Villain Branding

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of global corporate marketing at IDC, a market intelligence, advisory services, and events company. We help organizations worldwide make informed technology and business decisions in the AI economy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Villain Branding?

As part of company transformation initiatives, we needed to strategically reposition and modernize our 60-year old brand to represent our differentiators and value in a competitive landscape. Villain was brought on to help us frame a cohesive brand strategy, including brand definition/persona, creation of company narrative and key messaging, visual brand modernization/redesign, and execution of key deliverables.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Villain Branding handled our brand perception and competitive research, brand strategy framework, key corporate messaging framework, brand visuals and guideline document, color palette revamp, and launch assets, including templates, digital ads, and social graphics - taking a lot of weight off our small team. They were a great partner throughout the process, actively engaging us for collaboration and input along the way. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with an extensive Villain team led by Lauryn. The team included a messaging lead, visual design lead, project manager, and several supporting team members executing deliverables.

How did you come to work with Villain Branding?

IDC had just kicked off its project with Villain when I joined the company, selected by our prior CMO. Besides being experts at their craft, the Villain team was a great cultural fit.

What is the status of this engagement?

September 2024–January 2025.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We had internal adoption and enthusiasm, as well as external enthusiasm from customers and influencers. We had more than 60 brand ambassadors globally who volunteered to champion the rollout of the new branding.

How did Villain Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered on time. We had a few challenges with organization early on in the process, and Villain took prompt action to bring in a new project manager who was fantastic and very detail-oriented. They were very flexible with us from a tactical perspective, engaging with us through our shared repositories and messaging tools to streamline work. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Villain Branding operated as an extension of our team. Lots of agencies say they do this, but it’s rare to find one that is such a great fit that they actually feel like part of your team. Lauryn is an excellent strategic partner who strikes an impressive balance of being extremely knowledgeable and attuned to what brands need in today's market while also being incredibly likable. We still talk regularly! I was also very impressed with the messaging work the Villain Branding team did. They really thought through our identity and market landscape to surface key differentiators, then position them in a very unique way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

not at this time

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Marketing Director of a leadership advisory firm.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're an executive search and leadership advisory firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Villain Branding to accomplish?

• Develop strategic brand positioning and messaging for our premier practice
• Develop strategic positioning and go-to-market messaging for key commercial initiatives
• Do a fast-turn naming generation sprint to support naming of a new offering

SOLUTION

How did you find Villain Branding?

Villain was a go-to partner for me in my prior firm

Why did you select Villain Branding over others?

They are deeply strategic and always deliver solid work.

How many teammates from Villain Branding were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We worked with Villain on a number of projects over the past 3 years. The main ones were positioning and messaging for our premier practice, positioning and messaging for a key commercial initiative and a name generation sprint for a core company program. Villain facilitated discovery and strategy calls/intake across all projects, delivered detailed competitive analyses, created overarching positioning, supporting messaging and proof points, and delivered assets that put the messaging into practice. They also supplied internal enablement toolkits to assistant in messaging rollout and consulted on how to flow the messaging into client-facing materials. For the naming sprint, they brought in a best in class namer, conducted a naming strategy session to build a targeted brief, generated hundreds of names and helped us land on a short list to propose.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Messaging contributed to increased awareness and brand lift in the market. Naming yielded a successful name for our program. Commercial positioning and messaging yet to launch, but tested extremely well in blinded client interviews.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The team consistently met deadlines even on very tight timelines. They overcommunicated about timelines and expectations and were always responsive to our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Villain Branding?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Villain Branding's founder knows her stuff inside and out. She balances strategic and pragmatic, always thinking about how something will truly get used and what impact it will have. She is excellent at knowing the right additional skillsets to bring into projects based on the client's needs.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Villain Branding could have done differently?

Sometimes Villain's approach is 100% the right one, but more sophisticated than we as a client are ready for or requires more time from internal stakeholders than we are able to convince them to give. They are always flexible to us and I greatly appreciate their willingness to do this even when we can't always run a project "the right way"

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP marketing at Piedmont Global, a strategic globalization organization integrating cultural fluency, strategic insight, and custom technology to help clients scale with speed, navigate complexity, and operate seamlessly across cultures, markets, and systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Villain Branding?

I hired Villain Branding to do brand strategy and identity work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Villain Branding worked closely with me and my agency that handled the creative execution to ensure our brand had a spine, pushed our thinking, and would last a lifetime. The team provided design feedback and guardrails to our other agency. Villain Branding’s work included brand foundation and point of view, category definition and market positioning, brand architecture strategy, and brand narrative and messaging suport.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two teammates from Villain Branding.

How did you come to work with Villain Branding?

