We have thoroughly assessed the brand strategy expertise, team structure, portfolios, client testimonials, pricing plans, and relevant awards of over 2,500 brand strategy agencies. Learn more about our selection criteria and how we identify the top players in the brand strategy sector.

The Number 1. Brand Strategy Agency as Selected by DesignRush Is...

1. Motto

• Best for: Overall
• Average hourly rate: $350
• Minimum budget: $50,000 & Up
• Founded: 2005
• Size: Under 49
• Location: New York City, NY
• Notable clients: Hopscotch, Disney, Hershey's, Google, Microsoft

Motto is a brand strategy agency that helps brands discover and define their vision, culture, and visual identity to align with their business objectives. The agency employs a bespoke methodology to identify the signature idea that best resonates with the right audience. Its brand strategy suite covers research, audits, analysis, brand positioning, brand architecture, brand narrative, and naming and nomenclature services.

Motto Success Story

• Challenge: Preparing to emerge from stealth mode, fintech company Hopscotch partnered with Motto to position itself as a pioneering platform for small companies. Initially named Zuro, the client also requested a renaming strategy to emerge with a distinct name that reflects character and significance, thus easing its go-to-market journey.
• Solution: Motto performed vision-casting, a 5-point culture assessment, stakeholder interviews, strategic workshops, competitive audits, and expert interviews to lay the groundwork for the brand strategy. Building on this, the agency crafted a purpose and vision language, created positioning statements, defined audience personas, and presented conceptual themes and naming options.
• Results: Following the launch, Hopscotch hired 600% more staff and raised $10 million in funding. The new brand won 10 design awards, including GDUSA, Awwwards, and Indigo.

Check Motto Agency Profile

2. WANT Branding

• Best for: Brand positioning
• Average hourly rate: Inquire
• Minimum budget: Inquire
• Founded: 2000
• Size: Under 49
• Location: Miami, FL
• Notable clients: Royal Caribbean, Cisco, Gilette, Uber Central, Intel Evo

WANT Branding is a seasoned brand strategy firm that has helped create over 2,000 brands. The agency focuses on three core aspects of brand strategy: brand definition and positioning, brand architecture, and brand messaging. By employing this approach, WANT Branding empowers clients to convey their vision comprehensively and build customer loyalty.

WANT Branding Success Story

• Challenge: Royal Caribbean was looking to scale its business and introduce new assets across its offering. The company reached out to WANT Branding for a new brand identity that would appeal to new and target customers alike.
• Solution: Throughout its seven-year collaboration, WANT Branding provided brand strategy, positioning, naming, architecture, and wayfinding creations. The brand novelties were applied to Royal Caribbean cruises, onboard elements, and island resorts.
• Results: Between 2011 and 2019, Royal Caribbean saw a $4 billion increase in revenue, a surge in its stock price from $23 to $133, and garnered numerous media and travel recognitions.

Check WANT Branding Agency Profile

3. BLVR

• Best for: Brand naming
• Average hourly rate: $275
• Minimum budget: $50,000 & Up
• Founded: 2005
• Size: Under 49
• Location: San Diego, CA
• Notable clients: Vessel, Tony Robbins, World Vision, Andis, Rock Church

BLVR is a brand strategy agency specializing in crafting distinct brand value and identity, elevating the brand’s market position, and helping them articulate an authentic brand story and narratives. Common brand strategy services provided by BLVR include research and insights, purpose and vision defining, audience identification, market differentiation, and strategic positioning. These services are further reinforced with brand architecture and behavior go-to-market plans.

BLVR Success Story

• Challenge: Golf bag manufacturer Zonson had ambitions to expand its offering with a direct-to-consumer (D2C) lifestyle brand across the US market. The company hired BLVR to tailor a brand strategy entailing name curation services and positioning tactics.
• Solution: Using audience segmentation, BLVR uncovered ethically mindful customers as an untapped market segment and aligned the brand strategy and positioning around their beliefs. They named the brand Vessel and created an identity built on the premise of “purpose.”
• Results: Vessel experienced a 178% year-over-year (YOY) traffic increase and was named the 11th fastest-growing business in San Diego.

Check BLVR Agency Profile

4. FUEL

• Best for: Brand visibility campaigns
• Average hourly rate: $150
• Minimum budget: Inquire
• Founded: 2011
• Size: Under 49
• Location: Greenville, SC
• Notable clients: Greenville Literacy Association, Warehouse Theatre, Southern First, Sandline, Community Finder

FUEL is a brand strategy firm that creates distinct brand identities for diverse clients to expand their visibility and help them reach new heights. The agency employs a proprietary brand strategy approach, entailing market and competition research, personas and journey mapping, defining central mission and challenges, brand audit, architecture, and brand messaging. Boasting over 13 years on the market, this 100% female-led company has built over 100 brands.

