Three Addy in two years, micro company topples ad giants

ADVERTISING in TT is typically dominated by the industry's big guns and a handful of local agencies, so when little-known Backyard Design Co made it three Addy awards in two years, it raised some eyebrows.

Nicholas Huggins, Backyard's founder and creative mastermind, learned he was a winner of two Addy awards two months ago, and on Carnival Tuesday, of all days.

That made it three in two years for the micro company, which was only formalised in January 2019, one month before it won its first Addy award.

The awards are presented by the Caribbean Advertising Federation, a member of the American Advertising Federation.

"When I won them, I was actually able to share the news with one of my clients on the road as we were in the same band. So there was a big celebration," Huggins told Newsday.

"Last year, the first thing I did was to message the team that worked on the project to let them know."

He won his first Addy after collaborating with another local artist, Ashley Thompson-Steuart, who painted the watercolour piece that featured on the silver-winning label for the brand Ortinola Chocolate.

That was in February 2019, a year before he picked up another two, again in packaging categories – gold for his design for Cedros Bay Cosmetics, a new line of products manufactured by the Coconut Growers Association (CGA), a local producer of oils, soaps and other products, and silver with his design for PAZ Coffee and Kitchen, a local coffee shop and maker of cold brew coffee.

The judges were undoubtedly won over by the two products' modernly creative and sophisticated designs.

Huggins, who celebrates his 30th birthday next month, backs his company with years of smaller entrepreneurial endeavours, using the talents he refined with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Georgia, USA, and his proud alma mater, St Mary's College, Port of Spain, where he is active on the management committee for the school's past student's union.

"Since I was a teenager, I have dabbled in starting businesses, including a T-shirt printing business in form six and my clothing line, Deftment.

"At CIC, I always knew I wanted to do something in the creative field. At the time I thought it would be in fine art or illustration. It was only when I went to university that I learnt about graphic design and thought that it would be a good career to go into.

"The business side of things comes somewhat natural to me, but I still reach out to many of my resources when I need advice or have questions."

As far as the company's structure is concerned, apart from Huggins, there is the account executive and project manager, Chevonne Attale.

"She liaises with clients and the creative team to make sure that all jobs are being done on time and within budget. She maintains relationships with our list of clients to ensure that everyone is happy," said Huggins.

"She also generates quotes and invoices and makes sure that all payments are being made on time."

Otherwise, Huggins said, teams are put together based on the demands of a particular project.

"The business structure has me as director. For all creative projects I assemble a team based on the job at hand. It allows us to remain very versatile and maintain little overheads as our creatives are paid based on the job at hand.

"It also allows for our freelancers to maintain other clients and to turn down any jobs that they do not see as a good fit."

He said it also allows the freelancers to earn what they deem to be appropriate.

"I believe that for design and advertising, this is the way of the future as it benefits both the creative as well as the client as the costs that the agency now charges to the client does not include overheads typical of bigger agencies, like office space.

"This is different to the typical agency model where creatives are employed and don't have much say in terms of what clients or jobs they work on during their hours at the agency," said Huggins.

The three Addy awards suggest that after two years, Backyard has taken on a journey to become as much a go-to agency for advertising and packaging design as any other across TT.

Its portfolio has added colour with the inclusion of a foreign client, Cultifutura, a tech company based in Italy, and of course, Bertie's, a thriving local maker of pepper sauce. He secured the former through the recommendation from a friend at SCAD.

"A university friend of mine works at an agency that developed Cultifutura and recommended I be the designer to come up with the brand identity (for their products), he said.

"Most of my work comes through networking and word of mouth."

His first client was more of a personal client, however, who came long before Backyard Design Co was born.

"My first client when I got home from university in 2013 was Gina's Chocolates. I still do work with Gina seven years later and the work that I did on her chocolate bar label, I think was a turning point in my career as a designer as that's when I started to focus a lot more on packaging design."

But he said he could not choose a favourite project or design.

"It's difficult because every project has aspects that I love and every project has different design problems to solve.

"We have a standard at Backyard and we try to only deliver work we think is great."

As it stands, he believes the business is right on track.

"I have great clients who continue to support my work and hire me and my team to create work for them."

And, on the horizon, he says, he will secure permanent members of the team.

"I do intend to grow the amount of full-time employees and grow the pool of local freelancers who I work with.

"I think a good work ethic and giving people quality designs and service is the cornerstone of maintaining a good design business and to keep clients satisfied."

The three Addy awards, he said, give his company and work the merit it deserves.

"It's one thing for us to say tell potential clients the trust us to design for you, but now we can say we have been validated by a third party through these awards."

Asked of his vision for Backyard Design Co a decade from how, he replied, "I'm hoping to have a small team of designers working with me, enabling us to take on more jobs at one time.

"I also hope in the short-term to get more foreign clients.

"Design services are a good way to bring in forex as working remotely is a norm. That way I can have clients anywhere in the world."