CEO & CCO, GRIZZLY, SAN DIEGO, CA
Greg Gibson and Nate Spees are brand strategists at San Diego-based design agency Grizzly, a people-first independent creative agency dedicated to partnering with adventurous brands. As Founder and CEO, Nate oversees the agency’s creative output, alongside CCO and Partner Greg Gibson.
Both Nate and Greg lead Grizzly’s brand communication efforts for some of the world’s most adventurous brands, guiding their clients onward to challenge convention and impact culture. On the day-to-day, you’ll find Nate and Greg providing design solutions for brands, nurturing relationships, and coaching their talent to reach their full potential.
The team uses creativity and strategic thinking to partner with those who are out to shape the future. The trailblazers. The visionaries. The brave thinkers. The ones who believe in a better world and are hell-bent on building it.
Over the last eight years, the agency has delivered works across strategy, design, and storytelling for the likes of Microsoft, Marriott, ServiceNow and Slalom to name a few.
For Grizzly, the idea of adventure is its “why”. Grizzly believes in exploring uncharted territory, helping brands navigate change in an increasingly challenging world — and encouraging everyone to adopt this spirit, and start their adventure.
How did you become involved in socially responsible communications and why do you believe design can be an effective tool for this goal?
We believe that design can solve many of the challenges we face as a society. Design has been behind nearly every leap forward for humankind and shapes much of the way we experience the world.
Our interest in pursuing socially responsible work lies at the intersection of creativity and community. We believe that our work should improve the world around us and positively impact the communities we live in, both locally and globally. It’s about creating value. With our expertise, we can help shape a better future by designing for people and the challenges they face, especially in collaboration with impactful brands solving some of the worlds’ biggest challenges.
If we think about one of these brands, sustainable banking/insurance company Ando springs to mind. Ando is on a mission to fight climate change by investing your money in sustainable assets, and provides transparency and insight into where your money is going. We’re proud to have worked with the team at Ando to develop the GTM strategy, name, and brand identity for the visionary new financial services model.
Given the confluence of events and challenges our society now faces, does this moment in time present any special opportunities, urgencies, obstacles to designing for good?
There are several crises facing the world right now, but there are a few we need to solve immediately as a society. The climate crisis is chief among them. The primary challenge is getting the world to understand the urgency before it’s too late. It just might be the hardest design challenge of all time, because it’s about fighting society as we know it. Hundreds, if not thousands, of years of historical inertia, cultural precedent, and societal systems built around progress and preservation of norms.
Solving the climate crisis will mean breaking those norms and reshaping society for the better.
