Our intentions are good.

There. That’s it. Our big, sweeping, trademarkable agency philosophy. Go ahead and throw a ™ on it.

WHAT?

Huh? You might say. Your intentions are good? Who cares about your intentions? I want your work to be good. Your thinking. Your people. Here's a crazy one: I want your results to be good. Heck, I'd even take your client dinners to be good. But your intentions?

Yes, we were founded on these simple intentions:

Do right by our clients. + Do right by our people.

The rest takes care of itself.

Armed with this clear-eyed sense of purpose, the folks at Venables Bell + Partners tend to be a bit more Honest + Fearless than your typical agency folk.

Honest will point out a potential logic flaw in a presentation, or tell you the deadline’s unreasonable with a straight face. But Fearless, that’s where things get interesting. Fearless gives Honest its punch, its power, its breakthrough ability. Honest will admit the Emperor is wise and respected. Fearless points at him and tells him he’s naked. Honest seeks a truthful solution. Fearless will upend applecarts, defy categories and hit reset buttons to deliver it.

We are also Honest & Fearless with ourselves. This results in relationships that can withstand lively debate. It fosters real collaboration. It leads to transparency – in fact, there are almost no solid walls at our agency. It cuts egos down at the knees and allows intelligence to win the day. And it led us to develop a highly calibrated asshole detector. So none of those types slip through the doors and poison the do-right punch.

Honest & Fearless is who we are. It’s the kind of work we do. It’s the type of business we run. And you know what else? It’s the company we like to keep.

We must confess, however, that Honest & Fearless would be neutered, benign nothings without one simple foundational element: Independence. The purity of our purpose would sure get murky if we were forced to decide between doing right by our colleagues and clients or by some faceless shareholders.

Intentions do seem soft and malleable, but make no mistake: like the road less traveled, they make all the difference.

Our Clients

• Audi
• Reebok
• Chipotle
• REI
• Blue Moon
• Leinenkugel's
• PlayStation Vue
• PlayStation Store
• Westin
• Sheraton
• Celebrity Cruises
• Marin Schools
• 3M

Our Capabilities

If the words above were just a hollow spiel, the business units below wouldn’t exist. An honest assessment of what clients need, plus a fearless ambition to invest in things clients need, have led us to a wide range of capabilities and three additional business units.

Lumberyard

A wonderful, harmonious world of production, technology and content.

VBP Ops

A communications group, specializing in rapid response, footfall-driving communications developed at the speed of retail.

VBP Orange

A customer experience consultancy that shapes experiences that deepen connections between people and brands.

Our Services

• Analytics

  Everybody has data. The key is interpreting it and putting it to good use. That’s where our integrated analytics approach comes in.

• Digital Marketing

  With the digital talent we have (and can tap into in Silicon Valley’s), we can deliver both effective and innovative platforms and communications.

• Retail Marketing

  Brand brains at the speed of retail. Driving footfall, clicks and sales. With meaningful messaging across all touch points, both on premise and off.

• Brand Design & Identity

  Good design isn’t eye candy. Good design is forged at the sacrosanct intersection of client need, consumer want and a designer’s imagination.

• Experience Design

  Differentiated customer experience is the final frontier. We custom create those experiences to drive loyalty throughout the entire customer journey.

• Social Media Strategy & Marketing

  The key is authenticity. Our social strategies and executions help clients authentically connect to broader cultural conversations in real time.

• Brand Strategy

  A strategist is the developer, guardian and enforcer of creative strategy. They’re the brand’s conscience—keeping everyone, including clients, honest.

• Integrated Production

  Led by the Godfather of West Coast Production, Craig Allen, our in-house team brings any kind of creative idea we dream up to life, effectively.

• Sponsorship Activation

  Our brands, partner brands and consumers all benefiting from a relationship they couldn’t realize alone? That’s the activation trifecta.

• Branded Entertainment

  This is not about brands that entertain. It’s about brands entertaining so well that people would pay, or other brands would pay, to be part of it.

• Market Research

  We unlock insights with research. We embrace everything from social listening tools to ethnographic studies to fielding our own quant surveys.

• UX

  Each step on the consumer’s journey is a chance for your brand to drop the ball. Our UX experts ensure your brand is winning where it matters most.

• Communications Strategy

  How do brands connect with consumers? When? Where? All three need to be determined far upstream, to fuel the creative idea itself.

• Mobile App Development

  Yes, it’s a mobile-first world. But it’s not enough to be optimized for mobile. You need impact. Our teams are skilled at delivering both.

• Website Design & Development

  Your brand’s digital face is likely the one that consumers see most. We make sure it reflects who you are, holds interest and generates conversation.