DEUR Denim: a successful fresh perspective from Jeff Venida

As a creative director, Jeff Venida takes great satisfaction in developing a language, a tone, and an overall message for the brands he works with and their respective catalogues of products. For Venida, bringing various elements of a brand together to create a sense of coherence is what most unsuccessful campaigns lack, yet fortunately, he has a knack for doing so. He knows how to make a good brand great and more importantly, identifiable. Capitalizing on his proficient verbal and written communication skills, Venida leverages his talents from an angle that differentiates him from most other creative directors. Ultimately, where some creative directors see obstacles, Venida sees opportunities and for this reason, he has earned himself a reputation in his industry. With that, he has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands, spreading his creativity across the globe and showing his clients, time and time again, just what makes him so unique at his craft.

“My strong suit is communication through written words. A lot of creative directors come from the background of graphic design and art direction. Though I have those skills as well, I try to see beyond the typical advertising nuances and really understand what a brand is trying to say with words, feelings, and intuitions. What this normally looks like is a deep learning session, or as I like to call it, brand meditation. Sometimes my clients will come up against walls, or blocks because they think they know what they want to communicate, but the reality may be much deeper, or in another creative direction entirely. Once we get to the essence of the brand the real fun begins and that is where my background in writing becomes useful. I use deep research to discover where the alignment is between what clients have to offer and what different segments of the community is searching for,” he shared.

His ability to identify such an alignment is one of Venida’s signature qualities. He is well known in the industry after having successfully collaborated with brands like Herschel, Native Shoes, and more. He is a jack of all trades — whether that be writing campaigns, developing look-books, establishing a company’s online presence, and much, much more. For the majority of the projects he has worked on in the past, Venida has been approached because of his reputation and his strong standing with previous clients; however, certain times, Venida hears about a potential opportunity that fits his skill set and finds out how he can get involved. Such was the case when Venida found out about DUER Denim prior to the launch of their concept store in Vancouver.

Dubbing themselves “crazy comfortable and seriously stylish,” DUER Denim began in 2013 when an entrepreneur decided he wanted to bridge the gap between fashion and functional clothing. With 25 years of experience making jeans for big names like Levi Strauss and a new love of cycling, founder Gary Lenett spotted an opportunity for purposeful fashion that didn’t yet exist on the market. He partnered with Abid Hafeezt and together, they birthed DUER. When Venida learned of the company, he knew he had to become a part of their creative strategy and leveraged his networking skills to meet with Lenett and the company’s Director of Marketing. To his avail, they had already heard of his work with Easy Tiger Goods in Toronto, Ontario and with Herschel Supply Co. He managed to secure a follow up meeting with them and the rest is history.

“I first worked with Jeff when I retained him and his company, Paradam, to launch our entirely new DUER women’s collection. This consisted of a series of photoshoots, brand development writing, a comprehensive blog strategy, and an introductory brand campaign across our web and social media platforms. He managed and collaborated with our in house team, as well as a freelance photographer, professional models, writers, and more. His work was truly top-notch, finding our brand’s voice and showing our customers what we had to offer. He got our message across in an authentic aesthetic with vigor, but without being overbearing. All in all, Jeff’s leadership on the campaign was fantastic. His work is the absolute gold standard and we were all very happy to have had him influence the success of our company,” told Lenett, Founder.

Venida’s work with DEUR Denim proved to be invaluable on both a personal and professional level. Knowing that the company’s ethos aligned with his creative agency, Paradam's, purpose of remaining true to conscious consumerism helped solidify that this was a step in the right direction for his career and his own brand. He quickly realized that the minds behind the company’s products endeavor to not only live the life they truly wish to live, but also to inspire others to do so. It motivated him to evaluate his own life in the same light and to ensure that all of the branding materials he produced were in accordance with such a compelling philosophy. In addition, he knew that the tone for the women’s line would have to be entirely exclusive from the men’s line, without sacrificing any of the company’s signature elements. He conducted heavy research and worked tirelessly until he was sure that he had developed the best possible approach to the line.

Prior to joining the project, DUER’s plan was to repeat the same creative direction they had taken their men’s line in; however, Venida made it clear that with a new audience, they couldn’t afford to repeat the same perspective. They needed something fresh and something that spoke to their new market. This ended up being one of the defining decisions that made Venida lucrative to the entire process. Without his contributions, it is difficult to say whether DEUR’s women’s line would have been the true success that it was and still is today.

To others looking to find success and fulfillment in the world of creative direction, Venida had the following advice to offer:

“I don’t think there is one clear path to becoming a successful professional in the marketing sector. I do, however, think it is important to stay up-to-speed and relevant on cultural trends. It’s also so important to exercise your imagination — don’t get too hung up on KPIs and USPs. Above all else, I think you need to stay curious and tapped into what younger generations are doing. Don’t be afraid to push the envelope and think about how tools like social media and email marketing can be expanded, instead of trying to make your ideas fit within those digital confines. Just think about what the world needs and do your best to offer that.”

Written by Sara Fowler