For years, Global Design Source (GDS) has been utilizing the power of global collaboration. It is well known that collaboration is a foundation of strong business, but when most people think of collaboration, they think of working together with co-workers and neighbors. The members of GDS, on the other hand, are taking collaboration across continents, expanding their resources beyond their borders and connecting with other thriving global design leaders. With the continual expansion of technology, global collaboration is becoming more of a worldwide initiative. Through face-to-face web conferencing, to webinars, and everything in between, the limitations of distance are virtually a thing of the past, and the members of GDS are taking full advantage of these opportunities daily. But why collaborate across borders?
GDS is a global alliance of established branding and design experts that understand the importance of collaboration, both within their own walls and throughout the world. With partners located in Asia, Europe, and North America, GDS is able to access and share a plethora of information through communication and collaboration.
Individually, each GDS member firm offers access to a unique understanding of local and regional trends, consumer habits, and target audiences in major economic regions across the globe. Cooperatively, the alliance shares its wealth of experience and knowledge with each other and the greater branding community. Through collaborative engagements and international design seminars, the GDS partners show the similarities and differences of branding and its impact on consumers around the world.
The natural integration of collaboration among GDS firms derives from the understanding that branding is a field driven by people and their choices. Because of this, branding in itself is a collaborative effort: the concept of sharing a product or idea, having others like or dislike it, and moving forward with that information to deliver on what the consumer wants. Without sharing ideas and receiving feedback, the marketplace would be void of excitement, challenge, and most importantly, innovation. This is the basis of branding and consumerism, and this is what GDS strives to reflect through its methodologies — global collaboration leads to a better understanding of cultural differences, enables broader thinking, and opens up new markets.
Take khdesign + Bailey Brand Consulting, for example…
When Germany-based khdesign asked its U.S. partner, Bailey Brand Consulting, to assist them in launching John B. Stetson Kentucky Straight Bourbon, they were aiming to create an American whiskey brand that conveyed its proud history and integrity but was fit for European consumerism. Bailey Brand Consulting provided khdesign with localized expertise and insight into what consumers look for when they purchase a traditional, renowned bourbon, allowing khdesign to better understand the nuances of American consumerism and interpret it appropriately for the European market. The end result was a creative integration of American legacy with European sophistication, proving that global collaboration leads to global innovation.
Stetson Bourbon is just one project of many that is a product of GDS’s teamwork. Through their pool of resources, all of GDS’s partners are able to access information they would not normally be able to, through firsthand reports of what is happening outside of their homelands. And because of this, the partners of GDS are able to break the barriers of distance, learn globally, and deliver strategic, inspired, and educated results to their clients, every time.