Vokal

Our founder, Reid Lappin continues to influence and contribute the mid-market private equity community. Stay tuned to learn more about our work and partnerships in PE, a few big announcements on the horizon!

A dear friend and mentor of mine once told me I’d have to take one of three paths in strategy: a best-in-class strategist but independent lone wolf, an entrepreneur-visionary with my own practice, or a prescient leader who develops and empowers the strategists that come after them (thanks, Myra El-Bayoumi!). I’ve chosen the leader path. Thrilled to share that I’ve joined Vokal, a revolutionary growth agency-consultancy built for private equity and mid-upper market brands, leading the strategy and research practice among some of the most talented leaders in the industry. It’s been a few months, and we’ve been hard at work, building the foundations for what newer, greener strategists can learn from and use. We are building a new kind of agency-consultancy—one that understands the nuances, needs, and idiosyncrasies of private equity and mid-upper market. Anyone who knows me knows my unrelenting passion for building and working on brands that mean something—it’s what brought me to brand strategy at the start of my career and has been the through-line of an MBA at Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management, roles in creative agency, big tech, general management, and now, brand consulting. Excited to see what's next.

A great overview and write up on our growing company and our CEO, Reid Lappin! It does a great job capturing our go to market focus on mid market brands and private equity.

Finally we are launching the first-ever brand campaign of Wild Fork / Wild Fork Canada. As a brand marketer, I got excited about creating a brand narrative from the ground up, and connecting a brand emotionally with customers. For us, it all starts from the brand purpose of nourishing a better life - because we believe cooking is for everyone. It goes beyond what's onto the plate, but the moment you share and the people you feed. Cooking can be messy and imperfect - it's the smell from the oven, the sound from the grill and the smile on the kid's face which makes it memorable. Thank you for my team, the cross-functional partners, and all the amazing agency partners to make this happen ❤️ Wild Fork: Neetika Pahwa Ivana Flavia Cespedes, MBA Tara Morgan Geneviv Morales Daniel Henderson C.C.C. Daniel Yohai Cruz Layli Sobhani Radek Mazurkiewicz Mario Hernandez Raul Sukraj Bruno Molina Olga Gonzalez, MBA and many more Agency Partners: Brand Strategy agency: Vokal Reid Lappin Brand Creative agency: Modest Ryan Gerber Media agency: Other.™ Katherine Wong Nick Moretta PR & Social media agency: We Are BMF Edward Starr Let's cook 👩🍳 👨🍳 #wildfork #cookwithwildfork #brandcampaign #brandmarketing PR release >> https://lnkd.in/eSAJZVgi https://lnkd.in/eviZeGCE

Check out Adnan Nisar, Senior Partner and Co-Head of Knowledge & Learning Solutions, at Markets Group's Private Equity Chicago Forum tomorrow morning where he will be discussing the relationship between impact investing and company financial performance. To register or learn more, visit: https://lnkd.in/evFD-Zft #MarketsGroupPE

We're #hiring a new Client Partner in Greater Chicago Area. Apply today or share this post with your network.

For mid-market / private-equity brands, there are 3 areas for growth. Creative. Culture & Commerce. Creative is your brand story.  Culture is your connection to customers.  Commerce is your revenue accelerator. Each element plays an important role in growth. If you’re not connected to culture, then your commerce is impacted & your creativity suffers. And so there’s an opportunity to do all three. Good creativity connected to a great culture leads to positive commerce. It’s an important direction to move towards.

Mid-market brands should have a good idea where their growth is coming from. These are the 6 metrics we track for our clients across creative, culture & commerce. We found these to be good indicators of what’s working and what’s not. Brand sentiment Impressions Engagement New visitors Lifetime value ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) It’s a good mix of hard number metrics that track revenue & spend as well as how connected your company’s story is to the culture.

Mid-market PE backed brands have an unbelievable opportunity for growth.  → Focus on growth & ROI. Campaigns should have a clear direct or indirect impact on growth. → Digital is a core strategy, not just one aspect. → Hire digital talent from startups. They’re more creative & ROI focused.  → Create an experimental culture. Iterations & speed always wins. If you believe the future is digital & AI, then this is the best bet on strategy moving forward.

Incredible roundtable discussion with Jon Eckman! Check it out!