Include the Critics, Naysayers and Roadblocks in the Process By Paulo Ribeiro Why it never works to build a marketing strategy and get other departments to buy-in later. We often get approached by an executive or department who wants to use our strategic expertise as leverage to convince another department to change how they Go To Market. The conversation will start with a breakdown of the business opportunity which is where things should start. But eventually the real friction will become clear. There is another department or leader who has different priorities or doesn’t see things the same way. Sometimes we’ll hear about it during the onboarding conversations or discovery but by the time we get to stakeholder conversations it will become clear that there isn’t internal alignment. To be clear, a lack of alignment by itself isn’t necessarily a problem. If managed productively it can be a strength in that different leaders have access to different data and priorities which can become the roots of a powerful new strategy. We absolutely NEED those tensions to get to a new strategy. But that is a different post. This post is about the doomed to fail assumption that we can develop the strategy in a silo and it is going to be so damn smart that the rest of the company will get onboard. We’ll unfurl the deck and they’ll follow the Piper because of the sheer genius of the ideas. They’ll see how thorough our collective work is and that will drive alignment and the company can move forward. Cue the end credits. That never works. back to insights → This assumption is almost always well intentioned. It is also almost always wrong. It is wrong because it assumes that what needs to happen is to convince another leader or department. A great brand strategy works across departments which means it needs to be aware of the challenges facing each department. I’m not writing this post to talk about how to make the work a treaty between departments. I’m writing this to dispel the idea that the marketing team, or product team or design leadership alone can figure out a new way forward and then deliver it to the other departments needed to implement it. Great strategy isn’t a compromise. Great strategy is aware of each of the stakeholders needs and finds a solution that will benefit the whole company because it solves problems in the order that they need to be solved. Often that means that one department’s priorities will need to wait in order for a more acute problem to be solved. That is how great teams function and you don’t get this kind of buy-in without including everyone with a stake in the decision. A few rules we operate by: A representative from each department that is critical to bringing a solution to life needs to be involved at each milestone. Disagreements need to be surfaced with all the relevant context. Lean into the uncomfortable because you might learn something. Don’t avoid it. We don’t move forward until there is commitment cross-functionally. BTW, disagreement is fine. But when a decision is made to proceed there needs to be universal commitment. Change in how a company Goes to Market requires cross-functional buy-in. Not after the ideas have been developed, but early.

The Terrain is Unsettled and Varied By Paulo Ribeiro Generating smart ideas is *not* the hardest part of developing effective work. BREAKTHROUGH IDEAS AREN'T THE HARD PART Less than 20 years ago the line between the responsibilities of an outside agency and a client’s marketing organization were crystal clear. Client-side marketing handled marketing strategy, brief development, high-level budget allocation and often measurement. Their products were sold through very established channels (dealerships for cars, wholesale and to a lesser extent owned retail for apparel and shoes, Sports speciality and wholesale retail for equipment etc…). Even as e-commerce was starting to become the force it is today, channels were generally added one at a time. What a client paid agencies to do vs. what was executed in house was very consistent. Agencies handled all brand strategy, all varieties of creative development from identity to Super Bowl Spots, Event production, and agencies handled PR strategy and media planning and buying. Anything that fell under the umbrella of creative strategy, ideation or production was handled by an agency. And now? All of those agency formats continue to exist in some iteration, and there has been an explosion of additional specializations in e-Commerce, measurement, social, performance marketing, UX and IxD and