Unison Agency
Encyclopedia
Unison Agency is a global brand
communications agency with headquarters in Washington, D.C.
.
. Unison is most noted for its 2004 “Bahrain
: Gateway to the Gulf” (http://www.bahraingateway.org) campaign in support of the ultimately successful United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (USBFTA). Major international clients include The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
, United States Green Building Council
(USGBC), Qatar Foundation
– United States, United Nations Foundation
, The German Marshall Fund
, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bahrain
), Contrack International (Orascom North America), Environment Agency
(Abu Dhabi
), UN General Assembly, US-UAE Business Council, The New Republic
, DuPont Fabros Technology, US-Jordan
Business Alliance, Diligence, and many others.
Talvik and Fardi met while working at another Washington interactive agency. Fardi had worked previously for Accenture
; Talvik with Internet integrator Scient
/iXL (interactive agency)
among others.
From the beginning, Unison worked under the tagline “Good clean design.” which captured the company’s early reputation as a design firm with minimalist sensibilities. Later, as the company grew, that tagline gave way to “Experience. Design.” (Experience design
) to emphasize the broader palette of services the company now offers, particularly interactive design and ecommerce.
Unison has a history of working with local, national and international clients. These include District of Columbia Public Library
, Museum of Arts & Design, Morgan Stanley
, AstraZeneca
, Smithsonian Institution
, and the Middle East International Film Festival
.
: Gateway to the Gulf” campaign, the redesigned logo and website of the Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
, a renewed brand identity for DuPont Fabros Technologies prior to that company’s initial public offering, and the teamwork-inspired, oars-in-the-water identity for Bank of Georgetown
.
In 2008, Sweetgreen, a health conscious and environmentally friendly restaurant whose brand identity was designed by Unison, won the A.R.E. (Association for Retail
Environments) Design Awards.
(http://www.goldtoemoretz.com), and non-profit foundation Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
(http://www.theglobalfight.org).
Unison has created and markets its own Content Management System
known as Fuseon that allows clients the ability to easily manage their own content once the sites have gone live.
, LNG Producer Consumer Summit, GoodWorks International, the Sullivan Foundation
Tanzania
Summit, and the cross-cultural ideas exchange at the Doha Debates
.
Most recently in 2009, Unison was involved with multi-lingual media relations at the Middle East International Film Festival
Abu Dhabi
(MEIFF), devising the "A crossroads of cinema" theme http://www.radiotunisienne.tn/file/pdf/fri16_kcr_english.pdf along with other print and media buy.
. Andrew Myers studied film at New York University
. Unison gained notoriety for a career retrospective short-form documentary on the life of Gerald Cassidy
, of Cassidy & Associates
, the man credited with reshaping the concept of private lobbying in Washington, DC.
. Creative Director Julius Talvik is a known DJ in the Washington music scene, Account Executive Hamod Abu-Eid studied music at Juilliard, and audio branding specialist Shahin Shahida is a top-selling world music artist.
and U.S. students.
section of Washington, DC and at the Tribeca Film Center headquarters in Manhattan
.
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
communications agency with headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
History
Unison was founded in 2003 by President Robert Fardi and Creative Director R. Julius Talvik. The agency’s main focus is cross-cultural international branding and communications, with a specialization in the Middle EastMiddle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. Unison is most noted for its 2004 “Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
: Gateway to the Gulf” (http://www.bahraingateway.org) campaign in support of the ultimately successful United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (USBFTA). Major international clients include The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an international financing organization that aims to "[a]ttract and disburse additional resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria." A public–private partnership, the organization has its secretariat in Geneva,...
, United States Green Building Council
United States Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council , co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built, and operated...
(USGBC), Qatar Foundation
Qatar Foundation
Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development is a government-funded, chartered, non-profit organization in the state of Qatar, founded in 1995 by decree of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar and chaired by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned...
– United States, United Nations Foundation
United Nations Foundation
The United Nations Foundation started up in 1998 with a $1 billion grant from Ted Turner in order to support the United Nations in executing its programs worldwide. The creation of the Foundation was intended to encourage other donors to also support the UN in its activities...
, The German Marshall Fund
German Marshall Fund
The German Marshall Fund of the United States is a nonpartisan American public policy and grantmaking institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between North America and Europe....
, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
), Contrack International (Orascom North America), Environment Agency
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
(Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
), UN General Assembly, US-UAE Business Council, The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, DuPont Fabros Technology, US-Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
Business Alliance, Diligence, and many others.
Talvik and Fardi met while working at another Washington interactive agency. Fardi had worked previously for Accenture
Accenture
Accenture plc is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the largest consulting firm in the world and is a Fortune Global 500 company. As of September 2011, the company had more than 236,000 employees across...
; Talvik with Internet integrator Scient
Scient
Scient was a San Francisco-based Internet consulting company, founded in 1997, that was one of the large American consulting firms during the dot-com bubble. The company was founded by Eric Greenberg, who had previously founded its competitor, Viant. Its CEO was Robert Howe, the former head of IBM...
/iXL (interactive agency)
IXL (interactive agency)
iXL Enterprises is a failed international interactive agency that lasted from 1996 until 2002. The company was founded by Atlanta entrepreneur Bert Ellis, who also served as the company's chairman and CEO...
among others.
From the beginning, Unison worked under the tagline “Good clean design.” which captured the company’s early reputation as a design firm with minimalist sensibilities. Later, as the company grew, that tagline gave way to “Experience. Design.” (Experience design
Experience design
Experience design is the practice of designing products, processes, services, events, and environments with a focus placed on the quality of the user experience and culturally relevant solutions, with less emphasis placed on increasing and improving functionality of the design...
) to emphasize the broader palette of services the company now offers, particularly interactive design and ecommerce.
