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MK: What's a widely accepted as "best practice" in growth or new business that you think is totally outdated?

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LC: UNPAID CREATIVE PITCHING! I'm sorry, but can we all just agree that it's complete BS and collectively move on with our lives? Porto Rocha started No Free Pitches, an open call against unpaid pitching in early 2024 from memory, and we need more of this industry camaraderie. Actually, I can recommend listening to Leo & Felipe talking about this topic on the NDA Podcast hosted by Katie Cadwell.

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Pitching without pay puts a massive strain on independent studios, especially when we're up against holding companies with huge resources. It's not a level playing field, especially in branding.

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Beyond that, creative pitching is kind of backwards. You're being asked to solve a problem without having enough time, context, or collaboration to do it meaningfully. Branding is so nuanced and complex, you need time to really dive into the problems you're trying to solve. Sure, you can mock up something sexy, but does it really solve the brief? Is it strategically sound? It ends up being a waste of everyone's time, sometimes even if you're the agency who won the client! I've seen pitches won, and it's all thrown out once the real work begins because new information is uncovered, or more stakeholders are brought in etc. It's the only industry I can think of where we expect people to do work, for free, to win work. It's an outdated practice that we need to write an obituary to.

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MK: How has Blurr evolved in the past year, and what projects is the team most excited to take on in the second half of the year?

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LC: Blurr is growing!! We're booked and busy. Jessica bringing me on to help scale the US side of the business is a pretty clear indicator of how far she's evolved the agency in a short time (especially in agency years). I'm super grateful she trusted me to tackle what is arguably every studio's biggest challenge - the wild west of new business.

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One of the best things about working at an indie agency is the freedom to take on brands you're genuinely excited about. We've just wrapped two projects in the women's wellness space that are heading into fundraising, and we've kicked off two very fun rebrands launching before the end of the year. One is in the produce category, which feels like the final boss of food and beverage rebrands, right? We've tackled everything else at this point!

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I'm personally manifesting a New York hospitality project for Blurr, ideally a female-owned wine and snack bar in Greenpoint? Just putting it out into the universe. I want a new local spot!

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MK: What's the biggest shift you're seeing in how brands approach growth right right now?

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LC: It's been truly wild to watch the rise of 'everything is a brand!' We've hit the ceiling of millennial-ifying EVERYTHING. Fishwife made tinned fish look like fine art. Scrub Daddy made sponges fun and Instagramable. Starface took pimple patches from purely functional to a full-blown fandom.

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For a while, the goal was cultural resonance. Every brand wanted a community, an identity, a 'moment.' But then came this new arena, where everything suddenly had to be quantified. What's the ROI of this brand moment? Can we correlate this TikTok to that spike in sales? How do we prove this intangible brand thing will drive growth?

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But here's the thing, we've forgotten something fundamental: you can't assign a clean percentage to human emotion. Yes, ROI matters. But our brains aren't spreadsheets. Sometimes things are just funny. Sometimes we're drawn to a color and we don't know why. That's still valuable, that's creativity!!!

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So the biggest shift I'm seeing now is this tension, between data and delight, between strategy and spontaneity. Especially in a world where AI is optimizing literally everything (except my laundry), brands are trying to figure out: how do we use strong strategy as a foundation without losing the space to take risks, get weird, and build community in unexpected ways?

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MK: What's been your POV on AI so far, especially as someone leading new business conversations with clients?

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LC: My current bug bear is clients using AI like they themselves have completely solved the problem. Lord, give me strength. Look, go wild with ChatGPT. Explore, experiment. But my soul dies a little more every time someone starts the conversation with 'I designed this brand and packaging with AI, it just needs a little refining' - that's not how this works.

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I get it, AI gives folks a way to visualize something that's been living in their heads for months or years. That can be exciting! It can also be a great communication tool, especially for people who aren't from a creative background. But where it starts to fall apart is when those AI outputs are used to undervalue the actual craft of branding, the deep strategic thinking, the nuance, the originality that goes into creating something resonant. When it's used as a bargaining chip for scopes, it walks a fine line of being offensive. Also, AI is trained on what already exists. So, what you're really doing is remixing the same visual tropes as everyone else. It's boring.

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That said, I'm all for AI doing the chores when it comes to new business. Meeting notes? Transcripts? Please, take it. If it helps us spend more time in true creative flow, that's a win.

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Like everything, I think we will hit peak AI fever pitch, and the pendulum always swings back. Craft will become more valuable again, whether it's photography, lettering, illustration or even just creative thought. Remember when we valued those? I was having this discussion at a dinner with some creative friends the other night and we landed on the point that 'hand/human-made' will start to feel like a luxury, kinda in the same way artisanal homemade granola somehow costs $18 a bag. A weird analogy, but you get what I mean.

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MK: What's been inspiring you outside of work lately? Have you picked up any hobbies?

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Lately I've been getting back into film photography, playing around with different film stocks and subjects. It's always been part of my life, but recently I've made a more intentional effort to carve out time for it each week, purely for fulfillment and creative play. I genuinely feel my serotonin replenishing itself. I've also taken on the challenge of overhauling my apartment, renter-renovation style. I think I'm just really enjoying the chance to step away from the screen and do things with my hands again.

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MK: Any advice for design leaders running teams and hoping to get their studio name out there?

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LC: 'Work hard and be nice to people' might be the oldest cliché in the book, but it's my mantra. When we talk about 'getting your studio out there' the mind immediately jumps to press, interviews, work features, and yes, those things help build fame and reputation. But they only happen when you've got a combination of great work and great relationships with journalists, editors, creators, and folks behind the scenes. We tend to forget that they are the life force to keeping us all connected and inspired, so be nice and be grateful.

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There are a ton of amazing platforms you can submit work to for free, just make sure your submission is watertight. Make it easy for the person on the receiving end to say yes and get it out into the world.

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Also: LinkedIn is your biz bestie. I know it can feel cringey as hell at times, but it's every brand's dream to have direct access to their audience, and that's what LinkedIn gives you, for free!! So use it. Show up. Start conversations. Send the DM or email that makes you nervous, just don't go in asking for something right away. Be an actual human and tell someone why you love their brand. Invite someone to coffee just to connect, and have a gossip!

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And I'm so corny for this one but just be yourself. Authenticity genuinely matters. We often see the same people getting interviewed or spotlighted in this industry, and while some of that comes down to visibility, a lot of it is because they're showing up as themselves (and they've got some cool shit to say). Also, the clients who vibe with you will not only come back, they will recommend you, champion you, and take you with them when they move roles. That's the best kind of growth.