Transform Live North America 2024

Registration and breakfast

Welcome and opening address

Paris 2024: How to build a sporting icon

Jonathan Finer, strategy director at Conran Design Group New York, explores how in a time of political unrest and media fragmentation, the Paris team built a brand for the Olympics and Paralympics that offered a whole new perspective on what it means to be French – and turned Paris into a party where everyone was welcome.

From finding the ‘north star’ to turning clichés on their head, Jonathan will discuss what his work teaches us about successful placemaking and how design was used to dismantle assumptions and showcase key societal values – particularly around inclusivity and openness.

Where creativity meets courage: Growth hacking a tech start-up through brand

How can a start-up create distinction and garner attention from day one? By creating an inspiring purpose that’s authentic, unique, relevant and breakthrough – and then building everything around that big idea.

Join Oleria to discover its surprisingly bold brand story in enterprise security. Hear what it takes to build a brand with heart through courage, brand integrity, deep collaboration and pushing creative boundaries and discover how these principles can empower you to take bold steps in creative work.

Transform roundtable discussions

A dynamic exchange of ideas and perspectives. Engage with industry leaders and fellow attendees in interactive sessions designed to foster deep insights and meaningful conversations on all areas of brand strategy and design.​

Coffee and networking break

From vision to impact: how nonprofits build digital brands to drive social change

Join Colleen J. Ross, integrated content director at the Mellon Foundation, Sam George, lead designer at Work & Co and Jack Cousins, editor at Transform magazine, for a fireside chat on how nonprofits can build stunning digital brands that elevate storytelling, showcase artists, and drive meaningful societal impact.

How PepsiCo is defining the next chapters of Their Iconic Portfolio

Pepsi, the iconic global brand, unveiled a new logo and visual identity system last fall, the first update of the iconic Pepsi globe logo in 14 years. The new logo and visual identity pay homage to the brand’s rich heritage while taking a big leap toward the future. Parent company PepsiCo has long put design at the forefront of its business.

In this session, Leon Imas talks through the new Pepsi brand system and components of the identity that are enabling greater innovation and storytelling opportunities. He discusses what the characteristics and culture of PepsiCo Design & Innovation are, as well as its capabilities that are creating the next brand chapters for our layered and digitally native world. This includes new brands like Starry and the iconic sports brand Gatorade.

From unnamed to unmatched: How brand identity turned a divested business into a global category visionary

In 2022, Bayer divested their Environmental Science business, instantly creating an unnamed global company of 1000+ people and 200+ product brands in countries around the world. That year, HLK launched Envu, a new brand with a vision, taking the company from divestment to giving the people and products a home they could rally around. This case spanned every part of brand development from positioning to naming to design and architecture – each playing a critical role in telling the story of this new company internally and externally.

In this session, HLK will highlight the powerful combination of naming and design to bring a brand to life globally, covering the hurdles faced and overcame, to launch Envu with clarity and consistency in 150 markets. HLK will focus on the critical components of success: storytelling, standards and governance, global alignment and more.

Transform roundtable discussions

A dynamic exchange of ideas and perspectives. Engage with industry leaders and fellow attendees in interactive sessions designed to foster deep insights and meaningful conversations on all areas of brand strategy and design.​

Lunch break and networking

Faster, Higher, Easier!: How the German Olympics’ “Team D” developed its distinct brand look for motion design

Can animation help depict the emotional range of an entire sports nation? why do birds accompanied Team D with customized motion branding and simple motion design templates to the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris and beyond. Learn how three core design principles were defined as the foundation for the development of various motion elements, giving Team D a unique look and feel on all audio visual platforms.

More than just a card: Getting credit beyond credit cards by making the invisible visible

Mastercard was overlooked as a key player in the technology landscape – often misrepresented as ‘just a credit card company,’ rather than the technology leader they’ve always been. Mastercard pioneers much of the digital safety, security and payments technology around the world – but you wouldn’t know it because this critical infrastructure is invisible and intangible.

Alongside the Mastercard team, Design Bridge and Partners created the tools to showcase the impact Mastercard has on billions of people every day through a visual and verbal expression that reflects the cutting-edge work done by the Technology team to build systems that never fail, for a world that never stops, and further solidifies Mastercard as an organization built around technology.

Transform roundtable discussions

A dynamic exchange of ideas and perspectives. Engage with industry leaders and fellow attendees in interactive sessions designed to foster deep insights and meaningful conversations on all areas of brand strategy and design.​

Afternoon coffee and networking break

Just my type: Exploring typography trends for 2024

What is type saying to us in 2024? This year’s Type Trends report is a celebratory look at the universality of type – a collection of groundbreaking designs that reflects our changing world.  

Join this year’s report curators, Monotype's creative type director Damien Collot, and type designer Jordan Bell, as they present projects featured in the report from agencies, designers and foundries spanning the globe. During the event, you can expect to: 

• Gain an in-depth look into emerging patterns in design 
• Learn how to apply trends and styles in your work this year  

Banking on sonic: How ATB differentiated its identity through sound

The Canadian banking industry is dominated by the ‘Big 6’ – all competing in similar ways to rule the same ‘caregiver’ archetype. ATB is paving its own lane as a ‘sage’ brand, fueling growth through its unique culture and ability to ‘Power Possibility’ through Expertise Well Shared. Music is now a primary driver of this repositioning, steeped in qualitative consumer insights across a very interesting and lesson-filled journey.

In this session, we learn how ATB is using sound to bring its differentiated experience to life across every internal and external aspect of their business. True to the ‘Powering Possibility’ tagline, ATB’s Jesse Yuen explains how he pushed the boundaries of what sonic branding can achieve by teaming sonic experts with strategy, research and all areas of his organization. Marco Vitali of Sonic Lens will share how music intelligence enabled such cross-discipline integration and put strategy squarely in the driver’s seat, resulting in the most comprehensive ‘sonic identity system’ in banking (>4.5k assets) while also unlocking unforeseen opportunities to differentiate like tying the brand to Canada’s grassroots ‘bedroom pop’ movement.

Closing remarks and conference ends