Having emerged from the 1980s as an award-winning, national design firm – indeed a firm which even its competitors would concede defined its professional category – Toronto-based Karo is now facing the fresh challenges of globalization, the new media and the new millennium with the characteristic self-assurance of a true leader.

‘When we re-positioned ourselves five years ago and changed our name to Karo from Taylor & Browning, it was with the express purpose of meeting emerging global challenges, therefore forcing our competitors to do the same – and then pushing the bar up hard,’ says Karo’s president, Stewart Howden.

‘Europe has a very mature design industry and the u.s. a very aggressive industry,’ he notes. ‘We’re coming up through the middle inasmuch as we have learned a great deal from both of them. For us, it’s now a case of educating a client base here in Canada as to the strategic value of design in creating, building and driving national and international brands, whether a product, service, corporate identity, physical environment or virtual environment.’

Now comprised of five inter-connected, multi-disciplinary divisions – corporate identity and comunication, brand identity and packaging, signage and environments, new media, and research – Karo can effectively execute an impressively eclectic range of services, whether it’s designing Sleeman Brewery’s beer brands, Abitibi-Consolidated’s new corporate identity, The Toronto Stock Exchange’s interactive Web site, outdoor digital signage for the Bank of Montreal – or even consulting on the re-building of the entire downtown financial district of Beirut, Lebanon.

‘What sets us apart from most Canadian design firms is the breadth and depth of our experience, insight, ingenuity, resources and research-based knowledge that we bring to bear on strategic business solutions, whether for large, blue chip clients or smaller, entrepreneurial clients’ says Paul Browning, Karo’s chairman and creative director.

For example, Karo’s recent six-month feasibility study for designing a virtual environment for the Toronto Stock Exchange eventually ended up creatively driving the tse’s entire corporate identity strategy.

‘That kind of initiative makes us very strategic as well as tactical,’ says Howden. ‘Years ago, that would have been the role of a management consultant group. It’s more than an ability to design – it’s the ability to think, to stand up beside your client and help them gain or regain a leadership position, if necessary competing in a global marketplace across cultural, linguistic and geographical restrictions. In order to do that, you have to think and act like a leader yourself, as indeed we have over the past 16 years.’

Karo’s keen emphasis on communication, internally and externally, is an integral part of its own corporate identity. ‘We are constantly discussing, clarifying and addressing issues with our clients and among ourselves,’ says Nikki Hayes, senior vice-president.

‘We concentrate on setting people up to succeed and fulfill their own career objectives. If we do that with our own people internally, that message will come through strongly to our clients. Most of our clients are motivated by fear of survival. As leaders, we can bring our clients into our environment with a great sense of calm.

‘Our adaptability and our ability to expand our clients’ minds is really powerful,’ she claims. ‘Design is a dynamic tool which can change as your business is changing. At the end of the project, our clients say we gave them a tremendous sense of confidence which then contributed to their success.’

Michael Malloy, senior vice-president and creative director, believes that in a true consultancy role, often you have to be willing to tell clients what they do not want to hear.

‘We are not a ‘take-out’ design firm,’ he says. ‘Most design firms will accept what the client is asking them to do, but it may not necessarily be the right strategic direction to be going in the first place. We have to be able to counsel clients when we think they should consider alternative paths. Because we’re comfortable in that role, it has added to our success over the years.’

Very few corporate clients have ever experienced the implementation of a major corporate identity program, for example, notes Malloy: ‘Frankly, it scares the hell out of them. But we have the experience to lead them through it, pointing out all the potential pitfalls as they proceed. We’re not afraid to go to the wall for them. But to do that properly, we need their confidence in us.’

A consultant who recently compared Karo to other design firms characterized them as ‘extremely tough’ – tough on themselves, on their clients, and on their solutions. ‘We’ve been called aggressive and passionate, yet paradoxically we’ve also been told we’re easy to get along with,’ says Howden. ‘We simply don’t stand for second best – hence our global perspective. To use a Nike philosophy, we ask our potential clients, ‘Do you want to do this? Can you do this? Then do it!”

‘We try to challenge people to be as passionate about projects as we are,’ adds Hayes. ‘And we will never make a decision out of fear. It’s always difficult to get a designer to take their work off their computer and bring it into a room where it can be critiqued. Once they do it, it’s very exciting because there’s a synergy of creativity and expansion of mind. It forces our clients to think about why they are here and what they are doing.

‘Once we can get them to that level, a brand new partnership is formed. If they weren’t that passionate at the beginning, we give them the tools to be passionate. Then suddenly they are being regarded as leaders in their own environment.’

Howden contends that ad agencies gain stature by winning battles, whereas Karo gains stature by supplying strategic, long-term thinking for its clients. ‘In more difficult business times, it’s that kind of thinking that will last and endure,’ he says. ‘Money saved is money earned as opposed to simply building your top lines. We see design as an investment as opposed to an expense. Sleeman has stuck with us for 12 years because we were – and are – relevant, innovative, curious, flexible and we took risks. Consequently, we’ve grown with them.’

Leaders generally outperform their rivals, Howden believes, because they’ll do whatever it takes, experiencing the necessary trials and tribulations, bringing higher levels of knowledge, insight, creativity and ingenuity to every solution, driving businesses forward with good ideas.

‘If we led the design industry in the 1980s, we believe we are still leading in the 1990s, taking the next step in the maturing process by forging a new partnership between business and creativity that is finally accountable and relevant to our clients’ specific needs.’

Karo [Toronto] Inc.

10 Price St.

Toronto, Ont. M4W 1Z4

Tel: 416-927-7094

Fax: 416-928-6713

www.karoinc.com

For more information, contact Paul Browning or Stewart Howden

Also in this sponsored supplement:

– The Watt Design Group: From food to fashion, The Watt Design Group offers real-world solutions p.D2

– Russell Inc: Russell’s ‘Thinking Design’ builds powerful brands p.D3

– Perennial Design Company Limited: Integrated design and marketing p.D4

– Tudhope Associates: Asking the right questions p.D5

– Ove and Goodhue: Partners in solution design p.D6

– Thomas Pigeon Design: Unleashing the power of brands through design p.D8

– Davis & Associates: Connecting with consumers p.D11

– Strategies International: It’s all about trust p.D12

– Hunter Straker p.D13

– Marovino Design Group p.D14

– Genesys Design: Canada’s rising star in design gets the PartyLite account p.D15