never do really amazing things all by yourself. Our formula is simple: Good clients = good work. As for that famous brand who recently called asking if we ever would do work that’s less, well, “weird” than this, we said: “Not really. Why?” Because this is what happens when you get… unusual. You get to build a brand with a meaningful difference in a world where everyone wants to be the same. The water’s fine. We’ll be here waiting for you, whenever you’re ready to jump in. So thank you, Fast Company. And, as always, bravo to our intrepid crew here at COLLINS in San Francisco and New York. And a hyper-bravo to Figma for also being honored as the winner of Fast Company’s General Excellence category today. The Fast Company story is here: https://lnkd.in/ed8Hr2Vd Our full case study, here: https://lnkd.in/dVQyN-tg COLLINS Louis Mikolay Taamrat Amaize Anjelica Triola Michael Di Leo Tom Elia Jump Jirakaweekul Sanuk Kim Tomas Markevicius Ben Crick Emily Sneddon Madeleine Carrucan Eric Park Megan McCarthy Alex Athanasiou Darius Wang Figma Stephanie Zou Amanda Kleha Andrea Helmbolt Dylan Field Nairi Hourdajian Animade

Wow. We’re thrilled our work with the IIT Institute of Design has just been selected as a winner in AIGA’s 365: Year in Design competition. Bravo to all of our good clients at ID and, of course, to our team here at COLLINS. And thank you, AIGA judges. What a way to start Wednesday. Congratulations to all of this year’s honorees: https://lnkd.in/eDKY5p7P

Cannes has invited us to speak. Tomorrow afternoon. Oh, dear. Why? Well, as it turns out, some in marketing still under-leverage brand. And they end up leaving insane amounts of money on the table. Insane. Why? This happens because they still view brand as an end-of-the-value-chain aesthetic wrapper for products and services. But since we began, we and our clients see the power of brand in a much different, more foundational, bigger and more valuable way. This shift in perspective has paid off for them like gangbusters. Our clients - especially in the P.E. world – and specifically Blackstone – now use brand much differently. Over the previous two years, COLLINS and Blackstone have pulled brand strategy far upstream in the crucial sequence of real value creation. So, as I said, Cannes, has put us on stage to talk about all of this - and our POV on brand - with its attendees. So, if you’re here, on Tuesday June 20th at #canneslions2023 Jonny Bauer (our friend and colleague at Blackstone) Deb Cloutier, CRE (our friend, client and great Blackstone portfolio company leader) and my business partner Leland Maschmeyer will share our approach, its remarkably outsized impact, and how any executive team can use brand to accelerate the three crucial drivers of every business: 1. Value 2. Values 3. Valuation I so hope you can join us. https://lnkd.in/eWdsMbYa Tuesday, 20 14:30 - 15:00 (30 minutes) 2:30 - 3:00 (for we Americans) The Forum Palais I Why? We want your insight, too. We’ll need your help to push brand (and design and creativity, in turn) way up the powerful value chain. So to speak. See you there. I mean, uh… À bientôt! .