Dive Brief:

• VML is uniting its design capabilities and leadership under a new studio division called Brand Design at VML, according to news shared with Marketing Dive.
• Brand Design at VML specializes in a range of services, including brand design strategy and positioning, packaging design and tone of voice. The creative agency unit will be led by VML Chief Design Officer Robb Smigielski in North America. 
• Intel, Dell and Krispy Kreme are among the studio’s clients at launch. VML rejiggering its design offerings comes as brands continue to refresh their visual identities and other assets to better engage younger consumers.

Dive Insight:

VML, the WPP-owned creative agency, is streamlining its existing design talent and capabilities under one roof with the unveiling of Brand Design at VML. The move capitalizes on client demand for design-related services, which have become one of the fastest-growing creative offerings at VML, according to Debbi Vandeven, the agency’s global chief creative officer. 

“By formalizing the Brand Design at VML studio even more, it allows us to add more scale and momentum to a key capability that has been such a big driver of VML growth,” said Vandeven in a statement. 

The past several years have seen an outpouring of brand identity refreshes as advertisers adjust to a post-pandemic environment and modernize to appeal to Gen Z and millennial consumers. Threading a coherent story across an expanding slate of channels, from packaging to social media, is also important to marketers that want to make a lasting impression on fickle consumers. Several other creative agencies have stood up dedicated design practices in 2024, including Gut, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and MullenLowe. 

Brand Design at VML has recently attracted new clients such as Spirit Airlines, Krispy Kreme and Ionna. North American employee headcount in the past four years has surpassed 80 creatives and designers operating out of VML hubs in Kansas City, New York, Denver, Chicago and Miami. 

Brand Design at VML will be spearheaded by Smigielski, a longtime VML design expert. He is joined by Chief Strategy Officer Ian Davidson; Studio Director Mike Joosse; Verbal Design Director Andrew Shephard; and Executive Design Directors Michael Eppelheimer, Hamish McArthur and Meghan Still.

VML formed at the start of the year from a combination of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson. It is a crucial part of parent WPP’s broader push to streamline its sprawling agency network. Other VML service areas seeing increased traction post-merger include customer relation management and loyalty, executives previously told Marketing Dive.

Creative agencies continue to weigh on WPP’s performance following major account losses and softness from markets like China. The segment declined 3.1% year over year in Q3 though it could bounce back with the recent addition of deep-pocketed accounts, including that of Starbucks. VML was credited by executives as a key part of winning the coffee giant’s business.