Creative right-hand to founder Daniel Kushner. Evolved the brand system beyond the products, created an artist network and the cultural moat that made MONO’s musician luggage safe from simple factory knock-offs and other market competitors.
Full brand evolution across identity system, product catalogs, print advertising, packaging, dealer materials, artist Creators Network launch, trade show experiences, and lifestyle photography direction. Five years of creative right-hand work for a founder building a cult brand in the music industry.
Daniel Kushner had left IDEO in San Francisco to found MONO. The product was a hybrid instrument case winning design awards, getting picked up at NAMM, carried by the right kind of artists. But the team was only four people. Daniel was the only one who could carry brand and design, and he was also the one who needed to be building the business.
Damian Newman, a former IDEO colleague of Daniel’s who I’d been working with at the time, introduced us and suggested we work together. I came in as a creative right hand to Daniel and dove in on day one. Packaging refinement, identity cleanup, catalogs, trade show booth, all of it landed on my desk in the first weeks.
During my time at Marin Bikes, I witnessed first-hand how your brand’s products can be knocked off rapidly in leaky factories. Legal protection is real but slow, expensive, and reactive. What holds the line best is a brand that owns the culture around the product.
With the key brand touch-points upgraded and running, I set my sights on the culture and how we could expand the power of our growing community. As a lifelong musician and artist, I knew I could speak the language and build authentic connections with the players that could help move mountains and defend the brand.
I began to build what would become known as the Creators Network. Beyond the standard gear deals and product placement photo ops, the goal was to build something much deeper and more powerful. In fact, it became the core energy source and forcefield we needed.
MONO had already established a sneaker-level fetish appeal, and the Creators Network would go beyond simply cool-looking. We developed our Live @ HQ series, bringing in well-known musicians who had never met before or played together. The experience was completely fresh and allowed the musicians to stretch out in a one-off way that was outside their regular expected boundaries. The video series set the standard for what most other music industry brands do today. That said, a one-off or two doesn’t build thick culture. It takes steady and ever-evolving interaction and connection. The Creators Network built that solid foundation and authentic signal, and it began to really radiate throughout the industry.
By 2016, Daniel was ready to sell and found a buyer in Singapore-based BandLab Technologies. With a portfolio of music industry brands already in their collection, the BandLab leadership knew what they wanted and needed. In addition to MONO’s patented and high-profile products, the value of the Creators Network was clear and it became a key part of the acquisition. BandLab had access to unlimited factories overseas but they didn’t have the cultural footprint, connections and community that would take years to nurture on their own. Build the moat and they will come.
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