We pay attention to
brands, consumers and culture.
And apply decades of brand-building expertise to decode the moves that win amid all of the noise.
Across decades and continents
Studio On Brand and our Micro Forces model are a culmination of our decades-long careers building brands— from behind the scenes of disciplined icons like Mars Wrigley, PepsiCo, Morton Salt, 3M, and Molson Coors— to the wild frontier of launching our own consumer brand from scratch. Our work is responsible for multiple patents in everything from water-softening salt to postpartum care and has even been displayed in international museums, including MoMA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Discovery Center, for being among the “100 Most Influential Innovations of the Past 100 Years.”
We never stop scouting consumer culture, from Chicago to London.
Ellen has nearly 20 years of experience working in brand management and growth consulting for Fortune 500 companies, emerging brands, and start-ups. She’s known among her colleagues as the “master of making sense of mess.” She is a contributor to the acclaimed design theory book Feminist Designer: On the Personal and Political in Design (MIT Press) and holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She lives in Chicago and scouts the mainland coast-to-coast.
Mia is a brand copy master, naming specialist and former Electrelane guitarist turned music journalist. Over the course of her eclectic career, she’s traveled the world and developed a uniquely keen eye for not only what’s hot, but also what’s sticky. Her talents as a writer and cultural connector have delivered some of the most ownable brand names, taglines and personalities in consumer goods, finance and tech. She lives in London with eyes on Europe and Asia.