Five minutes with Kelly Reedy
Kelly Reedy, CEO of LRXD, the Colorado-based 'health and happiness agency,' speaks to Transform magazine about how the health, wellness, and happiness space of branding developed over the years and the ways in which branding and creativity will be disrupted in the next year.
LRXD is known as "the health and happiness agency" that serves purpose-driven brands. How did this theme come about? Has it always been a fixture of your company?
Our founder and my father, Lee Reedy, always said, "I believe creativity can heal the world." And today, we've built a modern agency on this enduring purpose. We use creativity for good and work with companies that also believe doing more good in the world is the right thing to do.
How has the health, wellness, and happiness space of branding developed over the years? Where is it headed now?
Over the last decade, health and happiness branding has gone from targeting a select group of people in need of "sick-care" to a new era of preventative "well-care" — a bolder, brighter, more holistic view of health and wellbeing. Well-care expands beyond body and mental care alone to soul-care, environmental care, financial wellness and taking actions in our communities.
We help brands in all of these sectors become more accessible to anyone and prioritise all.
What are best practices for a company to ensure its promise of health and happiness is delivered across all employee and customer touchpoints?
Companies must use a strategic lens to ensure they are leveraging their true purpose and promise to activate the most meaningful and effective brand experience.It all starts from within.
The purpose is a company's internal values and reflects the most significant impact the brand wants to make on the world. Successful companies design their entire internal experience around this vision. Employees become the embodiment of their bold mission and lead by example.
The promise is the outward expression of the brand's purpose and reflects the overall benefit a customer can expect from a brand's experience.
What technologies have been developed that have changed your work process?
We have spent a decade collecting millions of points of data on the "health & happiness" consumer segment. With a single source of data at the center of everything we do, client performance and correlations are made in real time. Our category and consumer knowledge allow us to forecast outcomes before a dollar is spent.
What are three ways that branding and creativity will be disrupted in the next year?
The world's desire for human connection will be reflected in brands being more artistically led. Creatively celebrating the deeper authentic human truths within culture will be stronger than ever. Creators will continue to rise as the drivers of this culture.
Brand and agency relationships are unsettled coming out of COVID. And to create the best work, the partnership between brands and agencies will be at an all-time high. Doing great work won't be enough. You must also be a great person to work with.
Customer needs and desires are shifting rapidly. The brands that can gather real time insights, anticipate what comes next and act will win over their competitors.
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