What it is
Vincent Hancock is an Olympic skeet shooter from Eatonton, Georgia, who served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. The final deck lists 4 Olympic golds and 55 total medals. It states the problem in one line. Being one of the most decorated athletes ever "is what he does. It's not who he is."
The decks carry the name Jasper Media, which the partners planned as the arm that would work with athletes. That plan is on hold. The team page lists Khounlavong for branding, Danny as agent, Nick Scavio for legal, Jesse Fowler and a trainer. Fowler held the relationship, through Jasper; the brand system is Khounlavong's. The Common Ground wiki records that Common Ground set the direction as sponsor-facing, not fan-facing, and that the studio built it while "the two went back and forth until the narrative held". In Khounlavong's account, all of the creative work was done under Lip Loi Creative, and Jasper Media was to be the name used when presenting Hancock to the market.
What Khounlavong did
- Set a four-phase framework on June 3, 2024: discovery, market research, strategy development and go-to-market. Logo, typeface and color came in the fourth phase.
- Wrote a deep-dive questionnaire of 23 questions in two parts, personal discovery and professional discovery. A recording of the deep-dive session is dated June 6, 2024.
- Wrote the positioning line, "A Champion for Greatness", and the mission: "to leave a lasting legacy of empowerment", with "zero gatekeeping".
- Named three pillars: unwavering self-belief, surgical focus and commitment to excellence. Under the heading "What he provides", the final deck attaches one titled session to each pillar. One of them is "Are you interested or are you committed?"
- Delivered version 1 on July 21, 2024, at 20 pages. The cover reads "A Lip Loi Creative Design" beside the Jasper Media name.
- Changed the spine of the deck for version 2, dated September 23, 2024. Version 1 ran on four questions: who he is, where he's going, how we get there, how we make it happen. Version 2 ran on who he serves, who he is, what he provides, how he makes it happen. The deck grew to 23 pages.
- Changed the palette. Version 1 was built on five greens. The final version made Olympic gold the key color, with varsity red, university blue and white as secondary colors. The stated reason: "Gold represents the champion he is and was always born to be."
- Chose Sofachrome as the primary typeface and gave the reason in writing: "Inspired by Formula 1, its track-like curves respects the pinnacle of racing." Montserrat was the secondary typeface, chosen for readability in text-heavy print.
- Built the logo system in September 2024. The logo files are dated September 18 to 27. A gold tag holding red, white and blue "pays homage to the country Vincent proudly represents".
- Moved the name on the brand from "Vinny" to "Vincent" between version 1 and the final version.
The changes between versions were made at Hancock's own request. The covers of versions 2 and 3 carry the Jasper Media name only.
Results
- A 23-page brand identity, version 3, dated October 14, 2024. The Common Ground wiki lists it among the studio's finished brand work.
- No performance result is documented, and none is claimed.
At a glance
| Project type | Athlete brand strategy and identity |
|---|---|
| Industry | Olympic sport, speaking and coaching |
| Seat | Principal, Brand, Product and Merchandising |
| Ran through | Common Ground |
| Worked with | Jesse Fowler, the relationship through Jasper; Danny, the agent; Nick Scavio |
| Dates | April to October 2024 |
| Related pages | Jimmy Khounlavong, Common Ground |
| Principal | Jimmy Khounlavong |