Sofia Passova, Ph.D., President, CEO & Founder of StereoLOGIC is the reason behind the success of numerous companies worldwide today that are able to analyze, improve and control their business operations in an efficient manner. The steadfast leader—having a multifaceted background from being Chief of Military Laboratory at the Leading Research Organization in Europe, Founder of Software Testing Lab – a training firm that gave new professional life in Canada to engineers and Founder of Blueprint Systems—is leading StereoLOGIC to new heights. The company is a leader in offering disruptive technology accelerating customer services and saving millions of dollars for enterprises.

Being an industry recognized leader delivering keynote presentations at world-wide industry conferences, providing round tables and publishing articles, Sofia’s ability to understand the actual issues that enterprises have and offer real and effective solutions to these problems has made her a trusted partner.

The engineering team led by Sofia spent eight years creating disruptive patent pending technology that provides business process discovery and measurement practically in no time. This is especially important today when companies are moving towards digitization and robotization since the precise knowledge of business processes is the “golden key” to their success.

According to Sofia, the industry currently believes in Robotics that can provide useful and quick results. However, there is a nuance – this is true only in the case when the robots are implemented in the right areas of the company’s process. Since most companies do not have precise documentation of their processes, the possible benefits of robotics are not being realized yet. StereoLOGIC can offer simple and effective solution to this issue. StereoLOGIC Process Robot automatically discovers and maps hundreds of business processes, measures process time and provides the information about process errors and delays. “Our entire team strongly believes in what we do, and our salesmen are happy to ‘sell the truth’,” says Sofia.

” Our entire team strongly believes in what we do, and our salesmen are happy to ‘sell the truth “

In addition, StereoLOGIC’s Process Analytics allows operational managers to solve most complex analysis tasks that traditionally are performed manually, such as Customer Service Acceleration and Operating Cost Savings. Practically in no time StereoLOGIC provides precise reports about what employees are actually doing, how much time they are spending on different activities and where they are having delays and inefficiencies. StereoLOGIC clients also receive their business process documentation with time metrics and SOP.

StereoLOGIC has helped dozens of Banks, Insurance and Telecom companies to understand and improve their AS-IS business processes before RPA implementation and rapidly stabilize the processes after the transformation.For instance, a large North American Bank has recently introduced new approach to improving customer and employee experience by implementing StereoLOGIC Process Analytics. StereoLOGIC allowed the client to define standard processes and detect process deviations and errors at branches in real time. The client witnessed accelerated customer services by 22.5 percent and reduced errors and delays by 95 percent in less than 6 months.

In today’s competitive arena many vendors are promising automated “miracles”, but in reality, they bring many consultants and spend months interviewing customer’s employees. StereoLOGIC’s simple and clear approach offers actual automation and the deliverables are produced during the first week from the moment of installation. According to leasing analysts Stereologic is uniquely positioned to be the only company solving process challenges all enterprises have today.

StereoLOGIC

Management

Sofia Passova
President, CEO & Founder

Description

StereoLOGIC provides robot automatically discovers and maps hundreds of business processes, measures process time and provides the information about process errors and delays.

Total Technology Solutions Group (TTSG) is the go-to source for Document Imaging Devices and Applications in St. Charles. Created in 2010 by Tim Ward, its team of experts are thoroughly trained to save organizations time and resources by assisting them with optimizing workflows, improving employee interactions, and other things that affect a company’s bottom line and much more.

Ward says his company, “started from a cardboard box” amid the greatest economic downturn and recession since World War II. The young entrepreneur struck out to create a niche for himself by addressing and servicing the needs of markets trying to understand and access the burgeoning offerings of technological advancement.

” TTSG consultants explore options with the client, giving them a peek behind the curtains of the solution being discovered. “

TTSG consultants explore options with the client, giving them a peek behind the curtains of the solution being discovered. With multiple manufacturers of both hardware and software, TTSG consultants also add a non-biased approach to fulfilling needs. On the back end, TTSG has implemented a unique system for making sure their service team can meet the demands and time constraints of their customers. Locally housed parts allow them to respond quickly, within an industry best timeframe.