Someone referred Villain Branding to me. I chose them over other options because they had high ratings, were a great culture fit, had good value for the cost, and had company values that aligned with ours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–September 2025.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We launched the rebrand in September 2025, so it’s early for long-term metrics. Following our launch, Villain Branding’s work has already driven meaningful progress. The strategy clarified our category and positioning, aligned leadership around a shared narrative, and reduced internal friction around messaging and decision-making. Early indicators include faster go-to-market execution, more consistent messaging across teams, and positive initial feedback on the clarity of our story. These foundations are enabling the outcomes we’ll measure over the coming quarters. Success at this stage looks like strategic clarity, leadership alignment, and faster execution — all of which Villain Branding delivered. Early indicators are strong, and the foundation is in place to measure market impact over time.For example, post-launch, we’ve seen reduced revision cycles on core messaging assets and quicker alignment on how new offerings and initiatives fit within the brand. Teams no longer need to escalate basic positioning or naming questions, which has shortened timelines and improved consistency across touchpoints. While it’s too early for long-term market metrics, these operational improvements are meaningful indicators of faster execution and stronger message alignment. We’ve seen a 50% revision reduction and a 30% increase in project completion timeline acceleration.

How did Villain Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Villain Branding’s project management was great. They delivered on time 100%. The team was very hands-on and got the job done. I continued working with them for CMO advising post-brand launch. We communicated via email and messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Unlike many agencies we’ve worked with, Villain Branding pushed beyond aesthetics and into category definition and business clarity. They asked the hard questions, challenged assumptions, and helped us articulate a point of view that feels both differentiated and durable. That depth of thinking is what made the work valuable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing Villain Branding could have done better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of Phaselaw, a startup in the legal technology space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Villain Branding?

We needed help with our company's branding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Villain Branding helped us with our company's branding when we were first launching our company and product. The team helped us with our strategic positioning, including logo design, figuring out how we would talk about ourselves in the abstract, taglines, web design, and copywriting. Villain Branding designed the first version of our website, and our team built it.

We had a discovery call, and then Villain Branding came back to us with a detailed scope of work, laying out what they would do. We worked on refining the scope of work with them and then followed through with the detailed plan. The team interviewed us as part of this process.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with two teammates from Villain Branding, including their founder and CEO, and a member of their design team.

How did you come to work with Villain Branding?

I had worked with Villain Branding's founder at my last company; we were also a customer. I knew the team through previously working with them and was excited to start working with them a second time.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Villain Branding from September–November 2023. We completed the scope of work, but they're the first people I would call for additional work. I'm in touch with the team, and if we have a need for their expertise, we call them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Villain Branding easily saved us 100–150 hours of our time and was 10x faster than we would have been if we did the work ourselves. The team did a better job, and we signed up our first customers after working with them. The positioning that Villain Branding helped us with was integral to getting our company off the ground. Overall, the quality of their work met our expectations.

How did Villain Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Villain Branding delivered the work on time and on budget. The team was best in class at managing things well. We had an iterative feedback cycle where Villain Branding would do a chunk of work and hand it off to us for feedback. We communicated via email, Slack, and a few meetings throughout the project. We used Notion and Linear as project trackers and Google Drive for documents.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Villain Branding's work on brand strategy was the differentiator. They were a team of sophisticated thinkers about positioning and helpful strategists in working through things. Villain Branding didn't just look for us to come up with the answers; they were high-level strategic thinkers who collaborated with us to come up with the right answers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything for Villain Branding to improve. We're super happy with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Villain Branding is a talented team worthy of trust. Give them the latitude to run with ideas and come back. Treat them as partners, not as vendors.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of marketing at Flatiron Health, an oncology-focused health technology company. We combine AI-powered technology, deep clinical expertise, and real-world oncology data to help our partners navigate cancer care and research with greater clarity and speed.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Villain Branding?

We needed help with our brand positioning and messaging strategy. We wanted to unify and simplify our vision and value proposition by defining a singular and compelling brand narrative that clearly and simply articulates the integrated power of Flatiron's global data, technology, and expertise. Additionally, we wanted to elevate our perception by shifting external perception from a US-centric EHR and real-world data provider to a global, end-to-end partner capable of generating evidence across the biopharma lifecycle and meaningfully influencing patient care. Moreover, we wanted to drive internal alignment by creating a shared vision and vocabulary to ensure all global teams articulate the same unified story.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Villain Branding facilitated workshops and provided strategic guidance. We had an in-person half-day workshop where we discussed audience drivers, competitive pressure, product strengths, and narrative territories. Then, we had a synthesis readout where we discussed relevance, differentiation, credibility, and concept territories. After that, we had three advisory sessions to pressure-test and refine Flatiron's drafts.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 2–5 teammates from Villain Branding.

How did you come to work with Villain Branding?

Villain Branding was referred to me. I chose them because their pricing fit our budget, and they had experience with our level of brand maturity.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2025–February 2026.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Villain Branding helped us pull through our messaging to key brand, marketing, and communication assets, including our brand playbook, website, and value messaging frameworks. We had 100% adoption of messaging by our biggest conference, ASCO. We also received positive feedback and signoff from our executive team.

How did Villain Branding perform from a project management standpoint?

Villain Branding delivered 100% on time. We communicated via in-person and virtual meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Villain Branding's ability to quickly understand our niche market space and provide strategic guidance rooted in relevant industry and out-of-industry examples was most impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Lauryn and Nora were both excellent collaborators. The only constructive feedback was that the initial rounds of feedback could have been more direct versus directional, but this was resolved after our first review session.