The Legacy Lab looks for visionaries and honors brand leaders
LA-based think tank the Legacy Lab is going the classified ad route for its latest campaign, ‘Visionaries Wanted’. The thought leadership platform of brand agency Team One is also honoring those “rare leaders – founders and refounders of brands that are making a long-term difference in a short-term world.”
Legacy Lab Honors
For its Visionaries Wanted campaign the Legacy Lab launched a print campaign to promote its inaugural class of Legacy Lab Honors. The Visionary Wanted work resembles classified ads and highlights the unique attributes of each Legacy Lab honoree.
For instance, the ad dedicated to Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard calls for an uncompromising environmental advocate…a skilled blacksmith, inventor, designer & falconer. “When this ad ran in 2017, no one qualified,” a blurb below the box states. “But in 1973, one person did.”
See all the ads in the creative box below.
Those visionaries, including Chouinard and the New Yorker’s David Remnick, top the list of 10 recipients of The Legacy Lab Honors, which recognizes those making a difference. As part of the first honors being passed forward, The Legacy Lab is honoring the achievements of five ‘Founders of the Year,’ founders and cofounders who have been successfully leading their brands for at least three years. They include:
- Yvon Chouinard, founder, Patagonia, 1973. A passionate advocate for the environment with personal and professional commitment to reduce wasteful consumption, Chouinard is redefining the mission of capitalism to include conservation and environmental responsibility.
- Jeff Bezos, founder, Amazon, 1994. Bezos has grown Amazon into one of the world’s most widely recognized and influential brands while also working to create ‘Earth’s most customer-centric’ company. He has changed the way people live and raised cross-category expectations of service delivery, transparency and more.
- Ellen Chen and Mario Del Pero, cofounders, Mendocino Farms, 2005. Chen and Del Pero’s pioneering farm-to-table philosophy, and their unique brand of hospitality, bring together their commitment to ‘locavorism’ and entrepreneurialism. They embody the spirit of a smaller brand that is creating big local change.
- Scott Harrison, founder, charity: water, 2006. Harrison was inspired to launch his vital nonprofit after traveling to Liberia and Benin in West Africa as a volunteer photojournalist with the humanitarian-aid organization Mercy Ships. His one-time fundraiser has now evolved into an established global nonprofit that has funded more than 23,000 water projects serving 7.1 million people.
- Debbie Sterling, founder, GoldieBlox, 2012. GoldieBlox’s legacy began with Sterling’s ambition to “disrupt the pink aisle,” challenging gender stereotypes with the world’s first girl engineer character. She launched GoldieBlox to introduce children to the principles of coding and engineering after recognizing a need for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills to be better integrated into kids’ play experiences – especially for young girls.
The Legacy Lab Honors’ ‘Refounders of the Year’ is awarded to leaders who, while not the original founders, held the reins of a well-established brand for over a year and are now writing the next chapter in its success story. This year’s laureates are:
- David Remnick, refounder, editor of the New Yorker since 1998. Remnick has modernized one of the most iconic publications in media and guided this acclaimed brand through a critical period in journalism. After 92 years and counting, The New Yorker embraces new technologies to deliver its essential reporting and commentary.
- Robert Safian, refounder, editor of Fast Company since 2007. Safian is the pioneering editor of Fast Company, and continues to honor the vision set out by the founders in 1995 while simultaneously evolving what it means to be a fast company in 2017 and beyond.
- Deb Dugan, refounder, chief executive officer of (RED) since 2011. Since she joined this pioneering non-profit, Dugan has been instrumental in helping to solidify it as a brand that makes it easy for everyone to play an active role in ending AIDS.
- Richard Lewis, refounder, chief executive offer of The Championships, Wimbledon since 2012. Under his leadership, the world’s most famous tennis tournament has been integrating aspects of the technology and culture of the times to deliver the same values the tournament has long held dear, helping to bring the esteemed past of Wimbledon forward.
- Brendan Shanahan, refounder, president and alternate governor of the Toronto Maple Leafs since 2014. Shanahan took the reins of one of hockey’s most storied franchises, rebuilding its leadership structure off the ice, restocking its athletic talent on the ice and restoring a winning culture across the entire club from front office to back.
Legacy Laureates were chosen by a peer council of prominent business leaders, including Christopher Gavigan, cofounder and chief purpose officer of the Honest Company; Craig Hatkoff, cofounder of the Tribeca Film Festival; Herve Humler, founding member, president and chief operations officer of the Ritz-Carlton; Toni Ko, founder of NYX Cosmetics + Perverse Sunglasses and Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code. Caley Cantrell, the strategy chair at the VCU Brandcenter, is the peer council’s academic advisor.