on and on. While at the same time clients have brought many of the same disciplines in house to some degree. But there is no consistency to how and why. Internal creative capabilities on the client side are driven by the nuances of their individual industry, the inclinations of their leadership or sometimes for random legacy reasons. And then the vast majority also employ agencies to finish, up-level or supplement the work that they do in house. The Terrain is varied, uneven, and often difficult to map out. This has serious implications for how to make effective work. Generating smart ideas, as difficult as that is, is not the hardest part of developing effective work. The hardest part today is understanding the landscape of how that work might be made - outside, inside or shared - and developing customized work and Go To Market plans with that in mind upfront. Too often this upfront step is skipped which wastes everyone’s time (and client’s money). To be clear there is a huge difference between being an order taker and asking the client what solution they would like and giving them what they asked for and taking the time to really understand the landscape and come back with an innovative solution. The former isn’t strategic and is a watchout for any client who wants to do effective work. The first job today should be canvassing the playing field of capabilities, needs and expectations and mapping that overtly to the team setup on both the in-house client side and the outside partners. The moment is going to happen one way or another. Make that moment happen earlier and there is a greater chance for success overall. Wait to figure out what the playing field is, and one side of the equation is going to look irresponsible. I’ll let you guess which one. It starts with a messy playing field… Agencies are used to sharing creds and case studies. And clients, with the seniority to hire, are generally well-trained marketers but the truth of the matter is that they are slammed with an ever growing list of responsibilities. They don’t usually have the time to dig into whether or not the exact setup of an agency is a good key for the lock that is their specific needs. So they look at finished work, think to themselves “I want something like that’ and hope that their team’s can sort it out on the same timeline that the ideas are generated and produced. …Unclear responsibilities hurt the work quality… With creatives and strategists on the agency side and client side and a shared desire for everyone to ‘partner’ the line between idea generator and editor of ideas moves around. The client team’s bounce between being creatives and clients sometimes in the same meeting which is unfair to them and everyone involved. Both teams can lose motivation, while the work becomes a slog for all involved. Too bad. With clarity on process upfront: 1+1=3+, without it...well 1-1=0. …and ends with all that money spent on strategy and ideas being wasted. How often have you been in a meeting where good ideas from pages 20 through 87 of a presentation are completely ignored? Assuming the agency is solid and isn’t throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, this is usually because the client’s are thinking: “That’s ambitious. We don’t have time to figure out how to make that thing with everything else we have on our plates. So we’ll compliment their clever thinking and just hope they don’t follow up.” The client is paying the agency to painstakingly develop new work but rarely do the teams talk about process in creative meetings because it's ‘not creative’, we’ll handle that in ‘production’. Marketing capabilities vary tremendously across client organizations. There is absolutely no consistency between what is in-house vs. outsourced in large companies. Developing breakthrough ideas is the easy part. Tailoring ideas to the unique shape of a client’s organization is where the real work is done. back to insights → The problem is that without that discussion upfront the vast majority of that work will ‘make a great meeting’ and never see the light of day. How creative is that?

