In 2012, third-generation CEO Jim D’Addario hired a branding agency, VSA Partners, to create new packaging for D’Addario guitar strings. But the firm suggested an overhaul of the entire D’Addario brand.
“I’m trying to hold on to the past and not give up something that I think is successful.
And they’re trying to propose something that will take us into the future,” D’Addario
It took the CEO, who had designed the company’s logo himself in the 1970s, a while to agree to VSA’s vision for an image update.
“There is this process where you … start trusting each other more, and
you start believing in what they are proposing,”
From the new logo sprang a brand book, which, D’Addario says, has quickly become a critical foundation for the company.
“When a new engineer starts, he reads it and understands what our culture is,”
… “It just makes everything so much easier. So now, we’re sitting back and … watching
the ride, and it’s having a great effect in every sub-brand and every category.”
Watch the interview below or on inc.com
