Keeping my name wasn’t part of the brief. In fact, my only request was that they not call us P+N.
The team brought in outside consultants to challenge their thinking and tested the new positioning with search consultants to understand what resonated and what needed work.
One piece of feedback came through over and over: Whatever you’re saying, go further. Don’t be afraid to be provocative.
It was a good reminder that in an industry where we’re all selling creativity in one way or another, how we tell our own story is our lifeline. We can’t afford to sound like everyone else.
So while many agencies are moving away from founder names in favor of names that describe what they deliver, we went the other direction.
The team chose NAPIER because it represented a mindset and a spirit that had been with us since 2004. That founder who risked everything because she believed in her team, and the people who stuck by her to bring it to life. We’ve always had to outthink, outwork and outshine agencies many times our size. And now we’re owning our roots in a new way, with a simpler name that carries more power.
We also got much clearer about who we’re for. We’re not going after every challenger brand, we’re focused on “sleeping giants”: brands that have strong equity or scale, but aren’t realizing their full potential. These are brands who need to break free from familiar patterns and move differently.It’s what we’ve always done best, but now we have a sharper and more interesting way to articulate it.
On October 22, after 22 years as Partners + Napier, we officially unveiled our new name, visual identity and positioning. It’s been surreal to watch it all come to life, and it’s also proved what I’ve long believed about leading with abundance.
You have to know what makes you special, but you also have to give others room to see possibilities you might not. That’s how you build something that can keep growing beyond you and actually become a legacy.
We are in the business of building brands. We challenge clients to have conviction, to evolve, to get clearer about who they are and to make choices that will set them apart.
We should be willing to do the same.
So to my fellow agency leaders: Don’t wait for a major business disruption to take a fresh look at your brand. And don’t assume that because you know what makes your agency special, everyone else does too.
Give your own brand the attention you’d give your most important client.
And give the people you’ve brought into your business the room to make it even better.
