Fresh from the Field: 25 years for Dow Goodfolk
This week’s Fresh From The Field features a studio project marking a milestone for Dow Goodfolk
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The brief:
There’s no doubt the creative world has changed a lot in 25 years. 25 years ago we had internet dial up. But not much of an internet. If you selected the ‘No images’ button then your page would download for you in 1-2 minutes instead of, say, five? Great. There was also no Google. If you needed an image, you needed to find a book. Or draw it yourself. Things moved a lot slower 25 years ago.
Dow Goodfolk (formerly Dow Design) is celebrating 25 years as a leading design agency in New Zealand,
and has marked the occasion with a commemorative wine gift, packaged, of course, with a lot of
attention to detail and a story to go with it.
The response:
‘I thought long and hard about how to mark this milestone. But since we started in packaging design
there was a nice karma to a beautiful object packaged up to present to long-standing partners and others
who have been part of our lives over the years’, says Annie Dow, Managing Director of Dow Goodfolk.
Their story, a fun twist on The tortoise and the hare, really captured the occasion, says Dow. ‘We’re
very proud to be here, when many have come and gone. I put it down to delivering quality. We have
consistently created great branding – and now through digital as well – that gives our clients’ businesses
quite staggering sales shifts’.
Dow says she has seen so much change it can make your head spin, but that quality always pays back
in kind. ‘Our own Brandheart™ is ‘Design at its best’’, she says, ‘and even though today’s businesses and
brands are challenged like they have never been before, we know that spend on brand creates your
business’ strongest asset.’
It’s difficult to gauge how many creative agencies are now in the market. Between advertising, digital,
‘full service’ and design a quick Google (!) search shows around 250 in Auckland alone.
Dow says they are here for the long term.
‘I’m still immensely passionate about brand and what it means to business. We believe there are still
plenty of businesses out there to help through design. ‘Design thinking’ is a hot property these days, as
the business world catches on to the value of a ‘designed’ approach. It’s something we have lived and
breathed for 25 years. As as our tortoise and hare story says, ‘you win the race by running it well’’.