Rather than work to propose common apples to apples comparisons, TTSG consultants strive to provide a back and forth conversation with their potential clients to better understand their business. These open conversations help uncover bottlenecks and time intense manual processes within the daily work of the employees.

After uncovering these problem areas, TTSG consultants explain the idea behind solutions that include hardware and or software. Once it’s established that the idea behind these solutions seems feasible to implement into a customer’s business, the TTSG consultant spends the time needed to construct a custom proposal for the client. TTSG addresses numerous market challenges, as well as adding transparency throughout their sales process, and all the way through the duration of their contract.

For example, one company TTSG worked with was Promex Midwest. They were using five dedicated workstations for scanning to allow end users to scan mortgage documents into their central file storage. This configuration was proving inefficient and costing the firm a lot of money. TTSG recommended Kyocera MFPs, DMConnect and PinPoint Scan to assist the client in addressing the company’s problem of dealing with different scanning stations and unreliable VPN connections to help improve Promex Midwest’s productivity issues.

As TTSG grows and expands throughout Chicagoland, they have expanded both their Sales and Service Teams while maintaining the level of professionalism and “hands on touch” the company had when they first started and were maintaining only a few accounts. This year TTSG looks to work more thoroughly with Docuware, implementing more Document Management Systems as well as increasing the amount of applications implemented on each transaction.

Over the past year another great success has been the launching of TTSG’s sibling company, TTSG IT. Ward created TTSG IT in January 2017 after identifing a market need for managed IT solutions for small businesses. “This increased focus on improving workflow will allow us to expand our offerings within the brands that we are already partnered with,” adds Ward.

The bottom line is that TTSG is a growing and thriving company that is ready to work to meet the needs of its customers all around Chicago and the surrounding area.

Terry Boylandhas always believed in the famous saying of Wayne Gretzy, the greatest hockey player of all time, “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” Terry, the CEO of CPQi has been able to identify opportunities and market trends to make the correct strategic decisions and guide CPQi with his knowledge of the FinTech sector. His methodology was not simple but rather focused on customer needs and with his global experience he took CPQi to new heights, adding value to its clients in designing, upgrading and maintaining IT platforms for capital markets across the American continent.

“Since the formation of CPQi in 2007 we have been delighted with the response from our clients, partners and our own team who have seen us grow from strength to strength in the provision of top-quality technology services to the American financial markets,” says the steadfast leader.

” Any business that is doing the right thing at the right time in the right way can be successful. “

Over the last 10 years CPQi has built out a work class capability in trading and risk platform implementation for their partners, amongst whom are Finastra, Calypso, Murex, Openlink and Moody’s analytics. Working with clients CPQi both installs these platforms and uses DevOps models to build out other functionality for their client’s trading and risk areas.

CPQi has been proud to lead major programs for some of the world’s largest financial institutions. However,their work on the implementation of a treasury platform for Banco Original has won awards. This new bank was designed entirely as an online offering, which is unusual in as much as it also offers fixed income and derivative products to the consumer market. Major platforms for capital markets trading and risk are not designed for hundreds of thousands of users, however building offan existing partner system, CPQi together with the bank have deployed the world’s first genuine capital markets trading platform for the mass market over the internet.

For some time now CPQi has been working with Artificial Intelligence(AI) using a Devops model to help banks achieve their Digitalization goals. They have found that exceptional sums of money have been spent with little real positive financial impact by major financial institutions. The development of CPQi’s AI “Risk Adjusted Economic Value Add” model (RA-EVA) is a real breakthrough in understanding not only how AI can help but what the potential loss or gain will be for an organization. Helping banks understand that AI is about prediction, and that the costs of a good or bad prediction can be understood, is a key part of the model. Using their AI EVA Canvas they define, validate and deploy a value led AI program from inception, through development and training right into production. Alongside this, and to prove the point, CPQi is also developing their own AI models which are based on the workflows for the capital markets industry.