Paying 2X and Getting Less Than ½ By Paulo Ribeiro Internal Agency + External Agency and the work still needs work. Why do many clients literally pay TWICE for creative marketing that should be provocative and effective but is often uninspired and category-generic? It is rare to find a client side marketing team that doesn’t have internal creative staffing. At the same time most of those companies ALSO pay for new ideas or execution from an outside agency. Bean counters would expect that double the resources should create at least double the benefit. But the opposite is more often true. 3 REASONS YOUR CREATIVE ISN'T THAT CREATIVE A Tired Brief A business goal is a business goal. An inspiring creative brief that is going to lead to interesting, novel ideas that deliver on that business goal is a totally different thing. So many internal creative teams are briefed on business goals like: “We need people to understand our new technology. So let’s tell them about it.” And that habit extends to the brief that they deliver to the outside agency. This kind of brief hampers thinking right from the jump. A powerful creative brief is built on TENSIONS. Unresolved and contrasting issues give creative people space to play. Things like: The disconnect between a brand that is all about travel and exploration but constantly showcases its home turf. Or a brand built on the notion of innovation when the bulk of its sales come from a single product. Or the desire to build community while bots are plucking up all the limited edition drops. Yes these are real examples which is why they are so specific. Unpacking a very specific problem and then asking creative teams to solve for them is guaranteed to deliver ideas that at the very least don’t look, feel and sound like what your competitor is doing. An uncomfortable truth: your marketing challenges almost exactly match your competitors’. Every footwear company is working on the same problems: fit, traction, cushioning… This consistency of marketing challenge is true in most established consumer categories. It just is. To break through, you’ve got to solve for those challenges in a differentiated way. Leaning into unresolved tension is the best starting point to unlock a breakthrough. Not Enough Contrast in the Team Internal agencies don’t cut costs, but they institutionalize critical product expertise and this tradeoff is worth it. BUT, these internal teams are often made up of the brand’s hardcore fans. And this leads to organizations filled with people that have the same deep, but narrow worldviews values and ideas. They are too close to the thing to have unique or divergent ideas. The formula for interesting ideas in terms of staffing is that you need contrasts in all the ways. Different backgrounds, skill sets, interests and then you mash these people up because they will challenge one another and build different kinds of ideas, tools and stories. Blurred Lines This is the big one. Great creative talent is great creative talent. It’s real and let’s just call that a given. Some people are significantly better at creative ideas than others. But this is also true. The way to get to breakthrough creative ideas isn’t by having a single expert develop the one idea. It is…. By having many ideas. Great ideas are developed by generating tons of ideas and throwing away most of them. Every great creative director, inventor or storyteller will explain this in their own way. Ok, so what does this have to do with this post? back to insights → There is a proven setup that enables this to happen. A team of idea generators and a smaller group (sometimes just a single Creative Director) to edit and shape the best work from the options on the table. And when there are no good ideas on the table to redirect the idea generators. This is a solved problem! It has been solved for literally hundreds of years. Renaissance masters used this setup in their workshops, The editorial department of every great magazine did. Film studios have always sourced script ideas this way. From Pixar to Wieden+Kennedy to Lego the organizations that consistently spit out novel ideas use a version of this system. But a funny thing can happen when agency teams and client-side creatives mix and no one addresses the question. Who is generating and who is shaping? This shouldn’t be a controversy or uncomfortable discussion but if it doesn’t happen early it ends up being uncomfortable and often political. And the work suffers. It can work to mix teams from the agency and client side or have them each play a specific role. But it is critical that the person or team doing the creative directing is assigned and that it is assigned to people with the experience to do that. Too often hierarchy between the buyer and seller gets in the way of the buyer getting what they paid for. It’s ok to let the agency do the creative direction if they are best equipped to do it. It’s also ok for an internal creative director to do it. But have this conversation and have it early. There might be other reasons for stale marketing when there is serious investment being made but these stand out to us. While the playing field has shifted, the rules of the game haven’t. There are ways to make sure you get a solid return on your marketing investment. It's a simple conversation if you have it early. ​ Two things that sum up what we are talking about. “You’ll never stumble upon the unexpected if you stick only to the familiar.” “When it comes to creative endeavors, the concept of zero failures is worse than useless. It’s counterproductive.” Ed Catmull, Creativity Inc

