Week 4: Some AW History

This week I got to sit down with Addison Whitney’s Communications Manager, Matt, to talk about how AW got its start. The company is actually coming up on its 25th anniversary at the end of this week, so Matt was truly in the spirit of talking about the beginning times. It all started in 1991 with a man named Clayton. He was working for an executive search firm, but wasn’t too fond of it. He had read a lot about branding and thought it was interesting, but realized there weren’t any services or companies out there to fill that need. So, in a true entrepreneurial spirit, he quit his job and decided to venture into a branding start-up.

The company has come a long way since 1991. I learned that the business used to only offer the naming service, whereas now they offer verbal, research, brand strategy, and visual services. The consultants used to come up with name candidates and communicate them with clients, now the verbal team has those responsibilities. It was interesting to find out that the original business was only for naming, because now I’ve seen how important all the different departments are in creating a brand.

One of the biggest “growing pains” I think the company had was convincing people that they needed a branding service. A lot of people think they can do branding themselves or internally with their company, but there is actually A TON that goes into branding that I don’t think people realize (I sure didn’t before this internship). So I think convincing other businesses and companies that they needed the AW service was a growing pain for the original team. But, as in true entrepreneurial spirit, Clayton and the consultants knew branding was a need that wasn’t being filled, they believed in their business, and they busted their butts convincing people they needed AW and now the business is where it is today.

But, on a different topic, one highlight from my week was seeing a survey that I programmed (for the most part!) be finalized, reviewed, and sent out for a soft launch over the weekend. It was just a great feeling to see something that I worked on be finalized and approved!