As Terry observes the world is constantly changing as are the economic dynamics. It is essential that businesses change and adapt to these new realities as they occur. During it’s lifetime, CPQi has served as an offshore centre for Europe and North America, has re-centered into the domestic Brazilian market, expanded from there into the Americas, moved their senior management to North America as Brazil entered recession and recently have re-headquartered the company in Canada to benefit from the exceptional market here as well as the AI specialization available in Toronto. “Adapting is key to growth and survival. Any business that is doing the right thing at the right time in the right way can be successful,” explains Terry. “However many fail because people give up too early or lose faith in a good outcome. Endurance, hard work and having a qualified supportive team are the secrets to success, which CPQi has.”

CPQi

Management

Terry Boyland
CEO

Description

CPQi is leading provider of capital markets technology services in the Americas.

What do you get when you combine a long history in the family office space with a passion for film-making? Meet Rick Higgins, a thought leader for family firms and a passionate filmmaker, winning two Heartland Emmy’s and earning nominations for thirteen more.

You could say it’s in his blood, since Rick grew up in a family with parents who ran a family office. He developed a keen intuition of understanding the challenges family offices face, but he also had a flair for software solutions. As his education and experience grew, he developed a passion for finding ways to craft efficiencies so the firm could better serve families.Rick gained valuable experience in Silicon Valley and went on to form multiple companies with the mission of solving problems for family offices.

” Risclarity’s innovative integrations are primarily due to its DataHub, which can be installed in any location the client chooses, cloud or on-premise. “

Understanding the advancements in technology, Rick saw an opportunity to provide something new to the family office industry. In 2010 he founded Risclarity, which is a financial technology company that does two things better than anyone else: Interconnecting a client’s existing technology with Risclarity’s own proprietary software and tailoring the solution for each user.

With Rick’s leadership and his team’s deep experience andtechnologies, Risclarity provides integration solutions to multi-family offices and registered investment advisor firms. These solutions are helping firms reach new levels of scalability while increasing the levels of services they can provide to their customers. For many years, firms opted to use “all-in-one” software because they offered pieces of technology that would solve certain problems.

Risclarity has now made it possible for firms to choose specialized, “best of breed” solutions to bring together portfolio accounting, general ledger accounting, CRM, document management, and allowing for a “plug and play” option. With Risclarity’s integration solutions, firms can implement new software, or in most cases integrate current software, resulting in new efficiencies, at a much lower cost.

How is it possible to provide better, more efficient solutions at a lower cost? Risclarity’s innovative integrations are primarily due to its DataHub, which can be installed in any location the client chooses, cloud or on-premise. Each firm receives its own DataHub, and the client’s data is not co-mingled with any other firm’s data. The DataHub creates a primary, single source, location for all ofa firm’s most complex data, ranging from investment transactions and positions to CRM and demographic data. Risclarity’s software then utilizes its robust mapping engine to translate the data to any other type of system which can then be transferred via APIs or file uploads. In addition, Risclarity’s software can produce supplemental reporting never available before. Risclarity’s unique methods for integrating portfolio accounting systems to general ledger systems are currently receiving the highest notability and accolades in the industry.

A real-world example of one client whose accounting was transformed by the ingenuity of Risclarity is an MFO that services approximately $20 billion AUM. The firm provides investments as well as accounting services to their clients. It had a problem transferring investment transaction data to the general ledger systems. The firm had been doing this process manually, utilizing a great deal of service professionals’ time and causing a six-month backlog. After installing Risclarity’s DataHub and implementing Risclarity’s GLmapLINK, integration software, the firm was able to automate the process of inputting investment transaction data to the general ledger system. The solution greatly increased accuracy and eliminated manual input errors. The backlog was eliminated and the firm’s service professionals could more effectively allocate their time. The custom solution also allowed the firm to scale and bring on many more clients – all with a net reduction in personnel.

Of course, Rick isn’t content to keep the status quo. His vision for interconnecting business systems as part of a seamless and comprehensive ecosystem has him developing artificial intelligence to aid accountants, lawyers, portfolio managers and their teams better see the financial future for their clients. Rick envisions offering unique solutions to customers worldwide and assisting them in new, unimagined ways to bring efficiency and boost scalability. It seems Rick’s creative combinations continue to bring the art and science of family office reporting to new audiences.

