In 2010, four Interbrand creatives decided to launch their own agency. Frustrated with the linear working process familiar to many of the big branding companies – strategy up front, then design, with writing tagged on at the end – Pete Dewar, Andy Howell, Jonathan Hubbard and Richard Buchanan wanted storytelling and tone of voice to be considered as much as the visual elements of a client project. Everyone at The Clearing would be involved from the outset of any given job.

Fifteen years on – and with a staff of 25, a mix of strategists, writers, designers, client services and technologists – writing remains at the heart of the agency’s mission. Early clients such as McLaren helped established a profile and gave them an entry point into the world of sport, where they have gone on to work with brands from Ascot to Wimbledon. And with Yodel, the result of the merger between DHL Domestic and HDN, their work with words was key to their offering: ‘Yodel’ was coined from the initial letters of the phrase ‘Your Delivery’ (the brand’s customer proposition), which also resolved cleverly into the tagline ‘Your delivery, your call’.

What they called their agency was an assertion, too, a way of escaping industry naming tropes and standing out. The Clearing represented an intent where, with each project, a metaphorical space would be cleared for a brand to resonate with its audience, who would know what the brand stood for and recognise its points of difference. Since then, Howell and Dewar explain, having writing embedded in the creative process forces the agency to think holistically about communication and meaning; how visual and verbal elements work together. Forgoing design for design’s sake, The Clearing acknowledge that brands need to make use of words – and create meaning from them, rather than rely on one or two-word headlines because they catch the eye.