Shikatani Lacroix

What Shikatani Lacroix does

Shikatani Lacroix Design (SLD) is a Toronto-headquartered strategic design agency founded in 1990 with a secondary office in Shanghai, serving enterprise clients across seven verticals: Financial Services, Food Service, CPG, Health & Wellness, Corporate, Retail, and Telco. The firm's core offering is built around its proprietary 'Blink Factor' methodology and the ThinkBlink Manifesto — a framework that measures a brand's ability to create an immediate emotional connection with consumers within seconds of visual or experiential contact. Underpinning the consulting practice is a portfolio of proprietary research products, including the annual ThinkBlink Studies (with the 2026 edition surveying 300+ foodservice executives and consumers) and the ROX (Return on Experience) framework, which surveys 600+ senior managers and 1,600+ customers to link experience metrics to business performance.

Service lines include Brand Strategy & Transformation, Retail & Environmental Design, Digital Experience Design, and Packaging Design, delivered through project-based or retainer engagements with senior strategy and creative leadership embedded in pitches. The firm supplements its professional services revenue with thought-leadership monetization: the published ThinkBlink Manifesto book, The Next Signal newsletter, the Think Retail podcast, gated white papers, hosted webinars, and speaking engagements at industry conferences such as RetailSpaces and RestaurantSpaces. GTM motion is consultative and relationship-driven, relying on direct enterprise outreach, inbound from proprietary research, and a dedicated client portal (teamclient.sld.com).

The business is bootstrapped, founder/management-owned, and operates as a private Canadian corporation (Shikatani Lacroix Design Inc.) with no disclosed institutional investment, M&A activity, or funding rounds. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Supporting technology infrastructure includes HubSpot for marketing automation and CRM, and Google Analytics for website traffic reporting. The firm self-identifies as an award-winning design agency with a dedicated /awards/ page and maintains an active presence across LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and a Chinese-language site at sld.cn.

Name

Shikatani Lacroix

Legal name

Shikatani Lacroix Design Inc.

Website

https://sld.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Shikatani Lacroix Design is a Toronto-based strategic design agency serving enterprise clients across Financial Services, Food Service, CPG, Health & Wellness, Corporate, Retail, and Telco, delivering brand strategy, retail design, packaging, and digital experience work via its proprietary Blink Factor methodology.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Brand Strategy & Design Services

NAICS

Graphic Design Services (541430), Interior Design Services (541410)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Brand Experience (BX) & Service Design (BPAFAEAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Exhibition, Retail & Experiential Design (BPAHAKAL), Graphic Design & Visual Content Production (BPAFAIAC), Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB)

Keywords

• Brand strategy consulting
• Retail design services
• Packaging design
• Customer experience design
• Brand identity design

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Brand Strategy & Consulting: SLD provides strategic brand consulting engagements, helping clients define brand positioning, emotional connection strategies, and transformation roadmaps. These are typically project-based or retainer engagements with enterprise clients.
2. Retail & Environmental Design: SLD designs physical retail environments, flagship stores, and branded spaces for clients across financial services, telecom, food service, and retail. Revenue is generated through design project fees, which may include concept development, schematic design, and rollout guidance.
3. Research & White Paper Publications: SLD produces proprietary research reports (ThinkBlink Studies, ROX studies) and white papers that serve as lead generation tools for their consulting practice. While some content is free, premium reports likely drive client acquisition.
4. Speaking Engagements & Events: SLD team members deliver speaking engagements at industry conferences (e.g., RetailSpaces 2026, RestaurantSpaces 2025), podcasts, and webinars, which serve as both thought leadership and client acquisition mechanisms.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels13 records

Core offering

Shikatani Lacroix Design is a brand experience and design consultancy that helps enterprise clients build immediate, emotionally resonant connections with consumers. The firm delivers Brand Strategy & Transformation, Retail Design, Digital Experience Design, and Packaging Design engagements organized around its proprietary 'Blink Factor' methodology, supported by annual ThinkBlink Studies, the ROX (Return on Experience) framework, and the published ThinkBlink Manifesto. Services span seven verticals: Financial Services, Food Service, CPG, Health & Wellness, Corporate, Retail, and Telco.