A Leader Who Models the WayVanesa Patino, COO, Valley Forge Fabrics, has a relentless drive to constantly improve every process in the organization to create better efficiency and increased visibility to everyone in the organization, including the vendor partners and clients. Her strategic eye for visioning technology enhancements to the organization to make VFF the best place to work via allowing her team to use more time on creative and customer-facing aspects, as opposed to manual tasks and excessive inputs, is unparalleled. Vanesa’s ability to organize teams of people and connect different company departments to work together as a team is truly unique and remarkable. She also has a laser focus that allows her team to achieve goal after goal. Vanesa learns like a sponge and can then take new concepts and ensure to spread them through the organization. Most importantly to the company culture, Vanesa motivates her team members and coaches them to be more than they previously believed they could be in their roles.

Vanesa learned from her young age – as the only female executive in a purely male environment – how important it is to create a strong mindset and have self-confidence in everything she does. “That mindset helps me to support, mentor, and encourage other women to share/show the best of them to the world in every circumstance and use that same self-confidence as a tool to enable others to be inspired and lead with the same example,” says the steadfast leader for whom the focus has always been on people. “Listen by being present and communicating with clarity. Show compassion in every circumstance, empower them to develop their self-confidence, support them during hard times but push them to work out of their comfort zone; let them feel that you have their back, so they do the same with their teams. The feeling of knowing that no matter how good or bad the outcome will be while having your leader’s support is invaluable.”

According to her, creating an environment of respect opens the door to collaboration. Building trust through small and big gestures, recognizing, and celebrating accomplishments– big or small is essential for a leader. “Give them the tools they need, the guidance they ask for, the recognition they deserve, challenge them to new adventures, always listen and make them feel trusted, the sky is the limit, and it’s all about the WHO,” explains Vanesa. “The work-life balance that our digitalization investment will give to our people is one of my biggest achievements. The fact that people want to stay at VFF because they love what they do, because they are trusted, and they feel accomplished, is what makes me feel successful – and of course, the results of that are in our bottom line.”

Vanesa is an ardent reader, which opens her mind and soul. “I learn about technology, leadership, spirituality, strategy, psychology, science, communication, astrology, business, culture, HR, Process Improvement, Six Sigma, Engineering, Digitalization, Finance, etc. I’m an inquisitive person!” She enjoys serving as an Executive Board Member of the Broward College Foundation, which provides financial support to students who want to change their lives through higher education, but don’t have the resources to go to college. During weekends she spends time with her family.

“My future will be only success and happiness – with hard work. We have the best team and the most incredible culture. We are the only supplier that will work under a fully integrated Digital Platform. We have learned to adapt and adopt the new normal faster than any other company,” elucidates Vanesa when discussing what is in store for the days to come. “We have been ahead of the game in creating value to our customers and continue to focus on “impacting the happiness of others,” which is our company mission. We have kept our financial position very solid throughout this process and the last 18 months of this pandemic environment. We are focused now on R2P (Revenue To Profit) conversion and providing the best-in-class products and services to our customers.” WL

Yvonne Chow is Lead Visionary & Co-founder at Envisione Studio Ltd. Working with her colleagues to create a pleasant, healthy, and productive working environment is her daily routine. She hopes her vision will enable Envisione studio become one of Hong Kong’s greatest design studio in workplace design field.

She pays close attention to even the tiniest details in order to develop designs that are Inspiring, future-proof, and easy to use. Yvonne & her partner, Eric Chak, invest a lot of time grow Envisione’s team and cultivating a unique culture that values creativity, empathy, collaboration, caring, learning, improving, risk-taking, work-life balance, and having fun.’

