Having a great product is awesome, but it’s not enough to make you stand out among the crowd.
Smart branding can give you a serious leg up on your competitors. It’s much more than just pretty colors and a fun tagline. A strategic brand identity combines every outward-facing element of your business, from your logo to your mission statement to your website, cohesively to make a lasting, memorable impression on your customers.
Your branding should communicate who you are, what you stand for, and how you want people to feel when they engage with your brand. Shaping that perfect image to represent your unique business can be a little intimidating, especially if you don’t have the right tools, skills, resources or time. Whether you’re starting from scratch or refreshing your established brand, a branding agency can bring a fresh perspective and plenty of qualified experience to the table, giving you more time to focus on the other important facets of your business.
Here are some branding agencies around WNY that can help you get started (in alphabetical order):
1. Abbey Mecca
95 Perry St, Ste 101, Buffalo, NY 14203
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Branding (strategy and positioning, market research logo and trademark design, packaging, environmental, activation), advertising, digital marketing, earned media
In their own words: “Abbey Mecca offers clients a comprehensive suite of branding, advertising and digital marketing services from website and digital content development to advertising, creative and social media.
Our mission is and always will be to help our clients build long-term brand value. We get it. We’ve been at it for more than 50 years. Our brand-focused culture puts our clients first, streamlines project flow, increases effectiveness and through collaboration, results in award-winning campaigns.”
2. Block Club
729 Main Street, Buffalo, NY
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Brand strategy, brand identity, brand experience, content marketing
In their own words: “We develop, articulate and amplify brands by way of identity design, copy and experiences that resonate.
Block Club is not a typical advertising, graphic design or marketing firm. It’s an award-winning branding and strategy agency based in Buffalo, NY. Our team is small and agile, strategic and spirited, curious and creative. We’re designers, strategists, writers and entrepreneurs who are committed to wanting better in everything we do—for our clients, our team, our city and region. We believe in creating impact and supporting intelligent brands, approaching each project with Rust Belt work ethic and global perspective. Our work connects businesses with their customers, creating results that inform, inspire and build community.”
3. Buffalo Design Studio
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Brand identity, design, packaging, web design
In their own words: “I am a designer, consultant, and educator who works directly with clients, brands, agencies, and people who are passionate about what they do.”
4. e8 Creative
PO BOX 326, Bowmansville, NY 14026
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Branding and logo design, web design and development, strategy and media buys, UI and UX design
In their own words: “e8 Creative is a full-service design agency located in Buffalo NY. We build competitive advantages through design.
We create – experiences, feelings, connections – to elevate brands. Using traditional and new media, we can communicate your message to drive sales, reach goals and increase your bottom line. Simply put, we deliver results.”
5. FIFTEEN
599 Delaware Ave, Ste 215, Buffalo, NY 14202
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Research and strategy, analytics, social media, branding and identity, video production and photography, integrated media buying, creative, animation and visual effects, entrepreneurial consultancy, content marketing, experiential marketing, public relations, website design and development
In their own words: “FIFTEEN is a number of connections — artists, innovators and storytellers synergizing with strategists, builders and leaders. Creations that stir emotion and inspire action, interlaced with business acumen and an entrepreneurial spirit. A confluent spectrum of talent and expertise that carries our partners to achieve their goals. We are all this and more, connected at our center by a shared passion for doing what we love.
As a full service marketing and advertising agency, this passion takes form as branding, strategy, web design, media and public relations. Everything unfurls to create impactful connections between our clients and their customers. Connections that incite action, loyalty and growth. Let’s converge.”
6. FourthIdea
500 Seneca St, Ste 506, Buffalo, NY 14204
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Branding, content marketing, digital and mobile, emerging technology, strategy
In their own words: “As a creative agency, FourthIdea works diligently to align the concept, brand creative and messaging with the needs of your target audience to create both an emotional and rational connection.”
7. Luminous
241 Main Street Suite 220, Buffalo NY, 14203
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Branding, copywriting, creative campaigns and strategy, graphic design, logo design, industrial product and packaging design, photography and video, web design and development, strategic marketing management, digital marketing, traditional marketing
In their own words: “Luminus, located in the heart of downtown Buffalo, NY, is a creative agency. To understand what that means, let’s go back to the foundation of the advertising industry. There are three main pieces to the advertising puzzle – strategy/creative, media buying, and public relations. Each piece plays a role in executing marketing and advertising efforts to a brand’s audience. “Full service” agencies combine all three pieces, while others take a boutique approach and offer specialized skills in one area.
Our particular expertise resides in the building materials marketing space for products used in commercial and residential projects. Our branding approach also translates well to the restaurant / brewery branding projects and our relevant optimized marketing strategies aligned well with the home services industry.”
8. Mirror Matter
135 Delaware Ave Suite 504, Buffalo, NY 14202
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Brand development, graphic design, web design, photography direction, videography direction, copywriting, social media, digital advertising, reputation management, traditional advertising, 3D renderings, presentation design, search optimization, content marketing
In their own words: "Our mission is to communicate clearly, maximize our client’s dollar, inspire competition, and create advertising that is reflective of the world in which we want to live. We realize this mission through campaigns comprised of brand direction and content strategy.
