The Strength Agenda Weightlifting
Branding • Consulting
The Strength Agenda started as online weightlifting programming and nutrition with Tom Sroka (3x Shotput College All-American, olympic weightlifter) and his kickass wife Beth. I initially got to work with the Sroka's early on at this point doing some initial branding. Together they built their strong group into thousands of followers, quickly transforming into a thriving business model.
While the branding and identity process is never a smooth and easy path, the initial process with this identity was especially difficult. Initially, The Strength Agenda was built on strictly nutrition and online weightlifting programming with the tagline "Feeding body and brain", so the initial concepts fed (pun intended) on that metaphor. Many times, I felt we were drastically close, but just barely missing the mark. There were numerous concepts that were iterated upon, yielding an absolute ton of process work.
I wasn't kidding about the massive process work. So many extensive explorations and forays into different looks. Absolutely worth all of the work above to get to the refined, focused look we settled on though (even if my head was beat against the wall pretty solidly in this phase of my process)
Kudos to Beth and Tom at this point, as their beneficial critiques, high standards, and understanding of what they wanted helped to push towards a definable mark that finally shook loose. It was at this point that the concept for the "kettlebrain" derived from sketches and variations of other concepts. At this point, we finalized on the mark and built out the system.
In these earlier versions, I had tried to put more of a face in the kettlebrain; however, it was dulled down in final versions as it just made me see Krang from TMNT and didn't seem fitting.
Not even a year later I received killer news from Beth & Tom. Business was so great and in demand that they were finally able to obtain the dream of running their own strength and conditioning facility, expanding upon their existing Strength Agenda model. Our goal was to extend and transform their pre-existing brand into this new facility.
Exploration with tweaking color palettes and subtitle variations requested. Also built out on an existing alternate mark for their competition weightlifting team. Seen on singlet uniforms, platforms, and weightlifting meet banners.
"I appreciate it man. I really do. Your work is impeccable and folks always notice it.
These next revamps I want on the biggest mural we can put together"
Tom Sroka, Co-owner
We kept the form and typography very similar, but made shift to a navy/gold color scheme, which exuded a collegiate/professional feel to many users viewing the logo. This was intended, as their strength and conditioning facility was slated to have in-house masseuse and recovery/PT, and professional level locker rooms (that mimicked swanky NCAA & NFL vibes). This gave these elite level weightlifters the full professional experience and we wanted to mirror that in this elite, subtle brand.
Other business card iterations and ideas in the process
Tough to see here, but the spot gloss hits on the pattern on the back and kettlebrain on the front set it off entirely. Cue design nerd freak out.
Tom & Beth are currently crushing it at their facility servicing the greater Chicago area and handling online training and programming. Learn more about The Strength Agenda and what they do online and through their Instagram and Facebook. If you're in the area, feel free to reach out and get a workout in, even though they're strong as hell, they're super approachable and eager to help out.
