FAQs
How are you an ‘independent’ brand studio?
We’re independently owned - no parent company, no third-party shareholders, etc. This allows us to leverage our experience and use true autonomy at every turn. We think large agencies are excellent, but we are not one, and that is totally on-purpose. Our team is meant to have a direct hand in every client we bring through the door.
What’s with the name, Expo 86?
We landed on the name - Expo 86 Design Company - for a couple reasons. Our founder was born in 1986, and Death Cab For Cutie has a song we like by that name. Also, it’s worth noting, “expo” actually “a collection of things (goods or works of art, etc) for public display”. So we always thought that definition fit us perfectly.
How is a small team a good thing?
It’s actually a great thing. We have a small, synergized team by design. Our team LOVES the work. Being hands-on is in every job description we have. Instead of wasting time on internal approvals that slow down the creative process, even our principals are on the front lines doing the work because they love it.
What’s the studio’s history?
Expo 86 was launched in 2021 by our principal designer, Chad Sugg. Our home base is Murfreesboro, TN - just 20 mins south of Music City (Nashville). Speaking of, that’s where all of this started. Chad was a freelance designer for the better part of a decade as he toured the globe with a music career that happened thanks to none other than the first social network - Myspace. He used that experience in the music industry to propel the early days of Expo 86, and built the foundation for what we are today.
Our team is good at what we do, but not great with creative ideas. Can you help?
Yes, we can. We have extensive experience in ideation across many mediums. Whether it’s content, social-first, broadcast, OOH, consumer-facing, internal, the list goes on.
We’ve worked with designers before - are you good at communicating?
We pride ourselves on our soft skills, it’s actually literally in our own tagline: “Your friendly independent Brand Studio”. We think kindness and humility go a long way, even in business. Crazy idea, huh? We are comprised of humans, and understand we’re funnily enough working with other humans. The thing that makes brands great are the people behind them. We know that, and live by that.
How can you compete with a big name agency?
We’re not here to compete (unless if it’s at pinball). We think there’s a place for the big names and the small names, and we’re somewhere in between. We look at it like this: we’ve got the experience of a big agency with the flexibility that comes with a focused team. Our size is one of our superpowers, as it allows us to be agile in our workflow and exact with our execution of tackling problems at any scale.