COLLINS

On Monday we landed on the Ad Age A-List for the seventh time. We weren’t sure what to say. So we went back and read what our clients said about us in the Ad Age story. Among them was Ben Goodwin, co-founder of Olipop. “There is something special they bring to the table that I haven’t found anywhere else. I have a lot of trust in them. Right out of the gate, I could tell they had the most intuitive grasp of what I was trying to get at.” That was kind, Ben. Thank you. And then, he said something else. “They come up with their own creative takes that they’re passionate about, and that also helps raise trust because you feel like you’re actually working with a partner who’s thinking independently.” There’s the word. Trust. Awards are terrific. Recognition, too. But trust is the irreplaceable currency of our profession. Trust from clients smart enough to build the new instead of repeating what worked ten years ago. Trust between teammates who push the work further than it needs to go. The trust we build with one another becomes the trust we extend to our clients. The trust our clients place in us becomes the trust their customers place in them. This recognition belongs to the everyone who make COLLINS run—designers, writers, strategists, animators, producers—and to the clients who trust us with their people and their ambitions. Nike. OFFF Festival. Sun Day. Muse. Crocs. Altruist. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Red Wing. Walmart. Olipop. And many more. The tools around us are changing every five minutes. What matters to us is simpler. To shape futures so desirable they become inevitable. To explore the creative possibilities new tools open up. To help our clients lead whatever version of tomorrow arrives next. And mostly, to keep doing what we love. Thank you to the Ad Age jury, and congratulations to all of the 2026 winners. You can find the full story, here: https://lnkd.in/eNhFJGPz Now, back to work.

Happy #InternationalWomensDay to our community of amazing creative women, who we champion every day, not just today. To celebrate, we’ve resurfaced a virtual chat with COLLINS’ Chief Strategy Officer Taamrat Amaize, in which she spoke with former D&AD President Rebecca Wright about how she developed her career. If you have an hour to spare today and are interested in learning how one of the coolest women working in design and strategy maintained steady career growth and navigated the design industry as a woman of colour, dive in and watch 💪🏽 “I’m always transforming,” says Amaize, “the more I learn, the more I realise how much there is to learn!” Watch the video on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/eU9C9fHM #dandad #iwd #iwd2026 #givetogain

Coffeehaus is today. We weren’t expecting the blizzard upgrade either, but we’re going to go ahead and do this anyways… just with lots of hot cocoa and cookies. If you’re game to brave the snow, we’ll be here with the fire on. https://luma.com/ih5jregn

Exactly right, Santiago. And thank you for the ups. Spotify and other references, included. We're a big fan of Alex Center's great podcast. He hosted a great conversation with Leland that afternoon. We are so glad you enjoyed it. And, you should check out Leland and Ana's podcast, too. https://lnkd.in/d7WSBPzA It's called HIitmakers. And it is beyond terrific. I mean, if we say so ourselves. But we can be, you know, cheeky. .

GQ’s Sam Hine sat down with our friend and client Zac Posen of the GAP. It’s cold and cloudy on Wednesday in New York. If you need a good read to go with your coffee, let this be it: https://lnkd.in/eCErg-6D We’re just waiting for Chalamet’s trucker jacket to be back in stock.

What a good way to start the week. The effervescent Myriam Phung saw our work in action, on the ground, in the street, out in the real world, in Barcelona. And today she reviews it. From Paris. While we were all still sleeping in San Francisco and New York City. The full case study with our friends and clients at the OFFF Festival - and all the names of all the good people who did it, is here: See you next year, Myriam. And thank you for the kindhearted ups. .

In 1917, Charlie Chaplin built his villa in the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles. Nearby, he built a film studio at the southeast corner of La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Later, Hanna-Barbera took that studio over and, after that, the Jim Henson Company would claim the property as the home of Henson’s workshop, welcoming the world through a gate crowned with Kermit the Frog (dressed - this is worth a Google - as Chaplin). Today, Chaplin’s original villa space is home to République—a bustling bakery and James Beard Award-winning restaurant. Down the street are LACMA, The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, remarkable galleries and more. (As far as neighborhoods go in Los Angeles, Miracle Mile is easily one of our favorites.) On Monday, October 27, it will be our home for a special edition of Coffeehaus, presented with our partners at Monotype and Adobe. This gathering will bring together voices working at the edges of Los Angeles culture and creativity—from those defining its style, to those chronicling its street art, to others shaping its future through technology and media. As always, there will be good pastries, strong coffee and - because it’s late afternoon - wine. For those in town to attend Adobe MAX, our hope is that this can be a fitting beginning to the conference. For those who won’t be, we hope it will simply be a good way to start the week. Either way, we’d love to see you there. You can RSVP, here: https://luma.com/knfaj567

Over 25 years, OFFF has grown from a Barcelona festival into a global landmark for creativity, where the world’s most inventive designers, artists and technologists come to explore what’s next. But as the festival expanded from a local event into a worldwide movement, it needed a new identity that could keep pace. One that honored its creative roots while projecting its future ambitions. COLLINS partnered with OFFF to redefine it as a magnetic force—a center of gravity for the creative world. Inspired by the physics of magnetism, the new system balances two dynamic forces: Attraction and Projection. Attraction pulls creative minds together, while Projection sends ideas, energy and influence out into the world. The new logo embodies this duality: each letter drawn inward, forming a powerful, unifying core. Around it, motion, color and type radiate outward, creating a living identity that expands and contracts like creative energy itself. Once redesigned every year, OFFF now has a single adaptive system to guide its next 25. A constant that can evolve just like the creative movement it represents. You can find the full case study of our work together here: https://lnkd.in/ejh4dXig — COLLINS Rebeka Arce Lorena Garcia Ortiz Sergio Lairisa John Choi Eric Park Sam Eliot Daniel Ferro Tomas Markevicius Nick Ace Alex Athanasiou OFFF Pep Salazar Elena Alekseeva

Fast Company asked eight incredible designers what their hopes and wishes for AI’s capabilities and roles might be. And, in a surprising lack of judgement, they also asked Brian Collins. They get into everything from the menial to the miraculous. You can see it all here: https://lnkd.in/eu2eRmr7 And a link to Brian's point of view is here: https://lnkd.in/ejqUrUQq