I've been doing brand and design work for years. The process usually looks like this: Kickoff call, briefing, workshop, two-week break, presentation, feedback round, iteration, presentation again, launch.
Of course, this works in everyday working life. But if I look at it honestly, it is often inefficient. And not because of the work itself, but because of the time that is lost in between. Why the offsite brand workshop could be a solution.
The real problem is waiting
Waiting for feedback. Waiting for approvals. Waiting until all decision-makers are available at the same time - whether virtually or in the same room.
Creative work is essentially a dialogue; it thrives on interplay: Idea, reaction, further development. If this dialogue is asynchronous - via email, comments in the document, in weekly coordination calls - something is lost: the energy, the thread, the momentum.
I experience this regularly - not as a failure, but as a peculiarity of everyday agency life.
AI does not solve this
There is a lot of enthusiasm at the moment about how AI speeds up creative processes. I share it - up to a point: yes, AI speeds up production - variants are created faster, texts, images, concepts - everything is faster.
But AI does not solve the problem that brand work is a profoundly human and dialogue-based task. It needs real reactions, real friction, real moments of realisation. „Yes, that's exactly what we are.“ - No AI can produce this sentence. A human says it when they see something that is right. It can't accelerate that, it's human work.
The experiment: one week, one place
That's why I'm trialling a different format: one week, one location, the customer team, Superblau and what comes out of it. No asynchronous waiting, no „I'll come back next week with feedback“. Instead: everyone in the room at the same time, all with the same focus, all ready to make real decisions.
I call it a brand workshop as an offsite - and it feels fundamentally different from any standard process.
What happens in this one week
It's not a retreat, it's not a creative camp with yoga and inspirational talks. It's work - honest, focussed, sometimes exhausting work. Only without the interruptions that break the back of normal office days.
Workshops in the open air, whiteboard sessions with coffee and occasionally a dog under the table, cooking together in the evening - and realising that the best ideas often come when no one is actively thinking. Walks during which ideas emerge that would never have arisen in the meeting room, because movement changes thinking and because a different place produces different thoughts.
This is not meant romantically, but as cognitive science.
SkyHeia: The first outdoor design sprint
The first full offsite in this format was with the team from SkyHeia.
Internally, I call it the outdoor design sprint. A week of concentrated brand work - strategy, positioning, visual system. All in one go. What emerged was more than just a brand. It was a shared understanding of who SkyHeia is and where they want to go. The team hadn't just seen it at the end - they had worked it out. That makes a difference.
A brand that has been experienced together is represented differently than one that has been presented to you.
That sounds like a soft factor, but it's not. I see it in the consistency with which a team communicates after such a process. In the clarity with which they talk about themselves and in the fact that nobody asks: „What do we actually mean by that?“
Not right for everyone
I say that deliberately - this format takes time: taking a whole week out of day-to-day business is not an easy decision for many teams. And it requires the relevant decision-makers to really be there. Not just as observers, but as active participants.
If this is not possible, it is the wrong format. Then a classic process - well structured, well moderated - is the better choice. But if it is possible? Then this format delivers something that no standard process can ever deliver.
What a brand workshop produces as an offsite that nobody else produces
A classic brand process produces results: Positioning, central idea, visual system. An offsite brand workshop produces the same - plus something else.
It produces a brand that the team really understands in the end. Not because they have seen a good presentation, but because they were there when it was created, because they made the decisions themselves and because they discussed it in the kitchen and had the decisive thought on the walk.
Brands that you have helped to build are defended. You manage brands that you receive.
That's the difference - and for me it's crucial.
FAQ: Brand workshop as offsite
What does an offsite brand workshop cost?
It depends on the duration, team size, objectives and location. I usually work with one week and a small, decisive team. If you want to know whether the format suits your situation - write to me. I'll give you an honest explanation of whether it makes sense.
For which companies is this format suitable?
Especially for companies that are at a turning point: new brand, repositioning, brand extension. And who are prepared to invest a week to get it right.
Where does an offsite take place?
It depends on the team and the project. It doesn't have to be far away. It just has to be away - away from everyday life, away from the office, away from the routines that produce familiar thoughts.
Is the result better than with a classic process?
In the quality of the artefacts: not necessarily. In the quality of the understanding afterwards: yes. The team that was there did not receive the brand. They built it. That is the decisive difference.
Marco Barooah-Siebertz is the founder of Superblau in Cologne - an agency for brand positioning, storytelling and website strategy. He supports start-ups and SMEs in developing clear brand messages and converting websites. Contact him here.