“We DISCOVER and care about people business’ needs, We CREATE happy, healthy productive workplaces. We DELIVER world-class forward-thinking solutions for a changing future”

As a lead visionary, she feels learning to be a great leader is more challenging than designing. It Involves spending lot of time interacting with people, understanding their concerns. Videos & books by Simon Sinek, Daniel Pink, John Maxwell, Brene Brown, and others help her to improve her leadership skills. Through constant practicing and learning from her failures, she hopes she serves her team better and better.

The mission of Envisione is to create a work environment that values people. Yvonne is a firm believer that everyone, regardless of company size, position, or money, deserves a joyful, healthy, and productive working environment.

Envisione’s design begins with empathy. She pays close attentions to people‘s concern and expresses genuine understanding & address their problems and requirements in their design.

As a lead visionary, every day she is supported by an exceptional team. They share same values and always learning and improving together. The Envisione’s distinct culture, sets it apart from its competition. Many Envisione’s projects partner with local artists that integrate art into the workplace that reflects client’s value & culture.

Envisione’s team has designed over 2.1 million square feet of workspace since starting its studio four years ago, most of which are in Hong Kong, but also in Tokyo, Osaka, and Manila. Microsoft, Manulife, Morgan Stanley, Natixis, HSBC, WPP, adidas, 3M, Covestro, China Merchant Bank, and other Fortune 500 businesses are among theirs clients.

Yvonne Chow says, 4 years ago, Eric Chak, my business partner, convinced me to open a design studio together. We started with 4 persons and now we have almost 30 people. We didn’t expect the company to grow so quickly as our priority is to deliver good quality design & provide a great experience to our clients. Stay hungry, Stay foolish as Steve Jobs encouraged. My father always said to me, be humble. My mother gave me a middle name that means perseverance. All of these factors have contributed to who I am today and will continue to be in the future. IEWL

Stacy Frame began her career in the Multifamily Industry when she was 17yrs old as a housekeeper cleaning apartment home after residents moved out. At that time, she had never dreamt that she could become a recognized female leader in this industry. “I worked hard and learned everything I could about this industry with a determination of managing my own property, which happened in 1996,” elucidates Stacy. “At this point is when I realized how many women were working in this industry that needed guidance on how to do their work effectively and efficiently. I began reaching out to other team members and offering to share my experience to help them and from there a whole training department was created.” That’s when Stacy realized she could make a difference in the multifamily industry as a female leader. “I began getting involved in the local apartment association, chairing the Education Committee to holding a seat on the board. Through this I began to build relationships with other female leaders, and I continued to learn from each of them.”

Stacy’s operational experience and, more importantly, her thoughtful approach to an existing or soon-to-be improved process drives value for Internacional. She thinks from the seat of the associate’s position and then solves for better-quality work. Here her creative force kicks in after she has fully qualified a process. She’s also resistant to change for the sake of change does not fly with Stacy; she’s all about the incremental path to success. Once a path to improvement is recognized, she takes a human approach to its execution. It’s never just a great idea with Stacy; if it’s a great idea, we are getting it done.

Stacy is highly regarded at Internacional as one of their most influential leaders. At the most recent annual conference, she gave an amazing speech about attitude in the face of adversity. It was a clear message that grabbed the associates’ hearts and allowed them to walk away with a simple tool. A simple tool to help recognize from with perspective on wants to face adversity. “I enjoy talking to Stacy about anything because regardless of the subject matter, I will leave the conversation inspired. She knows how to build trust very fast as she is an incredible listener and speaks with empathy. Her life story has always touched me and I often refer to it for inspiration, maybe that’s selfish but she shared it with me to help me. I cannot say enough about Stacy with the leadership of my company. She’s top notch all the way,” says Miguel Arce, CEO, Internacional.

A simple mantra for the steadfast leader is, “Believe in yourself, when you are speaking to a group of leaders or walking into a room full of intimidation remember they are probably feeling the same hesitation, just don’t give into it and lead on.”