Photograph by Chloe Aftel Paulo began his career in brand advertising first in NYC and then in SF at Hal Riney+Partners, the first creatively led agency, during the dot com boom. At Wieden + Kennedy he was head of global brand strategy for Nike and Electronic Arts through the era of digital transformation. He led the evolution of innovation agency Redscout to better serve Silicon Valley, working with Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn’s positioning and expanding Gatorade’s portfolio from beverages to food and digital products. He was the Managing Director of one of the first Venture Studios-West SF, which was founded by Jack Dorsey to accelerate the growth for many of the world’s most disruptive startups. His portfolio included Venmo, Jawbone, Twitter, Braintree, Anki, Tumblr and many others. More recently he led the creation of the Wieden+Kennedy Lodge the innovation agency, within the W+K Network, with Nike's secretive innovation Kitchen, Samsung and Verizon as clients. The fruits of that labor contributed significantly to W+K earning Global Agency of the Year two years in a row. He is the founder of Two Things, a brand transformation agency that focuses on the active lifestyle category. Two Things serves clients such as The North Face, Timberland, Visit Sun Valley, Mad Hippie, Converse and Arc’teryx. Paulo Ribeiro's expertise is in building strategies to evolve brands. ↗ 2017 AICP Innovation Award ↗ 2016 Adweek Creative 100 ↗ 2012 One Show Pencil - BulletStorm ↗ 2011 Effie - Dante’s Inferno ↗ 2011 4A’s Jay Chiat Award-New Product: Gatorade G-Series ↗ 2010 Clio - Nike Livestrong ‘Chalkbot’ ↗ 2010 - D+D Yellow Pencil - Integrated Campaign ‘Its’ About You’ Select Awards Featured in publications such as: ↗ Creative Boom—Coverage of Novella Launch ↗ Ad Age: Brookfield ↗ Muse by Clio—Brookfield ↗ Communication Arts—Brookfield ↗ Egotist—Stay Sunny ↗ Little Black Book—The North Face: Discover Your Trail ↗ Graphic Design USA—Stay Sunny ↗ ↗ The Drum—Two Things Launch ↗ Adweek—Paulo Leaving W+K Scoop ↗ Fast Company—Paulo leaving W+K Scoop ↗ Adweek—Two Things Launch ↗ Fast Company—Two Things Launch ↗ ↗ Shots Magazine—Lodge Profile ↗ Fast Company—Lodge Principle Profile ↗ Fast Company—Nike Live Design ↗ Fast Company—Anki Lost In Reddit Profile ↗ Monocle—NeedyBot ↗ Meta/Oculus—KFC The Hard Way ↗ TechCrunch—Anki Lost in Reddit ↗ Business Insider—Soylent + WK Lodge ↗ Creative—Soylent ↗ Retail Dive—Soylent ↗ Portland Monthly—NeedyBot ↗ Adweek—100 Creatives Whose Brilliant Ideas will make you jealous ↗ ↗ NYT—Paulo to MD Redscout ↗ The Guardian—Nike Chalkbot ↗ Campaign Live - Nike Livestrong 2010 Integrated Titanium Cannes Lion ↗ Adage - Nike Livestrong 2010 Integrated Titanium Cannes Lion ↗ WSJ—EA Dante’s Inferno ↗ Blog—Dante’s Campaign Profile ↗ Kotaku—Greed (Dante’s) ↗ Joystiq—Greed (Dante’s) Selected Press Speaking Engagements Paulo has spoken at many festivals including Fast Company Innovation Festival, Samsung Galaxy Media Days and Electronic Arts Sales Meetings. He has been asked to speak at leadership retreats for Electronic Arts, Gatorade, Pernod-Ricard, Nike and Target among others. He is frequently asked to present insights and perspectives to boards and investors. ​ Speaker fees vary depending on the length of the presentation, whether preparation is necessary and the amount of time necessary onsite. Travel and expenses will be covered separately. Pro-Bono can be discussed for non-profits or other worthy causes. For Speaking Engagements: talk@twothings.co For Advising: hello@twothings.co Images from the Archives He's earned many accolades' including being listed as one of the Adweek Global Creative 100, he is a Cyber Lion Winner, has won Clios, D+AD Pencils, Effies, AICP Innovation Awards and more. Awards Press He's earned many accolades' including being listed as one of the Adweek Global Creative 100, he is a Cyber Lion Winner, has won Clios, D+AD Pencils, Effies, AICP Innovation Awards and more.

