We recently connected with Sylvia Cardim de Melo and have shared our conversation below.

Sylvia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I officially opened Strawberry Brand Studio in Jan 2018. It was in the back of having freelanced as a Strategist for a few years where I felt the work I delivered never felt holistic. I depended on a graphic designer or a web designer to execute to a vision I shaped, but that always felt short.

After some internal back and forths (go back to corporate or open my own agency), I decided over Christmas break in 2017 that it was time for me to venture in the world of entrepreneurship and open my own agency, bootstrapped and all. I was 33, with 10 solid work experiences under my belt and no kids, so I thought “if not now, when?” Once I made the decision, I started to immediately brainstorm names. Having a name gives you a sense of direction and starts making things feel real.

To have a name, you need to have a sense of clarity on your business, what you bring to the market, the value you deliver to your audience etc. So what would have been a chill-out Christmas break turned into slides on a keynote presentation outlining my ethos, purpose, value proposition among other things. And no I did not do a business plan.

Once I had this together, it was time to design our logo, create a business card and a simple website to present our services. I hired an intern and a few weeks later I a full time designer. I had enough cash to pay the salaries for 2 months, so I hustled to get business going. and by end of Jan we were already working on 2 projects.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

São Paulo-born, US-educated, European-groomed, and Asia-tested, I’m a global brand strategist fascinated by brands rooted in culture, stories and purpose.

At 12 years old I moved to Miami with my family where I learned English and Spanish. At 18 years old I moved to LA to complete my Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at University of Southern California (USC). I majored in Global Marketing following the footsteps of my father. In fact he always encouraged me to live abroad and learn many languages, and so I did.

My first full time job was as an Assistant Brand Manager for Barilla, the iconic blue box pasta brand. I absolutely loved working for an Italian company and understanding the role a brand has in a person’s life. Barilla, aside from the pasta, also has a huge bakery division under the name Mulino Bianco, a name synonymous to breakfast.

I then moved on to working as a Brand Manager for SC Johnson out of their European HQ in Switzerland. There I understood very well the day to day of a marketeer. In fact, we think Marketers spend their days thinking about cool campaigns or new products but in fact most of their time is consumed by putting out fires with supply chain, manufacturing, sales etc.

Then I moved to Singapore where I worked as a Brand Strategist for The Partners, WPP’s jewel branding studio. At The Partners I learned the value of providing a boutique service to clients. To witness the craft of my teammates in creating, ideating and shaping a brand was truly inspirational.

The problem we solve at Strawberry is simple. We craft world-class brands at a fraction of the price of a big agency. World class brands are brands that communicate in a very effortless way. You know what they are about. We accomplish this by keeping our overhead lean and working side-by-side with our clients to offer a truly tailored, bespoke service and applying our signature “sweet and simple touch”. And we’re obsessed with delivering impeccably designed branding programs.

What I most proud of is having survived the Pandemic. The fact that we did not delay any salaries or had to cut back on the team is a huge accomplishment in my books.

The biggest thing I want people to know about us is that we love solving problems. That’s actually why we have decided to be industry-agnostic. This strategy allows up to think big-picture, and bring a fresh take to every challenge thrown at us. As such, we’ve developed an agility that is truly impressive.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The value of our work — no doubt. We go the extra mile, always. That’s why have an average of 30% repeat business per year, and 50% of our business has come from referrals.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Absolutely — some of them have even become close friends! Because of the nature of the relationship we build with the client (we have a whatsapp group, we meet on social occasions), it’s only normal to keep in touch every once in a while. If I come across an article that might be of interest, i will send that across, or to connect one client to another is something I often do as well.

I’m still waiting to have the time to throw a Summer Party for our clients. I know most of them will get along and eventually do business amongst themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.strawberrystudio.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strawberry.brand.studio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strawberry.brandstudio/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strawberry-brand-studio/

Image Credits
The Raglan and Tokkotai images deserve the credit for Louie Thain.