FUEL Success Story

• Challenge: Greenville Literacy Association enlisted FUEL's service for a logo rebrand and a marketing campaign to broaden the visitor reach of its traditional book sale event. Over the years, the client felt that the event's visibility started to fade and requested a brand refresh to represent its mission better.
• Solution: FUEL conducted user persona research for new potential market segments and modernized the client's logo with a new color palette. The brand optimization empowered the client with an identity that facilitates a strong visual connection between the logo and the event.
• Results: Thanks to the new branding efforts, the event saw 12,000 attendees. Subsequently, the client sold over 102,000 books and raised over $135,000 in funding.

Check FUEL Agency Profile

5. Studio Ostendo

• Best for: Rebranding strategy
• Average hourly rate: Inquire
• Minimum budget: $1,000 - $10,000
• Founded: 2014
• Size: Under 49
• Location: Caldwell, ID
• Notable clients: Three Sisters Meats, Evention, Elite International Soccer Training, Reliable Waste Services, Visions EyeHealth Center

Studio Ostendo is a brand strategy agency with extensive experience in transforming ideas into well-defined brands with visual identities that are poised to break new markets. The agency helps create successful brand identities, books and editorials, environmental and wayfinding graphics, and communication programs by leveraging both physical and digital assets. In recognition of its excellence, Studio Ostendo has received several ‘Society of Typographic Arts 100’ awards for its work.

Studio Ostendo Success Story

• Challenge: Three Sisters Meats contacted Studio Ostendo upon receiving feedback from relevant stakeholders that the brand wasn't aligned with its scaling ambitions. The client requested a rebranding strategy that would help propel the company's market expansion.
• Solution: Studio Ostendo conducted a brand photography shoot for social media content, investor pitches, and the company website. Across the visuals, the agency aimed to portray the flavors and simple ingredients of the client's meat line while presenting potential scenarios in which the dry-cured meat would complement consumers' gourmet endeavors.
• Results: Powered by a new brand identity, Three Sisters Meats secured over $50,000 in funding to support its manufacturing, production, and marketing‍ ambitions.

Check Studio Ostendo Agency Profile

6. Matchstic

• Best for: Brand shifting
• Average hourly rate: $150
• Minimum budget: Inquire
• Founded: 2003
• Size: 50 - 99
• Location: Atlanta, GA
• Notable clients: Big Nerd Ranch, CBS Philadelphia, Monday Night Brewing, Brightwild, Tensure

Matchstic takes a bespoke approach to brand positioning, crafting bold identities that stand out from the crowd. This approach is powered by a focused brand strategy and complementing marketing services. Through in-depth research and collaborative sessions, Matchstic aims to define its clients' true purpose, position, and personality, helping them establish strong market positions with enduring identities.

Matchstic Success Story

• Challenge: Big Nerd Ranch requested professional assistance from Matchstic for a comprehensive strategy that would reflect their pivot to another branch of services.
• Solution: Matchstic used the client's legacy visuals as the basis for a fresh look and chose a new color palette that better reflected the brand. It also delivered new typefaces and photography that focused on the client's end users, putting an emphasis on human experience rather than the brand's technical aspect.
• Results: The revamped identity integrated Big Nerd Ranch's proficiency in both training and app development, uniting them under a new aesthetic. A set of custom pixel icons provided by Matchstic ensured that Big Nerd Ranch kept its whimsical style.

Check Matchstic Agency Profile

7. Tenet Partners

• Best for: Audience messaging
• Average hourly rate: $250
• Minimum budget: $50,000 & Up
• Founded: 1976
• Size: Under 49
• Location: New York City, NY
• Notable clients: Citrix Systems, Vallen, Gore, John Deere, Spectrum Enterprise

With nearly 50 years in the market, Tenet Partners’ seasonality and proven methodology have delivered compelling signature brand identities for eminent corporate players on a global scale. Focusing on corporate and consumer branding, it crafts intricate brand strategies, with services extending to brand and product positioning, portfolio optimization, brand messaging, customer segmentation, and loyalty building.

Tenet Partners Success Story

• Challenge: After surpassing $1 billion in revenue and completing successful acquisitions, Citrix emerged as a major player in desktop virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions. With global giants like Microsoft seeking partnerships, Citrix reached out to Tenet Partners to elevate its brand stature and craft an identity that reflects its new status.
• Solution: Tenet Partners changed the client's brand positioning from a functional-based to a benefit-driven strategy, introducing a new brand identity that communicates openness, transparency, and scale. Tenet Partners delivered custom audience messaging through a partnership and ingredient branding program that was voted one of the market's best channel programs.
• Results: The new brand identity appealed to a broader market, facilitating valuable connections with prospective customers and allowing Citrix to maintain its upward growth trajectory. Notably, in six years, Citrix Systems doubled its revenue to just under $3 billion.

