We know who we are.

We’re a multi-faceted, multi-talented, multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-lingual team of talented individuals who specialize in the extraordinarily challenging but equally rewarding art, science, and craft of branding. In short, we’re a diverse group with a shared purpose: to make your brand stronger.

Meet Brent Scarcliff.

Brent has that very rare gift: the ability to think equally well both strategically and creatively. The combination of that talent and his unique background make him the ideal choice to serve as our creative strategy director.  He first became interested in the intersection of culture and language as a Ph.D. student at UCLA, where he specialized in the Indo-European and Malayo-Polynesian language families. He earned his M.B.A. at Loyola Marymount University, where he wrote one of the world’s first branding dictionaries as his thesis project. After directing communications for a global publishing house,  he co-founded our company in 1998 and hasn’t looked back.

Fun facts.

• A native of Los Angeles, Brent grew up in the famous South Bay community of Manhattan Beach.
• In his spare time, he’s writing The Earthy Language Cycle, a series of epic novels set in Earth’s past, present, and future.
• He serves on the Gabrielino-Tongva Language Committee, a UCLA-affiliated Native American group working on the documentation and revitalization of L.A.’s indigenous Uto-Aztecan language.
• He’s ambidextrous.

Meet Joy Salvador.

Joy is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Everyone who meets her says so, or else. In her role as our managing director, she relishes the challenge of making sure our clients are satisfied with every aspect of our work, from a smooth start to a successful finish. In addition to coordinating each of our projects, Joy serves as our CFO and maintains our web presence – a never-ending task.

A native of Chicago, Joy grew up in Silicon Valley and graduated from the University of California at Davis with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development, where she focused on early childhood language acquisition. Her linguistics background includes Ilocano, one of the principal languages of the Philippines, and the Romance languages.

Fun facts.

• Joy has a huge family. We mean a really ginormous family. If you’re Ilokano, you’re probably related to her.
• She’s famous for her pancit. if you don’t know what pancit is, ask.
• She photographs everything. Thank goodness for digital cameras.
• She loves kids, including her own.

Meet the team.

Anthropologists. Animators. Artists. Attorneys. Biologists. Designers. Educators. Filmmakers. Researchers. Writers.

This what we believe.

We believe branding is an art, a science, and a craft.

The art is design. The science is anthropology. The craft is business.

We believe there is no substitute for experience.

Our clients range from the Global and Fortune 500 to the major motion picture, television, and gaming studios to start-ups whose only claim to fame is a cool idea. We work across the globe, from the Americas to Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. The proof is in the portfolio.

We believe in the big picture.

Naming may be our speciality, but it doesn’t define us. Unlike many of our our competitors, we’re equally at home working upstream on your strategy and downstream on your story.

We believe in team play.

Branding is a team sport, with real winners and losers. If you choose us, we’re on your team, and we’ve got your back. If you don’t, and your competitor does, watch out! By the same token, if we’re on your team, we expect you to treat us like partners, not pawns.

Promise

If you become our client, we promise to provide you with state-of-the-art brand strategy services, on time and on budget. To deliver on that promise we invest in talent and technologies, not offices and extras.

Fixed Fee Proposals

Once we understand the goals of your project, we’ll provide you with a straightforward fixed-fee proposal, including the option to select additional services, if appropriate. You’ll know exactly what you’re getting and what it will cost.

Three Month Branding Projects

A typical brand anthropology project takes twelve weeks, for which our standard fee is USD $5,000 per week. This usually includes one week of discovery and strategy, one week of creative exploration (with feedback), one week of creative development (with feedback), and one week of evaluation and selection. We may budget for additional weeks if we are naming your new company, if you are targeting more than one market, if your decision-making process is unusually complex, etc.

One Day Branding Workshops

If you’d like to bring your branding team together for an intensive brand anthropology session, we can lead a workshop for a fee of USD $1500 per day (including a prep day and, if appropriate, one or two travel days).

Annual Retainers

If you have a long-term need for our brand strategy servicesetc., we may suggest an annual retainer arrangement. Our retainer fee is fully negotiable based upon your specific requirements, but USD $90,000 per year is typical.

Discounts

We don’t discount our services except for non-profit engagements, simultaneous naming projects, and naming agency of record agreements. We believe in being paid what we’re worth — no more and no less. We do consider equity or payment-in-kind arrangements.

Options

We offer all of our services à la carte at our standard rate of USD $5,000 per week.

Expenses

We’ll bill you for any project-related expenses we incur at actual cost. We’ll include a good faith estimate of our expected expenses (travel, respondent recruitment, etc.) on our first invoice and make any appropriate adjustments (up or down) on our final invoice.

The Way We Work

This sample project plan will give you a good sense of how we do what we do, but it’s important to note our methodology is a tool, not an ideology. We feel free to tailor our approach to suit your particular needs.

Inspiration

• Get to know one another
• Discuss your project’s purpose and context
• Define it’s timeline and key mileposts
• Review any relevant background material
• Profile your internal target audiences

Insight

• Explore your offering
• Explore the category
• Define your brand architecture
• Define your marketing strategy
• Define your sales strategy
• Define your communications strategy
• Define your positioning
• Define your ideal category name
• Define your ideal social (viral) brand strategy
• Define your ideal belief (cultural) brand strategy

Imagination

• Develop a set of short-term tactics and long-term strategies

Implementation

• Present the results of our work in a report and/or a closed or open forum, as desired.

Innovation

• Remain available to discuss any future internal or external developments which affect your brand including new markets, cultural shifts, acquisitions, etc.