Parliament | The Power of Presence: Why We're Embracing the Workshop Model
In a world where our attention is the most valuable—and scarce—currency we possess, we've been rethinking how we create transformational brand experiences. Today, we're excited to share a significant shift in our Brand Being discovery process.
The Attention Economy Has Changed Everything
Let's cut to the chase: Your attention is being hunted.
The average professional checks email 74 times daily (Radicati Group, 2023)
We switch tasks every 3 minutes and 5 seconds (UC Irvine, 2022)
47% of our time is spent in a state of distraction (Harvard Business Review, 2021)
Meanwhile, we're all trying to create meaningful brands in an environment designed to fragment our focus into increasingly smaller pieces. And let's be honest—it's not working.
The traditional discovery process—spread across weeks of emails, documents, and disjointed calls—simply doesn't create the conditions for breakthrough thinking. Every interruption isn't just a momentary distraction; it's a complete derailment of the deep, transformational work your brand deserves.
And don’t even get us started on the attention span of the “founder/entrepreneur” personality.
The Magic Happens in the Room
Here's what we've learned after fifteen years and hundreds of brand transformations:
The most powerful brand discoveries happen when humans connect, fully present, in concentrated bursts of collaborative energy.
It's not just about efficiency (though that's a beautiful side effect). It's about creating the conditions where founder stories can emerge, where values can crystallize, and where your brand's authentic voice can be heard above the digital noise.
When we're together—fully present, phones away, notifications silenced—something magical happens. We access a level of thinking, feeling, and creating that simply isn't possible in the scattered attention economy.
Introducing: The Brand Being Workshop
That's why we're shifting to a focused workshop model for our Brand Being discoveries. Here's what this means:
Concentrated power: 4-6 hours of uninterrupted, fully present collaboration
Immediate results: Walk away the next day with clarity on your Brand Heart + Positioning
Deeper insights: Access the kind of breakthrough thinking that only happens when we silence the digital noise
Stronger foundation: Build your brand on human connection, not fragmented attention
This isn't just about changing a process—it's about honoring what makes branding truly transformational: human connection, focused attention, and the irreplaceable magic that happens when we create together.
The Human Element AI Can't Replace
While we leverage AI to help craft the final deliverable (because we're all about efficiency where it counts), we've discovered something crucial:
The discovery process itself—the mining of your stories, the articulation of your values, the identification of what makes you uniquely you—requires human presence that no technology can replace.
AI can help us analyze patterns and craft language, but it can't feel the emotion in your voice when you talk about why you started your business. It can't ask you to go deeper when you offer a surface-level response. It can't sense when we've touched on something true and powerful about your brand's purpose.
Those moments of connection and clarity? They're entirely human. And they require our full, undivided attention.
Our value is to push you to go deeper than you’ve gone before, combined with the outside knowledge of what will resonate with your employees and your brand advocates.
From Our Clients
"The most profound professional experience I’ve ever had." — Conner Herman, Percy
"I’ve worked through many branding exercises and I’ve never had anyone come close to what you’ve done today" — Steve, Missouri River Relief
We’re Going All In
Inspiration for the Hoot Haus Workshop
We’re taking the empty lot next door and building a “Workshop House.” This 1300-square-foot building will be a sister to the current Hoot Design Company headquarters and will have two bedrooms upstairs to accommodate clients overnight.
Ready to Experience the Difference?
If you're tired of building your brand in the margins of your attention and ready to experience the power of focused, human-centered discovery, we're here for you.
Our Brand Being Workshops are now available for booking in Q2 and Q3. Spaces are limited as we dedicate our full presence to each session.
Remember: In an age where attention is fragmented and connection is increasingly digital, the power to transform your brand still lies in the most human elements of all—presence, focus, and the magic that happens when we truly listen to each other.
Let's create something powerful together.
Artwork by Nya McClain, article by Senior Art Director, Bri Thomas
Consistency Doesn't Mean Boring: Why brand consistency is about intention, not limitation
The Persistent Myth
"We need to be more creative, let's break away from the brand guidelines." "Brand consistency is holding us back." "Our guidelines are too restrictive for social media." "We need something fresh - let's ignore the system just this once."
These are the justifications used every time someone wants to prioritize short-term creative impulses over long-term brand building. But here's the thing: consistency isn't your enemy - it's your secret weapon.
The Reality Check
The most innovative brands in the world are also some of the most consistent. Think about:
Apple's product launches - always minimal, always powerful
Nike's advertising - decades of "Just Do It" finding fresh expressions
Coca-Cola - evolving within their brand world for over a century
Google - playful while maintaining clear system principles
These brands aren't consistent because they lack creativity. They're consistent because they understand that consistency creates recognition, and recognition builds trust.
The Freedom of Framework
Strong brand systems work like music – they're built on a fundamental structure that enables meaningful improvisation, not restricts it. Think of your brand guidelines as a musical scale: once you truly understand the rules, you can play with them in infinite ways while still creating something recognizable. The structure isn't limiting your creativity; it's giving it direction and purpose. When you have a clear framework, you don't waste energy wondering if something is "on brand" – instead, you can focus your creative energy on finding fresh, innovative ways to express your brand's core truth.
The best brand systems don't wall you in; they give you a foundation to build upon. They provide the tools and principles that enable teams to move quickly and confidently, ensuring that every expression of the brand adds to its equity rather than diluting it. It's about creating guardrails that focus innovation rather than barriers that prevent it.
What Actually Matters
Real brand consistency isn't about mindless repetition or rigid rule-following – it's about strategic intention and purposeful choice. It's understanding that every brand expression is either building or eroding brand equity, and making conscious decisions about how to move forward. True consistency comes from having a deep understanding of your brand's core principles and using that understanding to guide evolution, not prevent it.
This means looking beyond surface-level consistency like colors and logos to ensure you're creating coherent experiences that build meaningful recognition over time. It's about understanding that your brand isn't just a set of visual rules – it's a tool for creating lasting impressions and building trust with your audience. When you approach consistency from this perspective, it becomes less about what you can't do and more about how you can use your brand's established equity to create more powerful work.
The Bottom Line
Remember: The most powerful creative work doesn't come from ignoring your brand - it comes from understanding it deeply enough to push it forward with purpose.
