Celebrating Ten Years: everything in between and beyond.
Ten Years in the Making
The first instinct when looking back at the past 10 years of Spearhead is to do a blooper of all the things that went down…The fun clients, the crazy clients, making logos bigger or smaller, heated debates between designers and account executives. I am smiling as I am writing this. A sweet sense of euphoria takes over when thinking back to our beginnings, to how we had to fight tooth and nail to gain the trust of a client, to the long nights spent wrapping up projects, to the challenges of learning the ropes of entrepreneurship (in Lebanon!)…So many stories and anecdotes come to mind but for now, let’s reflect on this decade past.
10 Years…It may look like just a number but let’s look at it from a human perspective. In 10 years, a child learns how to walk, talk, become their own person, develop social skills, take on activities and hobbies not to mention be the apple of their parents eyes. So 10 years is kind of momentous! And we couldn’t be any happier celebrating this milestone for Spearhead! It’s all the sweeter because of the literal upheaval Lebanon has been witnessing over the last 10 years (and for as long as we can remember before that). A quick snapshot of this decade in Lebanon looks something like this (in no particular order): Leadership gaps, garbage crisis, sectarian clashes (or threats of), disagreements over parliamentary elections, growing geopolitical pressures, which all culminated to the situation in 2019 with the financial calamity that has left us with so much debris, followed by the pandemic that changed the world as we know it and of course the tragedy that was August 4th.
So you see, making it to 10 years was no walk in the park. Weirdly enough, and despite all the heartache, it was better than that! All these challenges that we faced, though super scary at the time we were facing them, have been amazing learning curves for us. Navigating a business landscape in such uncertain conditions is the best business school we could have ever attended. No business book could have prepared us for what Lebanon kept throwing at us, but we were able to rise above it all. Not because we have super powers, but because we have super people around us and we firmly believe that this is how we made it here today! The lasting relationships we have forged with clients, suppliers and team members, past and present, is the secret sauce leading to this important milestone.
The fuel that has kept us going even in the most grueling of times is the trust that was instilled in us by our clients who were eager on reaching their next milestones with our support. How can we not be both awed and humbled by that? Bringing new brands to life and witnessing the growth of both new and existing brands has been our opium, our driving force. Whenever we wanted to call it quits, we would reflect on the accomplishments that have given value to our clients and have added tremendous meaning to what we do.
After all, what we were able to accomplish together with them goes beyond industry jargon and service descriptions. Bringing a brand to life is not merely a brand identity project; it is the culmination of meetings, debates, research, plans, proposals and most importantly of understanding our client’s vision and bringing it to life by translating it into something tangible and beautiful that will bring new meaning into their lives and to the lives of those they cater to.
Achieving milestones for clients, whether in terms of increasing their brand’s awareness and recognition, helping them increase their sales or even enter new markets is not merely about ads or numbers but rather about nurturing a brand across its developmental stages, much like you would do with a child.
So you see, despite the hurdles and craziness we’ve had to overcome, at the end of the day, it’s not about the length of our client list, the territories we’ve covered, the number of projects we’ve done, or any other number. It’s about the accumulated value that we have created over time that is the true testament of this milestone that we are happily and gratefully celebrating. And because of this, we stand proud. And because of this, we want to stay true to what has become our mantra and raison d’être and therefore keep bringing value to our clients…er, correction, partners!