our approach
“The best way to solve a problem is to intimately pull it apart.”
Bryan Stevenson
How we work
THE ETHIK MAP™
Aligning from the start
Choosing an agency is a big investment, so we want to make sure that our partnership feels like it’ll be a good fit for everyone before we get too far into the weeds.
That’s why we start every project by designing an ethik map™ together: a strategic blueprint that outlines your goals and expectations, along with our initial plan for achieving them.
If you love your ethik map and want us to become your agency, we’re in. But if our thinking misses the mark, or you decide that you’d rather take your next step elsewhere, we’ll respect that, too. Either way, the ethik map is yours to keep.
Ultimately, we’re here to support your journey, no matter how it comes to life. And if it doesn’t include us, we’ll still be cheering you on from the sidelines.
A SPRINT-BASED MODEL
Quality over quantity
We believe that our clients’ creative and strategic work deserves enough space for discovery, dreaming, and iteration. But from decades of experience, we also know that spending more “calendar time” on a project doesn’t always result in a more inspiring - or more effective - outcome.
By structuring our projects in tightly-focused three- to six-week sprints, rather than spreading them out across several months, we’re able to give your work the dedicated attention it needs—while still allowing plenty of breathing room for questions, collaboration, and (purposeful) detours along the way.
CLIENT CO-CREATION
Building on common ground
Our creative process never happens in a vacuum. Or, in an AI-powered “proprietary system,” for that matter.
Whether we’re defining your brand, crafting content and stories, or developing campaign concepts, we use collaborative tools and (dare we say, playful?) worksessions to ensure that everyone’s voices are heard—and that we’re all aligned on what elements will provide the greatest value for your team.
This doesn’t mean, though, that we design-by-committee (that’s a recipe for chaos). Instead, we structure our meetings to help you give us the streamlined feedback we need to keep everything heading in the right direction, while also trusting our intuition and experience to show us how to get there.
OWNERSHIP + INTEGRATION
Guiding your path forward
While many branding and creative agencies’ efforts stop at delivering beautifully-designed decks (“here you go, have fun!”), our job isn’t finished until everyone in your company or organization feels pride in, and ownership of, the work we’ve created together.
To make this happen, we’ll give your team a set of frameworks and trainings to help you integrate your branding, stories, or big campaign ideas into your culture and operations—ensuring that you have a consistent vision, and starting point, for whatever comes next.