Check Tenet Partners Agency Profile

8. C42D

• Best for: Brand visibility
• Average hourly rate: $200
• Minimum budget: $25,000 - $50,000
• Founded: 2010
• Size: Under 49
• Location: New York City, NY
• Notable clients: Kindbody, Google, Reebok, YouTube, Shazam

As a multi-disciplinary branding agency, C42D understands the importance of engaged customers, dedicated audiences, and sustained conversions. The agency specializes in delivering brand strategy services for early-stage companies, comprising interviews, analysis, and research. The C42D team’s specialty extends to defining brand behavior, strategy framework, and pillars that form a unique brand narrative.

C42D Success Story

• Challenge: Recognizing the gap in reassuring brand presence among top fertility clinics, Kindbody aimed to pioneer a modern, technology-driven clinical experience. To deliver on its ambition, the client entrusted C42D with crafting its brand story, identity, and website under a tight launch deadline.
• Solution: C42D built the strategy with a focus on educating the client's core target audience and growing brand awareness with visually appealing details. The agency introduced a typewritten font as a nod to the client's feminine aesthetic and provided a brand design with a cohesive color palette for Kindbody's website.
• Results: Following the launch, Kindbody’s website attracted over 20,000 visitors. In addition, the client secured over $56 million in Series A and B funding, followed by an estimated $218 million in Series C and debt financing.

Check C42D Agency Profile

9. La Visual

• Best for: Market entry strategy
• Average hourly rate: $200
• Minimum budget: $50,000 & Up
• Founded: 2005
• Size: Under 49
• Location: Los Angeles, CA
• Notable clients: Natibre, Sony, Toyota, Fox Entertainment, Intuit

Tailoring brand experiences for nearly two decades, La Visual provides branding services that clearly articulate brands’ ethos and vision. With a portfolio encompassing brand strategy development, brand identity, messaging, brand launch, naming, positioning, and communications, the agency transforms clients’ brand aspirations, empowering them to prosper across the digital economy. In affirmation of its accomplishments, La Visual was honored with the 'W3 Best in Show Award’ in 2019.

La Visual Success Story

• Challenge: A natural supplement producer worked with La Visual to introduce its Natibre brand to the U.S. market. The company wanted an identity that would resonate and appeal to the English-speaking audience and break through the saturated U.S. supplement market. A core objective of this project was to craft a brand that overcomes the perception of supplements as "clinical" or "medicinal".
• Solution: La Visual started a brand illumination process involving surveys, stakeholder interviews, product tasting, store visits, and competitor analysis to gain insights on potential market opportunities. Building on this, the agency created the logo, color palette, typography, and design patterns, a custom packaging design set, and 3D renders.
• Results: La Visual's brand illumination process showcased good performance across different regions, cultures, verticals, and markets. Notably, the bilingual team managed to create a brand that fits well within the cultural context of the target market, presenting a compelling identity that resonates with the intended audience.

Check La Visual Agency Profile

10. Anchour

• Best for: Brand identity
• Average hourly rate: $160
• Minimum budget: Inquire
• Founded: 2013
• Size: Under 49
• Location: Lewiston, ME
• Notable clients: Apple, TaskRabbit, Earnest, Kate Farms, Agren

Anchour is a brand strategy agency focused on building distinct brand narratives that sustain growth. The agency's branding work has been recognized by prestigious industry authorities, including MADE, Inc., Awwwards, and more. Anchour's branding portfolio features brand strategy, architecture, positioning, and messaging services catering to eCommerce, software, food, beverage, hospitality, and finance clients.

Anchour Success Story

• Challenge: Dairy producer Kate's Butter partnered with Anchour for a full rebranding service, which included a packaging design. The client envisioned its brand embodying its quality products and values while staying modern and appealing to its target audience.
• Solution: Anchour preserved the client's authentic, family-style brand while offering a fresh retouch of the old logo. The agency created a new packaging design and launched a brand video to reinforce the client's home-grown theme.
• Results: The new brand identity, along with supporting marketing efforts, contributed to a 302% web traffic increase, a 112% organic search surge, and a 400% boost in wholesale applications.

Check Anchour Agency Profile

How We Picked the Best Brand Strategy Firms

To identify the top brand strategy firms, we rigorously evaluated their case studies, client reviews, industry reputation, team expertise, portfolio, and leadership effectiveness. Our thorough analysis allows us to spotlight the agencies most adept at enhancing brands’ digital footprint and growth potential.

Our team of agency experts developed a scoring system to evaluate their overall performance based on several key factors:

• Reviews: Quality of work, client satisfaction, project management, communication style, and level of trustworthiness
• Portfolio: The agency's track record of delivering brand strategies for clients from various industries
• Awards and press: A list of awards and recognitions by reputable industry experts and third-party agencies
• Team bios: Qualifications, certifications, and team member’s industry experience extent
• Core services: An overview of the agency's fields of expertise and core competencies
• Branding services: Expertise in crafting impactful brand strategies that establish strong market position and generate revenue.

For a comprehensive understanding of our selection process and criteria, visit the DesignRush Agency Ranking Methodology.

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