Unison has a history of working with local, national and international clients. These include District of Columbia Public Library
District of Columbia Public Library
The District of Columbia Public Library is the public library system for residents of Washington, D.C. The system includes 25 individual libraries including Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library .-History:...
, Museum of Arts & Design, Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
, AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca plc is a global pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's seventh-largest pharmaceutical company measured by revenues and has operations in over 100 countries...
, Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, and the Middle East International Film Festival
Middle East International Film Festival
Abu Dhabi Film Festival is an international film festival. Created in 2007, the ceremony is held annually in October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage , under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of the ADACH...
.
Brand strategy
Unison has developed a thriving brand strategy and identity practice built around its minimalist aesthetic and visual acuity. Prominent examples include the “BahrainBahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
: Gateway to the Gulf” campaign, the redesigned logo and website of the Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and expanding United States support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Founded in 2004 by Edward W. Scott, Adam Waldman and the late Jack Valenti, Friends...
, a renewed brand identity for DuPont Fabros Technologies prior to that company’s initial public offering, and the teamwork-inspired, oars-in-the-water identity for Bank of Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
.
In 2008, Sweetgreen, a health conscious and environmentally friendly restaurant whose brand identity was designed by Unison, won the A.R.E. (Association for Retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
Environments) Design Awards.
Interactive
Unison has established a reputation as a leading interactive agency crafting promotional websites and ecommerce platforms for clients as broad and as varied as confectioner Edward Marc Chocolatier (http://www.edwardmarc.com), top sock maker GoldToeMoretz making Gold Toe BrandsGold Toe Brands
Gold Toe Brands, Inc., is the third largest United States-based producer of socks. It makes more than half of the men's dress socks sold in department stores in the United States and produces more than 140 million pairs of socks annually...
(http://www.goldtoemoretz.com), and non-profit foundation Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and expanding United States support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Founded in 2004 by Edward W. Scott, Adam Waldman and the late Jack Valenti, Friends...
(http://www.theglobalfight.org).
Unison has created and markets its own Content Management System
Content management system
A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...
known as Fuseon that allows clients the ability to easily manage their own content once the sites have gone live.
Event management and public relations
Unison is noted for a multi-cultural, highly experienced international events management and public relations team. Events produced by Unison include a nationwide roadshow in promotion of the US-Bahrain Free Trade AgreementUS-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement
The United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement was signed September 14, 2004. It was ratified by the United States House of Representatives on December 7, 2005 by 327-95, with 10 not voting. The United States Senate approved the bill on December 13, 2005 by voice vote. The President of the United...
, LNG Producer Consumer Summit, GoodWorks International, the Sullivan Foundation
Sullivan Foundation
The Sullivan Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding, developing, and furthering the careers of promising opera singers within the United States. Founded in 1956 through the bequest of a prominent lawyer, William Matheus Sullivan, the foundation has awarded grants to close to...
Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
Summit, and the cross-cultural ideas exchange at the Doha Debates
Doha Debates
The Doha Debates are a forum for free speech in Qatar and tackle the region's most controversial and topical issues. They are sponsored by Qatar Foundation and their broadcasting rights are sold to BBC World News where they are aired monthly, eight times a year.In addition to BBC World News The...
.
Most recently in 2009, Unison was involved with multi-lingual media relations at the Middle East International Film Festival
Middle East International Film Festival
Abu Dhabi Film Festival is an international film festival. Created in 2007, the ceremony is held annually in October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage , under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of the ADACH...
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
(MEIFF), devising the "A crossroads of cinema" theme http://www.radiotunisienne.tn/file/pdf/fri16_kcr_english.pdf along with other print and media buy.
Film and television
Unison’s public relations specialist, Patrice Samara, is an Emmy Award-winning producer who works out of the offices of the Tribeca Film Center in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Andrew Myers studied film at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. Unison gained notoriety for a career retrospective short-form documentary on the life of Gerald Cassidy
Gerald Cassidy
Gerald "Gerry" Cassidy is a prominent lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He is the co-founder and CEO of Cassidy & Associates. He is a graduate of Villanova University and Cornell Law Gerald "Gerry" Cassidy is a prominent lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He is the co-founder and CEO of Cassidy &...
, of Cassidy & Associates
Cassidy & Associates
Cassidy & Associates is a government-relations firm based in Washington, D.C., known for pioneering the use of congressional earmarks as a method of obtaining grants for university clients. It was founded in 1975 as Schlossberg-Cassidy Associates by Gerald Cassidy and Kenneth Schlossberg, both...
, the man credited with reshaping the concept of private lobbying in Washington, DC.
Music
Unison is also involved outside the realm of design and brand, especially in music. Unison gained recognition for its work creating the website for Grammy-Award-winning duo Deep DishDeep Dish
Deep Dish is a duo of DJs and house-music producers consisting of Iranian-American members Ali "Dubfire" Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi. Based in Washington, D.C., Shirazinia and Tayebi are well known for providing house or dance remixes of tracks of famous stars such as Madonna, Cher and Gabrielle,...
. Creative Director Julius Talvik is a known DJ in the Washington music scene, Account Executive Hamod Abu-Eid studied music at Juilliard, and audio branding specialist Shahin Shahida is a top-selling world music artist.
Charity
Since its inception Unison has been active with charities that focus on youth and technology. Unison delivers low-cost and pro bono services to a number of organizations including The Many Hats Institute (http://www.themanyhats.org), Tomorrow’s Youth Organization (http://www.tomorrowsyouth.org), as well as specialized grants for international videoconferencing between AlgerianAlgeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
and U.S. students.
Offices
Unison has offices in the GeorgetownGeorgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
section of Washington, DC and at the Tribeca Film Center headquarters in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.