If you need to fine tune your voice and polish up your look, we can help."
9. Mr. Smith Agency
465 Washington St, B01, Buffalo, NY 14203
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Brand identity design, naming, messaging and copywriting, logo and ID systems, style guides, collateral, print and packaging, iconography, art direction, photo and video
In their own words: “Mr. Smith Agency is a boutique, user-centered brand, digital, and design agency. Offering a comprehensive range of advertising, marketing, and creative design services, we work with our clients to craft meaningful digital and print experiences.
We approach each project with bright-eyed enthusiasm. We understand that every client is unique and offers a new challenge with new objectives. We live to create. To make. To do. We never stop moving. We never stand still. This is what we do.”
10. Newbird Design
2495 Main St, Ste 348, Buffalo, NY 14214
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Magento eCommerce, WordPress web development, inbound marketing, digital marketing, mobile app development, design and branding
In their own words: “We work with you side by side to learn your business challenge and find the most suitable digital solution – whether it’s a new website, an interactive sales tool, an attention-grabbing online advertising campaign, or anything in between. When you team up with Newbird for web design and digital marketing, you can count on an experience guided by our agency’s core values.”
11. Of the Sea
111 Genesee St, Ste 302, Buffalo, NY 14203
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Identity discovery, committed partnerships, advertising campaigns (audio, design, video, web), content strategy
In their own words: “Our profession is marketing. Our mission is to help you foster a community of BRAND LOVE.”
12. Renoun Creative
403 Main St, Ste 503, Buffalo, NY 14203
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Branding (brand audit and discovery, brand strategy, logo and identity development, brand systems), design (website design and development, UI/UX design, promotional materials, packaging design), marketing (social media, marketing automation, content marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, digital and traditional advertising, email marketing), customer success
In their own words: “We’re the Customer Success Agency hell-bent on helping forward-thinking businesses take the next step in their growth.
We are a group of curious creative, innovative and entrepreneurial minded solution makers with diverse skill sets to ensure success. We are constantly learning and adapting in order to understand what your brand means to your customers. This way we stay proactive, not just reactive. We listen first to your challenges so that we know the right questions to ask your audiences. This is what helps build the foundation to long-lasting relationships with your clients. Talk to us in terms of problems. We’ll develop creative solutions.”
13. Stronghold Studio
110 Genesee St, Buffalo, NY 14203
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Logo design, branding, brand strategy, naming, packaging design, print design, illustration, environmental design, web design, art direction, consultation
In their own words: “Stronghold is a design and branding studio in Buffalo, NY. The term stronghold is defined as “a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld”—this inspired the name of my studio and continues to inspire my approach to design.
With neighbors like the contemporary restaurant Marble + Rye next door and the iconic tavern Eddy Bradie's across the street, Stronghold's location and approach to design embrace forward thinking while staying true to its blue collar roots.”
14. Telesco Creative Group
346 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Branding, identity, advertising, social media, web design, collateral design, event promotion, strategy and planning
In their own words: “We are not artists. We are business people. There is a difference. Our clients hire us for business reasons—put more people in the seats, sell more subscriptions, raise brand awareness. Whatever the reason is, we believe that the work should be relevant to what their objectives are. We do that by building relationships with our clients built on trust. We need to trust their knowledge of their business and we ask that they do the same with us. We feel that it is the only way to work.”
15. The Buffalo Collective
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Creative direction, logo design, web creation
In their own words: “I'm a wedding-photographer-turned-brand designer with a forever calling for following my own path in life.
Over the past ten years as an artist, I have pursued many creative paths. Student, photographer, gallery curator, studio manager, traveler, dreamer. All of these endeavors have led me to where I am today, owner and lead designer at The Buffalo Collective.
I went to school for photography and soon after began my very short career as a wedding photographer. As the years went on I realized that I had a greater passion for design, helping local creatives, and giving them the tools needed to chase their dreams.”
16. Typework
40 Pine Ridge Terrac, Buffalo, NY 14225
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Logo design, complete brand identity, print design, web design and development, product photography
In their own words: “We are a Buffalo, NY design studio who create brands that reflect worth and value. Our commitment is to the clear communication & presentation of your brand with honesty, beauty, refinement, simplicity, and timelessness. We love to help people and strive for excellence in all areas of our brand development and design services. We seek to uphold a strong standard of design with each brand challenge. We endeavor to always adhere to these ideals and values with every project.”
17. Williams Media
461 Ellicott St, 3rd Floor, Buffalo, NY 14203
Locally Owned/Operated
Services: Branding and design (logo and identity, brand handbooks, brand collateral, photography and videography, traditional advertising, messaging and positioning), web development, digital marketing, strategy
In their own words: “We’re a diverse team of individuals who are dedicated to serving our clients with creativity, integrity and modern marketing solutions that actually work. We specialize in branding & design, web design, digital marketing & strategy.”