Arc'teryx: Coming Fall 2023 Timberland: Coming Fall 2023 The North Face: Discover Your Trail Novella Visit Sun Valley: Stay Sunny The North Face: Vectiv Plenty

Insights Insight Two Things is Doubling Down Our approach to brand transformation has worked in multiple categories but, we are choosing to focus primarily on the active lifestyle space and audience. Insight Your Brand's History is NOT Your Brand Strategy Why your brand’s past is not what your customers today care about. Insight What Can the Active Lifestyle Industry Learn from Silicon Valley? What does startup land have to teach brands way over in the active lifestyle space? Not everything. Not even most things, but there are a few really powerful ideas that if applied correctly can help a sleepy brand wake the hell up. Insight Brand X's and O's X marks the unforced error for Twitter. And, what can we learn from it? Insight The Urban/Rural Boundary is the Opportunity Cities hold a key to unlock the outdoors. Why is this massive opportunity so often ignored? Insight Include the Critics, Naysayers, and Roadblocks in the Process Why it never works to build a marketing strategy and get other departments to buy-in later. Insight The Terrain is Unsettled and Varied Generating smart ideas is *not* the hardest part of developing effective work. Subscribe to our newsletter ↗ subscribe ↗ Lessons, Tools, Tips and a few rants on creativity and marketing in the active lifestyle space* *What the hell do we mean by “active lifestyle”? We are talking about brands in the outdoor, sports, sports lifestyle and adventure travel business whether they make equipment, apparel or experiences for people to connect IRL move and explore the world. Brands that serve the active lifestyle market generally have a strong sense of purpose and an engaged community of customers. Their employees are also often a real community of like minded people. They are more likely to balance purpose and corporate social responsibility in the core of their operations than many other business categories. Subscribe to our newsletter ↗ subscribe ↗ Thanks for subscribing! Lessons, Tools, Tips and a few rants on creativity and marketing in the active lifestyle space* *What the hell do we mean by “active lifestyle”? We are talking about brands in the outdoor, sports and sports lifestyle business whether they make equipment, apparel or experiences for people to connect IRL move and explore the world. Brands that serve the active lifestyle market generally have a strong sense of purpose and an engaged community of customers. Their employees are also often a real community of like minded people. They are more likely to balance purpose and corporate social responsibility in the core of their operations than many other business categories. Subscribe to our newsletter ↗ subscribe ↗ Thanks for subscribing! Lessons, Tools, Tips and a few rants on creativity and marketing in the active lifestyle space* *What the hell do we mean by “active lifestyle”? We are talking about brands in the outdoor, sports, sports lifestyle and adventure travel business whether they make equipment, apparel or experiences for people to connect IRL move and explore the world. Brands that serve the active lifestyle market generally have a strong sense of purpose and an engaged community of customers. Their employees are also often a real community of like minded people. They are more likely to balance purpose and corporate social responsibility in the core of their operations than many other business categories.

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Two Things to remember: 1. You can't spend your way to effectiveness 2. You can't skip the strategy 1. You can't spend your way to effectiveness Media is a rigged game. Your brand has to break through or else it doesn't exist. 2. You can't skip the strategy Structure follows strategy (not the other way around). Powerful insights from asking the right questions 1 2 C reative that stands out in message and format 3 A Go-to-Market plan that is nothing like the competition’s The best brands don't copy their competition. They lead. Two Things to remember: 1. You can't spend your way to effectiveness 2. You can't skip the strategy 1. You can't spend your way to effectiveness Media is a rigged game. C reative that stands out in message and format 2 Your brand has to break through or else it doesn't exist. Structure follows strategy (not the other way around). Powerful insights from asking the right questions 1 2 C reative that stands out in message and format 3 A Go-to-Market plan that is nothing like the competition’s Powerful insights from asking the right questions 1 2 C reative that stands out in message and format 3 A Go-to-Market plan that is nothing like the competition’s Powerful insights from asking the right questions 1 A Go-to-Market plan that is nothing like the competition’s 3 The best brands don't copy their competition. They lead. start a conversation → case studies →