According to Stacy, due to Covid, the industry has changed tremendously, going from a person-to-person sector to relying on social media, online leasing, and virtual tours to show our apartment homes. Before Covid they strived on their in-person rapport with prospects looking for their next new home or current residents needing the attention in their apartment homes. “We had to become very creative in our industry to try and still offer that personal touch but from a distance. We had to teach our associates on how to post on Social Media outlets to draw interest to our communities and how to communicate effectively through emails instead of in person,” explains Stacy. “As female leaders we incurred the challenge of how to lead our teams without that one-on-one direction and keep them motivated. We became very efficient in online meetings online and finding new ways to keeping everyone engaged to give the best customer experience no matter the format we were working in.”

Multifamily is filled with strong female leaders and Internacional not only celebrates these leaders but empowers them. They work with these leaders to train and give them the skillsets to run million-dollar assets and be successful. Stacy believes that the company’s future will be great and she wants Internacional to culminate into the best place to work. The only way to do that organically is to continue to build a phenomenal team from the bottom of the pyramid to the top. WL

Graham, Inc. was founded in 1984 as a woman-owned company by the former owner, Ruth Graham, to provide organizations with the qualified office professionals and Sign Language Interpreters they need. When Nina Martin joined the company in 2012, she began as a Recruiter using her previous experience as a corporate training instructor who taught downsized AT&T employees how to get a new jobs. What she found at Graham was a small business with a big heart. Graham has always believed in growing their people to maximize their potential. Nina quickly worked to serve customers from two angles – requesters who needed professionals and jobseekers who needed good work.

Alongside the dedicated team at Graham, Nina quickly became an expert at fulfilling recruitment, Sign Language, and staffing needs. Using her in-depth knowledge of career transition training to help improve job seeker resumes, coach workers for interviews, and successfully place people in jobs, Nina was promoted to Regional Manager, then Executive Vice President of Operations, and eventually CEO. Six years later, in 2018, when Nina became the majority owner of the company alongside the CFO co-owner, she retook the helm as a woman CEO, leading Graham back to its roots as a hard-working woman-owned small business.

Nina’s story represents the epitome of “promotion from within,” which is a testament to the former owners’ belief in maximizing each person’s leadership potential. Now heading the entire company with an incredible team of workers, contractors, temporary employees, and Sign Language Interpreters, Nina believes Graham can continue its strong tradition of finding the right person for the right job every time. Whether the client is a local small business, a large government agency, or an international non-governmental organization, Graham recruits people with compassion and competence, removing the headache of hiring clients. Nina is committed to fostering exceptional customer experience so that every requester and every worker feels valued and cared for from the first interaction with Graham. Nina is deeply committed to reading and learning about good business leadership and business development from great thinkers. She feels honored every day to lead her team of Graham professionals. She supports her people with the ideology that “family always comes first” – the company’s programs and services can only be delivered successfully if the team is functioning well with the life encouragement and moral support they need outside the office.

Nina is a lifelong learner who constantly reads books by great thinkers and encourages her staff to read and apply their knowledge. She is a true believer in what John Maxwell described as seeing the “seed of success inside others” with a desire to help them reach their potential. For her team at Graham, Nina is humbled by the realization that the future of Graham is a future that her people share. “You and our company share a future!” is something Nina regularly states in All-Hands meetings and individual conversations. For this reason, Nina eagerly strives to work one-on-one with each of her team members to guide their career roadmap so that the shared future will be bright and beautiful.

One of its most significant achievements of Graham is that they were able to shift seamlessly when everything went virtual into having the workers telework remotely for clients. Nina and her team saw that many clients, particularly in the Sign Language interpreting industry, were willing to receive services such as Sign Language interpreting remotely via virtual platforms. For example, it used to be automatically expected that all Sign Language interpreting services for a meeting would take place in person at the site of the meeting. Now, Graham has adapted to allow virtual interpreting so that communication access can be provided online for Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing clients. So many times in the past, if an Interpreter were not available to come in person, the Deaf client would receive no service and be left without communication access.

