Questions,
straight answers
What we get asked before a project starts, answered without detours. If your question isn't here, write to us: we'll add it.
About SK/Branders
What is SK/Branders and what does it do?
SK/Branders is a branding, strategy and experience studio headquartered in Buenos Aires with operations in Miami (GDS Branding LLC). It designs brands, identity systems, customer experiences, campaigns and business-intelligence tools for franchises, chains and companies of high operational complexity across Latin America and the United States. It was founded by Diego Schapsis in 2001 and has been led together with Florencia Kahanoff since 2022.
What is Fresh Experience®?
Fresh Experience® is SK/Branders' working methodology: combining more than twenty years of branding experience with teams of young professionals who bring a vision of the future. In practice it means every project is decided with data and the memory of what has worked, but executed with today's tools, languages and channels. It is a registered trademark of the studio.
Which countries do you work in?
We work across Latin America and the United States. We have cases in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Guatemala, the Caribbean, the United States, Canada and France, for clients such as LATAM Airlines, Subway, Gong cha, Mastercard, ESPN and Lesaffre. We operate in Spanish and English and invoice from Argentina or the United States, whichever suits the client.
What is SK/Developers?
SK/Developers is SK/Branders' technology unit (developers.skbranders.com). It builds custom tools for our clients' operations: data dashboards, automations, websites, AI prototypes and assistants with their own identity, such as the Humanizing Technology case.
Branding and franchises
What is franchise branding?
It means designing a brand so that hundreds of people who were never in the room where it was created can execute it: franchisees, store managers, local suppliers. It includes the visual identity, but above all the system: menus, product campaigns, point-of-sale materials, operating manuals and clear rules on what can be adapted in each country and what cannot. We did it for Subway in Chile, Uruguay and the Southern Cone and for Gong cha in Puerto Rico, and we also work with franchises in Peru, Bolivia, Aruba and Guatemala.
How do you adapt a global brand to a Latin American market?
First you separate the untouchable (logo, colours, promise) from the adaptable (tone, humour, local references, products, prices). Then you translate the system, not just the copy: a product name that works in Chile may not work in Uruguay. We work with local marketing teams and with headquarters so every piece passes both filters. For Subway we named more than 40 products in 3 countries with this method.
What is the difference between branding and visual identity?
Visual identity is what you see: logo, typography, colour, graphic system. Branding is everything that makes that identity mean something: positioning, tone, behaviour, in-store experience, how the brand responds when something goes wrong. A good logo without branding is a drawing; branding without a visual system cannot be operated. At SK/Branders we do both and document them as an operating system.
When is a rebrand needed and when is a refresh enough?
A rebrand when the business changes: new audience, merger, expansion into another country, a name that no longer describes what you sell. A refresh when the business is fine but the brand has aged: typography, colour, digital system, tone. Most rebranding requests we receive are actually refreshes with a system problem. We diagnose it in the first meeting before quoting.
Do you do naming?
Yes. Brand and product naming, with availability checks in the countries where it will be used. We named Milanga Time from scratch and more than 40 products for Subway in Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, including the sandwich series named after films. We deliver 3 to 5 final options with rationale, pronunciation and domain and social-handle checks.
How we work
What does a brand project process look like?
Four stages: diagnosis (interviews, data, audit of what exists), strategy (positioning, architecture, naming if needed), design (identity and system, with prototypes in real context) and implementation (manuals, templates, training for the team and suppliers). Each stage closes with an approved deliverable before moving to the next. We don't present three logos to choose from: we present one grounded solution and adjust it together.
How long does a branding project take?
An identity refresh, 4 to 8 weeks. Full branding for a company or franchise, 3 to 5 months, depending on how many countries and touchpoints need solving. A campaign or a naming, 2 to 6 weeks. Timelines depend mostly on the client's approval speed; that's why we set a decision calendar at the start.
How do you quote and how much does a rebrand cost?
We quote per closed project, not by the hour, after a free diagnostic meeting. The price depends on three variables: scope (identity alone or full system), number of markets and touchpoints, and required speed. We send a proposal with stages, deliverables and payment schedule; for long projects we split into phases so the client can start with the most urgent one. We can invoice in Argentina or in the United States.
Do you work remotely with companies outside Argentina?
Yes, most of our clients are outside Buenos Aires: Chile, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, the United States, Canada and France. We work with weekly video meetings, a shared progress board and cloud deliveries. When the project requires it (manufacturing, installation, audiovisual production) we travel or coordinate verified local suppliers.
