Empowering the
barber community.
PARTNER
Squire
CATEGORY
Business Operations
Gallery
01
Where we started
SQUIRE was founded in 2015 by Songe LaRon and Dave Salvant with their New Yorker hustler spirit.
As Black entrepreneurs, they personally experienced and understood the significant role barbershops play in local community. Seeing an opportunity to modernize and uplift barbers on their business journeys, they started SQUIRE – and grew it into the leading business management system designed for the needs of barbers, shop owners, and their communities.
SQUIRE came to West at a time of inflection. They needed to expand their brand system and refresh their positioning, identity, and messaging, allowing them to build a scalable brand and marketing infrastructure to fuel them towards their next growth milestone.
On a higher level, they had an even bigger challenge: they needed to evaluate the market opportunity ahead of them, choosing to either double down on the barber industry (while still hitting their target growth metrics) or make a move into different verticals (without alienating the very tight-knit community they were designed to support).
02
What we did
West understood that this was a very specific segment of the world, with its own vernacular, unique career trajectories, and deeply entrenched emotional and historical legacies. Out of deep respect for the industry and the culture, the West team attended one of the largest industry trade shows, the CT Barber Expo, to conduct multi-day field research and learn about the lives, challenges, and motivators of barbers across all stages of their careers.
West also performed qualitative interviews with SQUIRE’s founders and executive team, shadowing different departments and functions in their habitat at the trade show, interviewing with barber and shop owner attendees, as well as conversations with real SQUIRE customers and prospective leads.
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This research foundation, alongside a thorough landscape and competitive audit, helped West to deliver a well-informed and differentiating foundational brand platform, write a resonant brand manifesto, and develop an overall opportunity analysis to inform their business strategy.
Additionally, West helped set up brand and marketing infrastructure underpinning both a visual identity and verbal identity refresh, with the goal of best articulating SQUIRE’s value and differentiating them from competitors.
03
Where are they now
During the time of our engagement, SQUIRE surpassed $1 billion in transaction volume and was identified as the next Black-owned unicorn company. SQUIRE is currently implementing the brand system across all external communications, marketing, and partnership touchpoints.
Working with the West team was the most seamless experience I’ve had with a brand agency. They took the time to truly understand our industry and unique challenges and their recommendations were insightful and creative. West works at an incredible fast pace and made sure to keep us all on the timeline scheduled with frequent updates and check-ins. Overall it was a pleasure working with them and I look forward to continuing our relationship.
- Samm Richey, VP of Marketing & Operations
@2024 West Global