Two Things about working together: Advisory Formats Executional Advisory Two Things can oversee execution of the work if needed from guidance to establishing long-term plan. Includes: Production Oversight Strategy +Creative Consistency Budget Management Strategy Implementation Measurement + Research Methodology Analysis and Recommendations Future Proofing Identifying long-term partners Training and Handoff to client team Strategic Advisory Two things can engage as a strategic advisor to the board and/or leadership team on long-term strategy evolution. Includes: Performance Benchmarking Analysis and Recommendations Guidance on Org Design and/or AgencyRoster Customized options available Custom Retainer Strategy + Creative Partnership 6–12 Months ↗ Creative Strategy Development Deliverable: Brand Audit, Research + Insights Presentation, Creative Territory Presentation 1 + 2 (if needed), Design Challenge Briefs ↗ Concept Development Deliverable: Two Rounds of Creative Development, Brand and Product Marketing Concepts combined, Concepts fleshed out to match production considerations ↗ Comms Strategy and Pre-Production Deliverable: GTM Rollout Calendar, Production Recommendations and Budgets, Recommended Channel Prioritization and Measurement Recommendations ​ Core Team: Strategy Lead, Design Lead, Brand Manager/Producer. Creative Concept Teams (selected based on brief). Studio Design Team: Graphic Design, Part-time Researcher. Creative and Strategy oversight by Leadership Team. Strategy Sprint Foundational Creative Strategy 4 Weeks ↗ Opportunity Mapping Deliverable: Brand Audit, Product/Category/Cultural Research ↗ Insights + Creative Territories Deliverable: Presentation with findings and recommendations ↗ Creative Territory Refinement Deliverable: Revisions to Creative Territories based on feedback, Design Challenge Briefs to guide work, Recommended path forward ​ Core Team: Brand Strategist, Design Lead and Creative Director with support from Producer and Studio Design Team. Creative and Strategy oversight by Leadership Team. Comprehensive Project Creative Strategy, Concepts + Rollout 12–14 Weeks ↗ Creative Strategy Development Deliverable: Brand Audit, Research + Insights Presentation, Creative Territory Presentation 1 + 2 (if needed), Design Challenge Briefs ↗ Concept Development Deliverable: Two Rounds of Creative Development, Brand and Product Marketing Concepts combined, Concepts fleshed out to match production considerations ↗ Comms Strategy and Pre-Production Deliverable: GTM Rollout Calendar, Production Recommendations and Budgets, Recommended Channel Prioritization and Measurement Recommendations ​ Core Team: Strategy Lead, Design Lead, Brand Manager/Producer. Creative Concept Teams (selected based on brief). Studio Design Team: Graphic Design, Part-time Researcher. Creative and Strategy oversight by Leadership Team. Many of our clients have internal creatives or some kind of an agency-of-record. We can work with your existing team as we set the vision and develop the roll-out. Once we are sure that the team understands the new playbook we'll step aside. ​ Some of our clients don't have any executional resources on their team. In these situations we'll bring in the right partners, oversee execution and ensure that there is a team in place over time to match the strategy. We are Player-Coaches. We are in the transformation business not the maintenance business. We take pride in helping our clients take giant leaps forward, not incremental optimizations. So our game isn't to hang around for too long because that means we didn't solve the problem you hired us for. The ongoing campaign and updating work is done more efficiently by employees or perhaps an AOR. ​ Our work begins with a goal but no clear solution. Our work ends when our clients have the creative solution and the tools and confidence to maintain that work over time. We make ourselves obsolete. Ways we can work together: Foundational Creative Strategy Strategy Sprint 4 Weeks Opportunity Mapping Deliverable: Brand Audit, Product/Category/Cultural Research Core Team: Brand Strategist, Design Lead and Creative Director with support from Producer and Studio Design Team. Creative and Strategy oversight by Leadership Team. I. Insights + Creative Territories Deliverable: Presentation with findings and recommendations Creative Territory Refinement Deliverable: Revisions to Creative Territories based on feedback, Design Challenge Briefs to guide work, Recommended path forward II. III. Creative Strategy, Concepts + Rollout Comprehensive Project 12–14 Weeks Creative Strategy Development Deliverable: Brand Audit, Research + Insights Presentation, Creative Territory Presentation 1 + 2 (if