Turning Ideas Into Reality
At Block Club, we’re not only brand strategists, we’re also entrepreneurs.
That’s why we created Block Club Labs—an in-house ideas incubator designed to foster, bring to life, and make profitable (when appropriate) the various and spontaneous designs, brainchildren, and imaginings of our award-winning team. It’s a side commitment to creative and entrepreneurial exploration that fuels our continuous development, making us better thinkers and doers for our clients.
Block Club Labs projects are developed and executed with the same thoughtfulness and passion that has earned Block Club top branding and brand strategy agency accolades around the world. Block Club Labs also offers full-scale development consulting to clients looking to launch their own business ventures.
Oxford Pennant
One well-known business to grow out of Labs is Oxford Pennant—a wildly successful designer and manufacturer of pennants, flags, and banners inspired by American sports traditions, all made exclusively in the USA. Oxford Pennant was founded in 2013 by Dave Horesh, a partner at Block Club, and his business partner, Brett Mikoll, who grew it from a cottage industry into a bustling online store and retail shop with fans around the world. Oxford Pennant counts J. Crew, Adidas, Facebook, and Google among its many customers.
Working so closely with Oxford Pennant (not only do we share leadership, we share office space) puts us in close contact with some of the most cutting-edge and practical consumer branding and business maneuvers, affording us insights and inspiration that we love to pass on to our clients.
Residency Program
We credit our success to our global perspective. We foster it through our Residency Program, which sends every Block Club employee to a non-U.S city of their choosing for an extended business and cultural immersion.
During their six- to eight-week stay, employees meet with foreign creative agencies; learn about local art, design, and business; and grow acclimated to a new way of life—all while working remotely. When they return, they come ready to infuse the work they produce for our clients with innovative practices and fresh methodologies. Since launching in 2016, the Residency Program has sent team members to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Florence, London, Mexico City, and Naples.
Block Club Magazine
Now retired, Block Club magazine was founded in 2007—an important time in the rebirth of Buffalo, New York, our founders’ post-industrial hometown. The free, bimonthly publication told stories of the people, businesses, and organizations that were working hard to make the city a better place to live, work, and do business. In total, we published 40 issues and published and distributed more than a million copies in Buffalo and throughout the Rust Belt. The storytelling chops developed throughout the lifespan of the magazine are alive in Block Club’s work today.
Loupe
Likewise retired, Loupe was a customer loyalty marketing company for the food service industry. Building on Block Club’s “local first” values, Loupe helped independently owned restaurants attract and retain customers. At its peak, Loupe worked with more than 500 restaurants in 15 cities throughout the United States. It was part of startup accelerator Z80 Labs and raised nearly $3 million in angel investment.
