Creativity with feeling: How HighSpirit is bringing soul back to brand building‍

"We're here to help people make their brand better," says Bob Jones, co-founder of brand creative studio, HighSpirit, together with Dave Wood, an awarded Creative Director who previously worked at prestigious studio, GBH. At the forefront of their shared ethos, is a prioritisation of idea-driven creative work and human-centred branding. Their refreshingly direct philosophy is helping the boutique studio win clients from global spirits brands to tech startups.

Founded in 2022, HighSpirit emerged as a direct response to the fractured agency landscape that COVID-19 exposed. As Bob explains, "When I joined Bacardi Global Brands in 2019, COVID hadn't happened yet. I was entering a global marketing environment which was very intensive, completely office-based with big network agencies working into the business." The pandemic dramatically altered this dynamic, transforming boardroom meetings with 20 stakeholders into one-to-one video calls that exposed a new reality: creative personnel were being "hidden in the background" behind account directors and other gatekeepers.

"It became very difficult to have direct and open creative conversations with the people making the work." Bob recalls. "A greater agility was required to adapt to the operational business shifts and expanding multi-channel creative needs across the brand. This was the beginning of HighSpirit as an idea."

The yin and yang of brand creation and brand marketing

What sets HighSpirit apart is its unique positioning at the intersection of high-end brand design and global marketing rollout, developing a unique offer, scaled from their own complementary backgrounds within agencies, working across global brands like Virgin Galactic, Netflix, Bacardi and PUMA.

"We talk a lot about HighSpirit being this perfect balance of global marketing meets high-end brand studio," explains Bob. "Despite being educated together, we've both gone on quite different journeys and we've arrived at an exciting proposition that delivers meticulous brand creation alongside marketing strategy and brand rollout."

This dual perspective has proven particularly valuable as the industry evolves, toward greater collaboration between in-house teams and external partners. "The industry is moving that way anyway," notes Dave. "There's much more collaboration now between us and all areas of the business, it's more of a melting pot today."

Their philosophy "creativity with feeling", emphasises human-centred design in an increasingly AI-driven landscape. "We really love human-centred design because ultimately a brand's success hinges on whether it can engage the end user," Dave explains. "A lot of advertising and campaign work is done in a bit of a vacuum... it's often done more for vanity than for helping the consumer."

Building trust through accessibility

The agency's approach to client relationships is refreshingly straightforward. While many larger agencies maintain rigid processes and formal communication channels, HighSpirit adapts to each client's preferred working style.

"We have some clients that are solely communicating through WhatsApp and they're very direct... almost like friends rather than having that formality of setting up a meeting to discuss points in a very rigid agenda," says Bob.

This flexibility extends to their collaborative approach to brand building. "Going back to the old model, you'd go away for a month and then come back and present," Dave explains. "That is completely rewritten now. It's very much operating as a live working partnership and bringing the client on that journey."

The results speak for themselves. For Bacardi's Bombay Sapphire, one of HighSpirit's founding clients, what began as project-based work has evolved into a comprehensive partnership spanning everything from innovation marketing comms, to OOH art direction and digital platform design.

"We're now covering a lot of work across different channels and mediums and it's a very fluid and dynamic partnership where we just intuitively trust each other." Bob reflects.

Challenging the status quo

This collaborative approach proved particularly valuable for Sugati, a luxury travel tech company seeking to differentiate itself in a crowded market where competitors "all looked and behaved the same."

"We were thinking about the person that actually goes on these incredible travel experiences," Dave explains. "It was about shifting the perspective from the stuffy language of tech through to the more warm and emotive benefits for the end consumer."

The comprehensive rebrand involved extensive stakeholder interviews, workshops, and strategic thinking that ultimately positioned Sugati as a disruptive force in its sector. "They're winning lots of new work," Dave notes, “they're fully invested in it and growing the brand from the inside, using the framework we've created.”

What made this project successful was the client's willingness to trust the process. "A client will walk in and they may have a really great product or service, but they just don't know how to communicate it in a way the audience will understand," Bob observes. "It's about distilling all of this noise into a clear, emotive message, alongside a striking look and feel."

The human touch in a digital world

Despite the industry's increasing reliance on AI and automation, HighSpirit remains committed to the human element of brand building, a philosophy that resonates with clients seeking to reconnect with audiences in meaningful ways.

"A few of the briefs we have at the moment centred around re-engaging with consumers through in-person experiences or perspectives," Dave notes. "Brands are trying to understand how they can draw people back into the real world."

This trend toward human connection represents a counterbalance to the digital acceleration driven by AI and other technologies. "This wave of digital in-bound technology is quite cold, sterile and even intimidating", Bob reflects. "But if you peel that back, people do still want that warm in-person connection, whether that's with family or with the brands and products they love."

As HighSpirit approaches its third birthday, the founders are focused on sustainable growth while maintaining the tight-knit culture that defines their approach. "We've both worked in studios that felt really good, around 15-25 people where you know everyone's name, everyone's amazing at what they do" Dave says. 

With an expanding client roster of premium lifestyle clients, HighSpirit is proving that sometimes the most effective approach to brand building isn't about complex processes or technological wizardry, it's about bringing creativity with feeling to every client interaction.

"We want to create things that bring some positive energy into the world," Bob concludes. "We need more of that."

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