Valev Laube is a multimedia producer and public relations executive who has recently launched his new creative design and marketing boutique, The VL Studios, where he brings together a team of experts from design, technology, and marketing to form a company that bridges the gap between marketing and creative design. The New York-based company focuses on online brand building, design, marketing, and brand acceleration to expand businesses & individuals brands flourish in the digital landscape.
Valev Laube has worked for an honorable list of clients including Janet Gordon Style, Almazan Law, InProximity Theatre Company, EstDocs Documentary Film Festival, and more. The former creative design manager at Sacatelle LLC, he has worked on design projects for clients such as Steve Madden, Kenneth Cole, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. We got in touch with Valev Laube to know more about him and his company The VL Studios.
Interviewer: Give us a brief about your background?
Valev Laube: I was born in a tiny Northern-European country, Estonia. At an early age, I started learning music & became curious about technology. This background in music and self-taught coding skills paved the way to my later studies in digital media. At the age of 17, I moved to Italy to pursue studies at the United World College of Adriatic, which later brought me to the United States. Since moving to New York City, I’ve had a great privilege to work with some incredibly talented people. For the past five years, I’ve mostly worked on various projects as a graphic or web designer, but more recently also as a branding consultant and a digital marketing specialist. Currently my professional work includes holistic brand design and marketing for companies, individuals and creative productions across North America & Europe.
Interviewer: What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Valev Laube: I’ve always been a hands-on individual who has been curious to learn and expand my horizons. I think that this curiosity is what brought me from music to graphic design, and later-on to web design and digital marketing. Throughout my experiences working as a freelancer and as a design manager, I’ve had a chance to learn a lot about various facets of running a business. I’ve seen the way that various companies operate and how their company culture affects the work they deliver. I didn’t think of becoming an entrepreneur or running a company until about a year ago when I was approached by the co-founder of The VL Studios, Wassim Askoul. At the time he was running a tech and VR startup here in New York City, and he was the person who made me feel confident in my idea, and comfortable to collaborate on a new venture. Things started moving quickly once I realized what is currently missing in the design and marketing industries and how my holistic understanding of design, marketing, and branding has become highly demanded by numerous former clients of mine. I think it was just the right timing and right energy that finally gave me the confidence to bring together a team of experts and come up with a vision for an exciting new creative design boutique. Our investors, wide public support, and already extensive list of clients is a proof that we’re on the right track to become one of New York’s best design and marketing companies.
Interviewer: How has your approach to your work as a Multimedia producer and Public Relations Executive changed over time?
Valev Laube: I started as a graphic designer, working as a freelancer for traditional media platforms, most of it was designing for print purposes. When I began my studies at the University of Rochester, digital communication and media/multimedia program, my freelance projects brought me to digital multimedia productions and web-oriented digital design. I worked on numerous projects while going to school, and event took some time off to gain further experience working in the industry. At the time, I produced a multidisciplinary performance event “Tonality of Culture” at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington DC, and co-produced an Augmented Reality art exhibition “Rochester Subway.”
Over time I think my approach has become more goal and strategy oriented. I’ve seen what works for clients and how many design and marketing companies treat their clients. This has made me think hard about what type of companies I want to create and how I want my work to be seen. When I started working for larger companies and corporations, I witnessed how much interests vary between departments and how often designers don’t understand business goals that companies might have. I’m also an advocate for constant learning and expanding my knowledge in response to changes taking place in the industry. Today it’s important for designers to not only have the design skills for aesthetic value but also for business profitability, and readiness for the ever-changing digital landscape. Designers need to see ahead and adapt. I’ve personally experienced this firsthand. I started by learning Adobe Indesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, a standard package for any graphic designer. Today this portfolio has been expanded to animations, video & audio post-production, web design, search engine optimization and social media advertising optimization. All of this take a lot of time and effort, but any designer needs to be able to put some time aside to keep learning.
It’s important to understand how people interact with the design and how a complete visual language of a company fits into the client’s business model. Design needs to be adaptive to be able to expand and mature as the company grows. One of the main reasons behind creating The VL Studios was to showcase how superior design bundled with marketing and content optimization can accelerate branded experiences and advertising. For us it’s important to create and deliver content that’s optimized for a particular platform such as social media, print, web etc. Now, whenever taking on a new client, I want to get a clear sense of the client’s vision, business model, and their intended customer experience to deliver a smooth experience from creative design to brand acceleration.
Interviewer: Tell us something about your latest venture, The VL Studios?
Valev Laube: The VL Studios is a creative design and marketing boutique, bringing together a group of individuals passionate about creating brand experiences in the digital space. A unique aspect of this company is our holistic approach to branding, which involves brand consultation, content design, web design, search engine optimization and finally brand acceleration through social media and search engine content delivery. We believe that every first experience that a viewer has is an opportunity to tell a story. Even in case of a single page website it’s important to not forget about the search engine optimization, and every point of contact such as Google Business Manager, Facebook, Twitter, press communications, or direct forms of communication. Every platform and interaction say something about a brand, what it stands for, and how it interacts with its followers.
Brand acceleration is where we help companies, and individuals elevate their current brand presence online through social media management, content design, advertising management, and marketing. It’s always exciting to see brands come to life and become impactful among people.
Interviewer: What are some of the clients you have worked with so far?
Valev Laube: VL Studios is working on various company brands, personal brands, and creative productions. Our portfolio includes clients from a variety of industries, including fashion, entertainment, legal, and even medical. We’re also producing visual content, and managing marketing of two Broadway-bound musicals, and one off-Broadway production – Kalevala the Musical initiated by Johanna Telander, Singing Revolution: The Musical produced by a Broadway veteran Tony Spinosa, and Watcher in The Woods: A New Musical by Doug Thompson.
Interviewer: What is the basic process you follow while working with a client?
Valev Laube: The first step is getting on a brainstorming call or meeting in person so we can learn more about our client, their business strategy, and project goals. I find it important to always tailor our brand building packages to a client’s individual needs; this requires a deep understanding of not only project goals but also the overall company culture. Often, we provide complimentary consulting to share our expertise and further improve the effectiveness and impact of a particular brand experience. The VL Studios provides two types of services – brand building, and brand acceleration. Brand Building packages are here for companies looking to brand their company, production, or campaign, or for companies wanted to rebrand themselves. We’ve also helped companies conduct market research and deliver design or customer experience improvement guidelines. Our brand acceleration service is a subscription model aimed towards managing and expanding online reach and content delivery. Since we’re not only a marketing or design company, we can provide content creation, optimization, and distribution services in one acceleration subscription supporting our clients’ overall quality of content.
Featured Image by : Eleri Ever
About Gmedia