Q&A e x p e r t ' s TA K E How to pick a design firm Adam Fetsch Owner and founder at Rewined Candles What are the top three criteria you use to select design and branding firms? 1. How interested are they in our project? Projects fall apart when we are on a different page than the designer. We love when designers take time to ask lots of questions from the beginning and truly make an effort to understand the goals and values that are important to us. 2. How well do they communicate? If it takes forever to get a quote from a designer, or if their response is poorly communicated or unclear it's a sign of what is to come. 3. Does the designer's style match our project? Each designer we have worked with has a particular style. Asking designers to work out of their comfort zone can be risky, and the work can look forced. How much research happens before the first call to a new agency? Research is an ongoing process. Our team is always on the lookout for great design that we encounter in our daily lives, as well as in design publications. We keep a collection of products and pieces that inspire us, and make note of designers we want to work with in the future. It is always a huge bonus for us to work with someone local. We tend to be more successful when we can express ourselves in person, and build a more personal relationship with the designers. 68 JUNE/JULY 2014 How do you discover new agencies? We are always on the lookout for great design work. We look for work that really moves us on an emotional level and is purposeful. Recommendations from other businesses and from other designers are extremely powerful. How do you manage all the pitches that you receive from design firms? We don't solicit many pitches from design firms. When we select a firm to pitch to us, 90% of the decision has already been made. How strongly do you weigh an agency's client list? It's easy to be wowed by the impressive names on an agency's client list. We try not to be. It's often hard to determine what type and quality of work the designers produced for these companies. We like to judge the work itself. Winning jobs with impressive clients often has more to do with who they know and how they sold themselves than the quality of their work. What if an agency has done great work, but it's never worked in your CPG category? Most designers we've worked with have no experience in the candle business. I think it's fantastic to work with people who have a fresh perspective on the industry. The new ideas that they bring forward are great, however you must take the time to educate the designers about