Our intentions are the same now as when we started our company in 1999; to combine our natural desire to make things, with making a living.
Most people either talk or do.
We prefer to do.
We don't believe in waiting around to get picked or to be validated.
Validate yourself.
OFB was built from scratch.
We didn't form within the walls of another agency break room and take a client with us. We don't need those kinds of security blankets. Thankfully, we didn't have any previous agency experience when we decided to open shop 13 years ago. And so, the experience of growing a business from scratch has shaped our beliefs. We don't have any misconceptions about how hard starting a business really is or how hard our clients work.
We are not order takers.
We are leaders.
We believe in being who we are. Not in pretending to be what people's perception of an "agency" is supposed to be. PS we are not an agency. We aren't going to shower you with gifts or stage a "smoke & mirrors" theater production to impress you. We are looking for the right fit when we consider taking on new clients. We surely appreciate the opportunity to be considered to work on your brand. We just want people to choose us for our expertise, not our sales skills, client gifts, or conference room buffet.
We work with clients big, medium, and small. We are more concerned with how good, not how big. We have the experience, techniques, intelligence, and resources to work with large clients, and we have our fair share of them. But medium and small clients have as much to teach us about brand building and there is nothing more rewarding than helping someone grow. Brand Design is a craft, not a massive production-line undertaking that requires an army of people and support. We keep our core staff lean and focused on their specialty (brand strategy, high level design, and interactive design and development). We love efficiency, productivity, and freedom. This model allows us to say no to projects that we don't have enthusiasm for. Together with our brand design program, it allows us to take on clients that usually work with much larger agencies.
We believe you benefit from our variety of experience. We certainly have more experience in some industries like retail, food & beverage, real estate, financial, restaurant, automotive, and towns & tribes. But we do not refuse a great client in any industry if the challenge interests us. Our diagnostic process ensures we learn all we need to know to solve your branding and interactive challenges even if we have never worked in your industry.
We believe in saying it. People will tell you we are brutally honest when it comes to assessing our clients challenges and our own performance. We respect the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of our clients. We love the makers. If they did not take risks to start and maintain their businesses, creative agencies wouldn't have any work. The clients are the real risk takers. So we believe they deserve nothing less than our real opinion about where we think they stand. But we always back those opinions up with ideas for solutions.
We believe in Mobile Creative Worklife. We are nomadic by nature. We work so much in the field that strategically and creatively it just makes no sense to have a central office. We evolved past this many years ago. Although, yes we had some cool offices in the past, we just got bored with it. Working from anywhere is always something we have enjoyed exploring. We are good at what we do and we are also dead serious about it. So spending time, lots of time, planning office parties and motivational teamwork talent shows just means less time for what we actually enjoy….designing brands. The reality of being in one central office, no matter how "fun" it is ...isn't very productive and this old idea is quickly fading away. It also limits who we can work with and hire. These days we are able to hire and work with the most talented creatives....not just people in OUR TOWN. In fact, there is a good chance there is an OFB person near you. All OFB staff are encouraged to travel at will and live wherever they want. It's all about planning, strategy, effective communication, creativity and execution. We embrace the act of traveling or searching to perpetuate the proliferation of ideas. We see more things, and the result is we have more ideas. Our work is more inspired. Our clients benefit.
Another reason we like being virtual is it is good for Earth. After all, we humans can only be in one place at a time. This way we don't waste energy heating and cooling spaces we aren't using at home while we are at work, etc. We are at work everywhere we go. And never maintaining space we are not always using.
Workhaus Co-Working Lodges. A new brand we developed to fit our mobile worklife. These workspaces provide base camps for staff, clients, and other co-workers from many industries. Co-Working is global movement that more closely represents the innovation of the 21st century "office" than the current status quo. At our Workhaus locations, we hold training and branding sessions, and this is where our creative associates are provided with everything they need to work in peace if they can't otherwise get that via a private studio, home office, or trailer. Some of us are more social than others, haha. We also use these workspaces for hands-on creative endeavors like screen printing, studio photography, video production, and sound recording. You will see even within our workspaces, our tribe always has a choice about where to sit. There are no cubicles, enclosed offices, or assigned seating. Read about Workhaus Co-Working Lodges.
Not of the same blood. But of the same heart.
People often ask us what the name OneFastBuffalo means. OneFastBuffalo is simply a metaphor for our work. Buffalo are FAST. Look it up. The reason Buffalo are dangerous is the impact that is created when you combine their pure speed, massive weight and efficiency of direction with their unpredictable nature. So we like our work to have that same effect. Extreme impact created by focused creative efforts. The word "One" represents Focus. Focus creates clarity and progress. "Fast" represents our creative intensity. All the work and results you see in our portfolio are the result of intense creative focus.
From a symbol standpoint what was inspiring about the American Bison was how close it came to extinction yet how it survived and now flourishes. As the tale goes, all of today’s American Buffalo can be traced back to one surviving herd. The buffalo is a symbol of survival, strength, hope, sacrifice and endurance. We like all of those qualities. We are here to help our clients survive in an ever-changing world. That is where our tagline comes from.
Change perception. Live on.