The future of Graham is inspiring as they just started recruiting IT professionals for NASA, serving a small business partner of theirs that oversees a significant contract worth upwards of $400 million US dollars. On the Sign Language side, right at this moment, Graham is about to start serving a large international corporation with their Sign Language services. “We will be establishing a Coaching and Training program for new Sign Language Interpreters just starting out in the field of interpreting,” elucidates Nina. “For USAID, we are currently gathering resumes of displaced Ukrainians intending to place them in jobs that would help rebuild their country through USAID projects.” WL

Being hard-working, agile, and combining both big picture thinking and detail focus come naturally to Rowena Curlewis, CEO & co-founder of Denomination. The ability to learn quickly, the desire to keep learning, and the continuous sharing of this knowledge across the team ensure that everyone grows together in knowledge, expertise, and confidence. “The enjoyment of what I do: the passion and love for my business and my industry can be infectious, and it encourages positivity and commitment amongst my colleagues.”

Rowena has been an advocate for enhancing women in the professional world and advises them to be true to themselves. “Be heard. There is a general reluctance among women to not speak loudly or confidently enough, or to persuasively argue their point. It’s important that your colleagues, industry peers and clients see that you’re prepared to speak up for your ideas, and for others too.” With this attitude, Rowena has been leading the company to new heights.

Denomination was born in 2002 by co-founders Margaret Nolan and Rowena Curlewis. At the time, most design agencies specialized in a discipline, e.g., packaging, environmental, rather than an industry. “We were of the opinion that specializing in a single industry would fast-track the company’s reputation as an expert in that chosen field,” says Rowena. “Choosing an industry that matched both their experience, expertise and passion was easy: the drinks industry had played a big role in both of our careers to date, and this is where our love lay.”

Denomination’s global footprint has provided Rowena with amazing opportunities to absorb and understand the differences and similarities between cultures within the context of the drinks industry. “Whilst many of the fundamentals remain the same, the nuances of winemaking, viticultural methods and practices, consumer behaviour and retail networks become really clear when you’re able to observe them first-hand,” adds the steadfast leader. “We also (pre COVID) attend all of the major drinks trade shows globally including Prowein, VinExpo, Luxe Pack, London Wine Fair, and Women of the Vine & Spirit.” This ensures that Denomination is exposed to emerging trends and can identify those trends that their clients should capitalize on.

Caroline Thomson-Hill is managing director of Accolade Wines Europe, one of the major players in the European wine industry, and commissioned Denomination to redesign the UK’s #2 wine brand – Echo Falls. Launched in 2002, it had enjoyed significant success as an accessible, unpretentious gateway to wine for consumers who are new to the category. However, the brand had lost its way, and consumers had started to view the brand as cheap and lacking cohesion. It was also facing losses in distribution. Denomination’s redesign of Echo Falls had immediate results in terms of retailer uptake and sales growth.

Denomination believes that the development of a clear brand positioning is the first key step in ensuring that every touchpoint of a brand has a consistent tone of voice and personality. Once the positioning has been determined, creating the brand idea and its execution is far more targeted. “We can assess all creative, from packaging to point of sale to advertising, as to whether it aligns to the brand’s positioning: its essence, tone of voice and personality attributes,” says Rowena. “As we specialize in an industry (drinks), and not a design discipline, our creative team are able to turn their collective hands to many different disciplines.” However, the core of their business remains brand identity and packaging, and the other touchpoints branch from there are then always consistent and true to the core brand idea.

The company will also be expanding its sustainability consultancy side as they see the need for an independent agency to provide objective information to clients on all aspects of sustainable packaging, free from any industry-specific bias. “We will also be ‘walking the walk’ in terms of sustainable practices within our own business. We have committed to be Climate Neutral and will receive our certification in April 2021,” says Rowena. “I will continue lecturing through webinars and conferences on sustainability in drinks packaging in order to help shift practices and attitudes.”IE

Denomination

Management

Rowena Curlewis
CEO & co-founder

Description

At Denomination, we create original and successful drinks brands. Our designs are successful in the market: consumers love them. We offer the complete package: not just labels but brand and creative strategy, innovation, naming, copywriting, gifting, point of sale, brand movies, the list goes on. Whilst we work for many drinks brands, no two are the same. The breadth and diversity of our work is what sets us apart.