1HQ launches Vibrandt Form with former PDD staff

The company will work alongside brand design and packaging agency Vibrandt and its consulting arm, Distillery, and will be run by three former members of PDD’s senior team, Julie Jenson Bennett, Miles Hawley and Diane Fox-Hill.

Bennett has become Vibrandt Form’s director of innovation, with Hawley as creative director and Fox-Hill as director of design analytics.

They are joined by business development manager Karla Morales, formerly with Seymourpowell, part of the Loewy Group, who will take an umbrella role across Vibrandt Form, Vibrandt and Distillery.

Vibrandt Form said it will offer a “holistic” brand and product innovation service in a single team.

Bennett, who spent 12 years at Intel Corporation before joining PDD three years ago, said: “We’ve structured our offering not only to help clients bring more compelling products, brands and experiences to market, but to do it in a more efficient manner and cut down the total cost of innovation.”

Hawley will develop Vibrandt Form’s product design capability in the consumer electronics, domestic appliances, pharmaceutical, automotive, apparel and retail sectors. His portfolio includes Ford Advanced Product Group, Nike, Levi Strauss, Samsonite, Swatch and Motorola.

Vibrandt Form will be “tightly integrated” with Vibrandt and Distillery and bring a “tailored approach” to design and brand development, using semiotics, discursive analysis and ethnomethodology to help clients get the best out of innovation and product development, while remaining focused on the brand.

PDD group chief executive Peter Osborn said: “Everyone at PDD wishes Julie, Miles and Diane all the best in their new opportunity.”

“PDD is continually extending its capabilities, and has welcomed an additional 15 new people since the start of the year. Our recruitment programme has been planned for the whole of 2008, and we are on target to achieve our objectives.”

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