MSLK, LONG ISLAND CITY NY
MSLK Brands Beauty with Brains. Our agency specializes in helping beauty and wellness brands find their voices in today’s crowded marketplace through 360° positioning. MSLK’s cross-functional team has expertise in market research, brand strategy, formulation, identity design, beauty packaging, SEO strategy, social media campaigns, website development, and sales. Our multi-faceted approach ensures that our clients send a cohesive brand story across every channel of communication.
Over the past two decades, we have helped brands grow from the ground up, launch line extensions, rediscover their voices in a crowded market, and create entirely new product categories.
We consider ourselves to be brand archaeologists. We uncover the key tenants of a brand, polishing those stories so they rise to the surface and become clear for consumers to see. Our strategic process and consumer insights turn the subjective creative process into an objective one. The results have been award-winning, attention-getting, and revenue-generating for our clients.
HOW AND WHY DID YOU COME TO USE DESIGN TO ADVANCE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE AND/OR SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS, CLIENTS AND CAUSES?
MSLK’s mission is to build sustainable brands, because being green isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. We design thoughtfully, so we don’t have to compromise on quality or style for sustainability. As a branding agency, we feel a great responsibility to make a positive contribution to the marketplace. We help our clients eliminate ineffective materials and focus on designs that are more sustainable. Our work is to design products that appeal to the consumer, and within that, we want to help consumers make more conscious decisions.
A designer’s job is to communicate effectively, and we strive to raise awareness about environmental issues. We designed a series of eco-art installations to visualize one second of US consumption of single use “disposable” plastics: “Urban Tumbleweeds” (plastic shopping bags), “Watershed” (disposable water bottles), and “Take-Less” (take-out containers). The community helped us reclaim the materials for each installation through local collection boxes. They cited that the facts surrounding the art installation alone ignited a conversation.
The organic and user-generated content around these installations was staggering. Over one million people experienced the installations at the Figment Art Festival, DUMBO Arts Festival, and the global premiere of the film “The Age of Stupid.” These “Urban Interventions” gained media attention. Our work has been recognized with the AIGA (RE)design Award for sustainable design and the AIGA’s prestigious Making the Case Award.
Design is a great tool for addressing environmental issues. Our installations leave observers with a lasting visual impression and in turn ignite a conversation. People wanted to talk more about their consumption habits. In this way design engages conversation and community change.
ARE THERE ANY PARTICULAR CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, URGENCIES, OBSTACLES IN 2019?
When we began our sustainability journey, raising awareness was our primary concern. While raising awareness continues to be important, we believe a large percentage of consumers are aware of the need for more sustainable solutions — across all areas. The challenge we are seeing is that the options for eco-friendly materials and plastic alternatives are costly. It can be downright cost prohibitive for small brands. However, increased demand also reduces costs. Within beauty specifically, clean beauty and sustainability are key areas of growth. We hope that the more we guide our clients toward making smarter choices, the faster this will change. We also believe that reusable and refillable items may be the most environmentally friendly solutions. This is a great opportunity for design, as those solutions should be well-designed to stand the test of time.
2019 is our 20th year in business. As we set our goals for the next two decades, we are actively seeking and prioritizing client relationships that are aligned with our sustainable values.
