Ready For the Ball: TAG’s New Brand Explained

I remember being a teenager, making record covers, drawing logos for imaginary companies, and then finally getting my first branding gig. I met the owner of some roofing company in the local Denny’s and got real deep out about his soul and ambitions, hoping to somehow avoid creating the hammer goblin with a tattooed phone number that he was asking for. 

It’s not always that same Denny’s, but my take on branding has remained. Stare into the eyes of the person across the table. Ignore everything else. Subtract. Simplify. Don’t use tattooed lettering.

These weren’t the only principles used when we recreated the Third and Grove brand, but they were pretty top of mind. The rest of it was even simpler. How do we define the intangible? How can we represent everything and everyone we are? With head offices in Boston and Oakland, how can we showcase our industry-leading ideals and still stay classy? How do we stand out in a slew of agencies with similar claims? The work does not speak for itself if we can’t make anyone listen. We need to stop them in their tracks.

Third and Grove partnered with French designer Alizée Freudenthal, who has a track record of mixing humor, candor, tactility and utility. She had this to say:

A big thanks to everyone who helped create the new brand identity for Third and Grove. Alize Freudenthal, Soren Iverson, Jennifer Slemp & Jennifer Yeend. You didn’t just wrap the doll in some new vines. Y’all helped a cool little agency figure out who they really are.