What do you deliver at the end of a project?
Source and working files (logos in every format, licensed typefaces, palette), an operational brand manual with rules and examples, ready-to-use templates (presentations, social media, stationery, menus or store pieces depending on the case) and a training session for the team and suppliers. Everything stays in a shared folder with permanent access.
Do you sign confidentiality agreements?
Yes, we sign NDAs before receiving sensitive information and we never publish a case without the client's written authorisation. Several of our largest projects are not on the site for that reason. Our Code of Ethics and Privacy Policy are published on the About page.
Experience, product and data
Do you do industrial design as well as branding?
Yes. When the brand's problem sits at a counter or in a delay, the answer stops being graphic and becomes an object. For LATAM Airlines we designed and manufactured totems and accessories for check-in and boarding, and a wireless digital scale for Self Bag Drop, adapted to Ezeiza and Aeroparque. We solve everything from ergonomics to international manufacturing cost.
What is business intelligence applied to a brand?
It means turning the data the company already has (sales, contacts, campaigns, mailings) into dashboards and reports every level of the organisation can read and use to decide, from the field operator to the holding's owner. For Zorraquín + Meneses we reformulated the lead generation and management strategy from the numbers in their own database; for Gong cha we built campaign performance reports.
Do you do audiovisual production and photography?
Yes, with our own crew. Concept, script, direction, product photography and video, campaigns and books. All the material is born inside the studio, so what was conceived is what goes on air. Cases: the cinema-quality film for Subway, the Mastercard and ESPN campaigns, the Güerrín and Música para el Alma photobooks, and the Pet Friendly video for LATAM.
Do you work with artificial intelligence?
In two ways. We design the identity of AI products (name, face, voice, character) so they get adopted rather than tolerated, as in Humanizing Technology. And we use AI inside the studio for data analysis, prototypes and production, always with human review and without feeding confidential client information into external tools.
Choosing a studio
Studio, agency or freelancer: which is right for a franchise?
A freelancer solves pieces; an agency solves high-volume campaigns; a studio like ours solves systems: the brand, how it operates in every store and how it's measured. For a franchise opening stores in several countries, the risk is not the logo but inconsistency. A small senior team that understands the operation and documents everything so others can execute it is the right fit. The table below sums it up.
Which sectors do you know best?
Food and restaurant franchises (Subway, Gong cha, Milanga Time, Güerrín), airlines and airports (LATAM), financial services (Mastercard), agribusiness (Zorraquín + Meneses, Agrauxine by Lesaffre), media and sport (ESPN), furniture (Impronta) and publishing. The common denominator is operational complexity: many touchpoints and many hands executing.
How do we start a project with you?
Write to [email protected] or via WhatsApp. We schedule a free 45-minute diagnostic meeting where we understand the business and the problem. Within a week we send a proposal with scope, stages, timelines and price. If you approve it, we start with the in-depth diagnosis.
Studio, agency or freelancer
| Freelancer | Agency | Studio (SK/Branders) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solves | Pieces | Campaigns and volume | Brand and operating systems |
| Team | One person | Many profiles, rotation | Small, senior, stable |
| Best for | One-off projects | Media and ongoing production | Franchises, chains, regional expansion |
| Documentation | Minimal | Per campaign | Operating manual so others can execute |
| Data and measurement | Rarely included | Campaign metrics | Dashboards and reports per level |
| Countries | One | Depends on offices | LATAM and USA with local suppliers |
SK/Branders glossary
- Fresh Experience®
- SK/Branders' methodology: more than twenty years of experience combined with young teams with a vision of the future. Decisions with memory, execution with today's tools.
- Branding 360
- A project covering every touchpoint of a brand: identity, store, digital, packaging, campaigns and operating manual, designed as a single system.
- Human UX
- Design of the experience where the brand meets the physical operation: signage, counters, objects and custom hardware. LATAM Airlines cases.
- Growth 360
- Growth strategy uniting brand, website, content, email marketing and data, measured end to end. Impronta and Zorraquín + Meneses cases.
- Identidad que resiste la operación
- The studio's principle: a brand is tested the day it is executed by someone who was never in the room, with a local supplier and a commercial deadline on top.
- Sistema operativo de marca
- How we document an identity: rules, templates and examples so any franchisee or supplier applies it the same way, instead of a catalogue of applications.
- SK/Developers
- SK/Branders' technology unit: dashboards, automations, websites and AI prototypes for clients' operations.