Armed with a bike, camera, and plenty of water, we set out to profile the creative agency scene in Minneapolis. Follow our journey.

Cue Brand Design

Core Service: Branding
Additional Services: Design, Packaging, Graphic/Communications, Environmental

“We define a brand’s essence and create an expression that is thoughtfully extended to the most appropriate applications.”

Strategy and Design rule the house at branding agency Cue. Marrying the two, they have captured a corner of the market where using design as a brand tool takes their clients from good to great.

People

Led by passionate experts, Alan Colvin and Ed Mathie, they are a nimble crew at just about 10 people, mostly designers. At this size, clients can expect a personal touch to the relationship and can count on Cue to work side-by-side with other creative, strategy, and business teams. Ed and Alan feel, after almost 10 years in service, that clients who know the importance of branding are the ones who get the most value from an engagement with Cue.

Expertise

Look at their work, but don’t think they are confined to a specific industry. Every year, they take on new categories bringing a proven discipline and objectivity that quickly make them experts in the field.

The team helps brands discover themselves by identifying the equity they already have but never claimed and by shedding old ideas that may be holding them back. They’ve worked with many large, global brands but also have been a refuge for really great small brands that often feel underserved by larger agencies.

Evidence of their talent can been seen in their recent recognition in the GraphisBranding6 hardcover book for their rebranding work on Bonterra. Cue helped capture their true essence (organic farmers with a commitment for producing wines of great taste and excitement) and then incorporated that into their visual identity. This played an important role in cementing Bonterra as one of the original trend-setting organic grape producers. Note from Graphis: Graphis is the compelling record of the world’s most significant and influential works in Design, Advertising, and Photography.

Place

Located on Nicollet Mall, Cue’s space is clean, open, and welcoming. There is a cool design room where you can see how they do their immersion into a product, company, and industry. On our visit, we saw shelves full of bottles of all shapes and sizes along with other material samples used in their deep dive working on Jack Daniel’s.

Our first stop on the Minneapolis agency tour, Cue was happy and enthusiastic to share their story. There’s a real sense of commitment and excitement from the team to take on new challenges from clients and be accountable for the outcome.

Check out Cue’s portfolio on Agency Spotter to learn more and see how you’re connected…

…if you’ve worked with them, give them a rating

…if you like what you see, share their portfolio

…if you’re interested in seeing how they could help you, contact them

Stay tuned as we continue our up-close profiles of great creative agencies in Minneapolis!