needed), Design Challenge Briefs Core Team: Strategy Lead, Design Lead, Brand Manager/Producer. Creative Concept Teams (selected based on brief). Studio Design Team: Graphic Design, Part-time Researcher. Creative and Strategy oversight by Leadership Team. Concept Development Deliverable: Two Rounds of Creative Development, Brand and Product Marketing Concepts combined, Concepts fleshed out to match production considerations Comms Strategy and Pre-Production Deliverable: GTM Rollout Calendar, Production Recommendations and Budgets, Recommended Channel Prioritization and Measurement Recommendations III. II. I. Strategy + Creative Partnership Custom Retainer 6–12 Months Opportunity Mapping Core Team: Brand Strategist, Design Lead and Creative Director with support from Producer and Studio Design Team. Creative and Strategy oversight by Leadership Team. Insights + Creative Territories Creative Territory Refinement III. II. I. Timelines can be customized to clients needs and additional workload can be absorbed by dedicated team assigned to client’s business. Monthly Work-Plan Alignment with senior stakeholders to calibrate work to client's business. Custom Retainer option for more complex assignments. Two Things will generally follow its process working systematically through: Executional Advisory Strategy Sprint 4+ Month Commitment Two Things can oversee execution of the work if needed from guidance to establishing long-term plan. Includes: Production Oversight Strategy +Creative Consistency Budget Management Strategy Implementation Measurement + Research Methodology Analysis and Recommendations Future Proofing Identifying long-term partners Training and Handoff to client team Strategic Advisory Two things can engage as a strategic advisor to the board and/or leadership team on long-term strategy evolution. Includes: Performance Benchmarking Analysis and Recommendations Guidance on Org Design and/or AgencyRoster Customized options available Month-to-Month or Quarterly Two things can engage as a strategic advisor to the board and/or leadership team on long-term strategy evolution. Includes: Performance Benchmarking Analysis and Recommendations Guidance on Org Design and/or AgencyRoster Customized options available Two Things can oversee execution of the work if needed from guidance to establishing long-term plan. Includes: Production Oversight Strategy +Creative Consistency Budget Management Strategy Implementation Measurement + Research Methodology Analysis and Recommendations Future Proofing Identifying long-term partners Training and Handoff to client team 4+ Month Commitment ​ ​ ​ ​ Executional Advisory Advisory Formats Monthly or Quarterly Strategic Advisory Dedicated Team: Strategy Lead, Design Lead, Brand Manager/Producer. Creative Concept Teams (assigned based on brief). Studio Design Team: Graphic Design, Part-time Researcher. Creative and Strategy oversight by Leadership team. I. III. II. Comms Strategy and Pre-Production Concept Development Creative Strategy Development Custom Retainer option for more complex assignments. Two Things will generally follow its process working systematically through: Timelines can be customized to clients needs and additional workload can be absorbed by dedicated team assigned to client’s business. Monthly Work-Plan Alignment with senior stakeholders to calibrate work to client's business. 6–12 Months Strategy + Creative Partnership Custom Retainer Core Team: Strategy Lead, Design Lead, Brand Manager/Producer. Creative Concept Teams (selected based on brief). Studio Design Team: Graphic Design, Part-time Researcher. Creative and Strategy oversight by Leadership Team. I. Comms Strategy and Pre-Production Deliverable: GTM Rollout Calendar, Production Recommendations and Budgets, Recommended Channel Prioritization and Measurement Recommendations III. Concept Development Deliverable: Two Rounds of Creative Development, Brand and Product Marketing Concepts combined, Concepts fleshed out to match production considerations II. Creative Strategy Development Deliverable: Brand Audit, Research + Insights Presentation, Creative Territory Presentation 1 + 2 (if needed), Design Challenge Briefs 12–14 Weeks Creative Strategy, Concept + Rollout Comprehensive Project Core Team: Brand Strategist, Design Lead and Creative Director with support from Producer and Studio Design Team. Creative and Strategy oversight by Leadership Team. Creative Territory Refinement Deliverable: Revisions to Creative Territories based on feedback, Design Challenge Briefs to guide work, Recommended path forward III. Insights + Creative Territories Deliverable: Presentation with findings and recommendations II. Opportunity Mapping Deliverable: Brand Audit, Product/Category/Cultural Research I. 4 Weeks Foundational Creative Strategy Strategy Sprint start a conversation → our point of view →