Escaping the PDF era

Totem Agency works at the intersection of brand and digital. Based in the UK, the team partners with global clients to build identity systems that last and flex. 

Totem first used Frontify in 2021: It wasn’t a planned shift but a client need that had to be met.

Once the team saw the benefits of a dynamic, interactive brand portal, it changed their whole approach to brand management.

“This experience made us realize how poor traditional PDF-based experiences were and how much value Frontify could offer for our clients.”

_{— Bill Pugh, Founder of Totem Agency}

Totem saw an opportunity to take a new approach. Rather than treating brands as finished projects, they began managing them as ongoing systems.

Building brand portals that get used

Totem looked at several platforms before choosing Frontify. They needed something flexible and built for brands. Frontify’s design options, DAM features, and open-source setup gave the team creative freedom and stability for clients.

“Frontify was and still is the best solution on the market. As a creative agency, we needed a platform that can flex to meet the requirements of our clients.”

_{‍— Bill Pugh, Founder of Totem Agency}

Frontify’s DAM system became a key part of what Totem offers. The team created inspiration galleries and asset libraries for clients to use. With Frontify’s open-source tools, Totem could customize each portal to fit every client’s brand.

Templates added another dimension: By building out Frontify instances with a brand’s full visual IP, Totem discovered it was effectively creating a content engine. One where existing brand assets could be activated to generate new material consistently and at scale.

Meanwhile, a shift was emerging in how brand guidelines themselves were being conceived. With attention spans shorter than ever, Totem began rethinking the format entirely.

“A 15-second video showcasing logo use can be much more effective and engaging for users than pages of instructional content.”  _‍

_{— Claire Dacre, Creative Director at Totem Agency}

The result: Brand portals that actually communicate guidelines rather than just store them.

A new kind of agency relationship

By becoming a Certified Frontify Service Partner, Totem was able to offer more services and enhance its position in the market.

Brands now expect ongoing partnership and real-time responsiveness. Frontify supports Totem to deliver on these expectations.

“Gone are the days of delivering brand identity and moving on to the next project. Brands expect more, and with Frontify, we’ve found a partner who understands this shift.”

_{— Bill Pugh, Founder, Totem Agency}

The agency’s workflow has evolved accordingly. Totem integrates Frontify seamlessly alongside tools like Notion and Monday.com to manage complex, multi-stakeholder projects at scale. It’s a setup designed from the outset to service global brands without losing agility.

Totem worked with Skyscanner to build a central hub that connects brand work across teams:

"Totem helped us bring our brand world to life, creating a dynamic ecosystem that enables us to manage our brand from one central source of truth. It's already providing great value with high engagement across the business."

_{— Carla Sandhu, Director, Global Head of Design Operations at Skyscanner} 

Post-launch, the team remains closely involved, tracking how brand assets are performing, identifying gaps, and responding to new creative challenges as they emerge. Retained brand management is now a core service that didn’t exist before Frontify made it possible.

Measurable impact on brand performance

For Totem’s clients, switching to Frontify has delivered real, measurable results in an area that was previously hard to track.

“Brand is notoriously hard to quantify. But we’re finding there are real, tangible metrics. Creative teams can pull analytics for icon downloads or campaign assets and use that to assign budgets for new creative in an informed way.”

_{— Claire Dacre, Creative Director at Totem Agency
‍}

Now, brand investment decisions are based on data, not just instinct. The impact shows up across the agency’s operations and its clients’ outcomes:

• Deeper client relationships with ongoing engagement after launch, replacing the old hand-off approach
• New revenue streams from retained brand management, custom API, and integration work

The major trend shaping Totem’s roadmap is one the agency is watching closely: AI. As clients increasingly look to automate content generation and activate their brand assets in new ways, Frontify’s integration features are positioning Totem at the forefront of what’s next.

“AI is a hot topic, and there’s a real appetite from our clients to onboard new tools to automate and generate. I see this accelerating into 2026, with integrations and APIs pushing what’s possible even further.” 

_{— Bill Pugh, Founder of Totem Agency
‍}

What’s next

Totem began with a single client brief in 2021. Since then, the team has shaped a brand strategy framework that adapts as the brand grows.

Now, Totem has built Librainian. It’s a metadata tool that uses AI to tag assets with context-aware details. Librainian connects with Frontify and lets brands set up custom metadata rules, making it easier to find and organize assets as they grow.

It's a clear signal of where the partnership is heading: deeper integrations, smarter automation, and tools that move brand management from manual upkeep to intelligent infrastructure.

“We have a fantastic relationship with Frontify, and are very proud to be part of a vibrant brand community.” 

_{— Bill Pugh, Founder, Totem Agency}