10 Years Building Brands That Define Categories | Laurence Stoffel | Months in Motion

Laurence Stoffel spent 10 years leading the creative team at On, helping turn the Swiss running brand from a challenger into a category-defining name. In this conversation she shares what that decade actually taught her about brand, culture, and craft. We get into why she thinks brand guidelines are overrated, why brand culture can't be manufactured (the Liverpool story is a great one), and how the relationship between brands and agencies is changing. A genuinely thoughtful conversation for anyone working in brand, design, or creative leadership. Topics covered: 00:00 Why brand guidelines are overrated 00:25 Intro 02:00 Learning to think in systems 14:00 Operating without guidelines and what that unlocks 17:00 Why a great in-house team changes everything 23:00 The friction between in-house teams and agencies 26:00 The questions the best agencies actually ask 29:00 Why big brands are turning to smaller boutique studios 32:00 Brand culture can't be engineered: the Liverpool story 43:00 Making the case for creative work as a win-win About Laurence Stoffel Laurence Stoffel led the creative team at On for a decade, helping grow it into the largest in-house creative studio in Switzerland and shaping the brand's identity across product, motion, retail and events. She studied at ECAL in Lausanne and works across product design, brand identity and art direction. She now works as an independent brand consultant. Subscribe for monthly conversations with creative directors, motion designers, brand strategists and studio leaders at the forefront of the industry. Follow OK Social: https://www.instagram.com/oksocial_/ Months in Motion is produced by OK Social, a London-based motion design studio. #BrandDesign #BrandStrategy #DesignPodcast