Product overview

Shikatani Lacroix Design (SLD) is a brand experience and design consultancy operating as a single integrated service offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The company's portfolio centers on the proprietary 'ThinkBlink' methodology for measuring and creating emotional brand connections. Core services include Brand Strategy & Transformation, Retail Design, Digital Experience Design, and Packaging Design — delivered across six vertical markets: Financial Services, Retail, CPG, Food Service, Health & Wellness, Corporate, and Telco. The company supplements its consulting services with proprietary research products (ThinkBlink Studies, ROX studies) and published thought leadership including the ThinkBlink Manifesto book, white papers, podcasts, and webinars. The Blink Factor Framework underpins all engagements, with deliverables including brand guidelines, physical environment designs, digital experiences, and packaging systems.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brand Strategy & Transformation Services Strategic consulting engagements helping enterprise brands define positioning, emotional-connection strategies, and transformation roadmaps using SLD's proprietary Blink Factor methodology. Delivered as project or retainer-based engagements for clients across Financial Services, Food Service, CPG, Health & Wellness, Corporate, Retail, and Telco verticals.
• Retail Design Design of physical retail environments including flagship stores, experience centers, branch environments, and franchise locations. Engagements span concept development, schematic design, and rollout guidance for enterprise clients such as Boston Pizza, The Chopped Leaf, Flow, and Progresif.
• Digital Experience Design Design of websites, digital signage, and omni-channel experience strategy that extends brand identity across digital touchpoints. Engagements include AI-guided retail journey design and digital tools such as interactive tablets for telecom retail environments.
• Packaging Design Consumer packaged goods packaging design and brand identity systems for products across food, beverage, and consumer goods sectors. Includes brand and packaging refresh work aimed at repositioning categories (e.g., iÖGO Nano Bubbles for Gen Alpha) and shelf stand-out optimization using the Blink Factor framework.
• ThinkBlink Studies (Proprietary Research) Proprietary annual consumer research studies applying the ThinkBlink Framework to measure and benchmark emotional brand connections across industries including foodservice, banking, telecom, and retail. Provides client engagements with evidence-based benchmark data drawn from hundreds of executives and consumers annually.
• Return on Experience (ROX) Research Research framework and dataset connecting customer and employee satisfaction to business performance, examining how organizations measure experiential metrics. ROX research surveyed over 600 senior managers and 1,600 customers across financial services, banking, retail, and telecom sectors.

Quantifiable outcome

• 61% of consumers can draw their favorite burger chain's logo from memory; 71% easily associate their preferred brand with a specific color; 43% can spot a specific food chain from a distance — yet only 25% feel a brand's visual identity matches their emotional experience (from SLD's 2026 ThinkBlink Foodservices Study)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• MapleWavecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSLD and MapleWave collaborated on the Progresif Experience Store project in Brunei, where SLD led brand experience and retail design while MapleWave contributed its expertise in telecom transformation and retail technology. The partnership demonstrates SLD's ability to co-develop integrated retail solutions combining brand strategy, environmental design, and technology implementation for telecom clients seeking community-first experience transformations.
• HubSpotsupportingTechnology or IntegrationSLD uses HubSpot as its marketing automation, CRM, form management, and email marketing platform. HubSpot tracks form submissions, web sessions, page visits, email engagement (opens, clicks), and provides location/company-based visitor reports. SLD uses HubSpot to manage subscriber lists, send marketing emails, automate nurture sequences, and support sales team in managing prospect and customer relationships. HubSpot CRM stores prospect and customer data for new business opportunities and existing client management.
• Google AnalyticssupportingTechnology or IntegrationSLD uses Google Analytics to track and report website traffic. Google Analytics collects IP addresses and usage data to generate traffic and usage reports, with data shared with other Google services for ad personalization. SLD participates in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework for data transfers from EEA, UK, and Switzerland to the United States.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Lippincott: Brand strategy and design firm focused on brand identity, customer experience, and signature research for Fortune 500 clients. Comparable to SLD in intellectual-property-led positioning and enterprise B2B model, with stronger Wall Street sector orientation.
• Chute Gerdeman: Retail experience design agency focused on store design, shopper insights, and brand activation for retail and CPG clients. Strong overlap with SLD's retail design practice and similar foodservice and consumer brand verticals.
• Interbrand: Global brand strategy and design consultancy delivering brand positioning, naming, visual identity, and experience design to enterprise clients. Closely comparable to SLD's strategy-plus-execution model and similar emphasis on proprietary brand valuation methodology.
• Siegel+Gale: Brand strategy, experience design, and simplification consultancy with proprietary research assets. Comparable to SLD in the strategy-plus-experience design stack and enterprise go-to-market, though more emphasis on digital and naming engagements.
• King Retail Solutions: Retail design and brand environment firm specializing in store concept, fixture design, and brand experience for specialty retail and CPG. Comparable to SLD in physical retail environment design delivery and enterprise client orientation.
• FutureBrand: Global brand consultancy with expertise in brand strategy, retail design, packaging, and experience design. Direct peer in vertical breadth and service mix, with comparable emphasis on emotional connection as a brand outcome.
• Landor & Fitch: Global brand consulting and design firm offering brand strategy, retail and environment design, and packaging across multiple verticals. Directly comparable to SLD in offering, vertical breadth, and enterprise target market, but with significantly larger scale and global office footprint.
• WD Partners: Retail strategy and design consultancy focused on store experience, format innovation, and omnichannel for retail and restaurant operators. Directly comparable to SLD's retail environment design work, especially in foodservice and convenience retail.
• MetaDesign: International brand and experience design agency with offices in Europe, Asia, and the US. Comparable to SLD in offering brand identity, environmental design, and digital experience for enterprise clients across multiple sectors.
• CBX: Retail and consumer brand design agency specializing in retail environments, packaging, and brand strategy for CPG and grocery clients. Most comparable to SLD's retail + CPG packaging work and similar mid-sized US-headquartered agency profile.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sldnews
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCOg_hI4Q7CyvMNY6_EHRV-Q
• Facebookfacebook.com/ShikataniLacroixDesign
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/shikatani-lacroix-design
• Instagraminstagram.com/shikatanilacroixdesign

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shikatani Lacroix