Let's be clear.

We help brands connect, without the static.
Senior strategy. High-caliber production.
No media markup.
No agency overhead.

Drop the Needle →
◀ Input — GAINSTAGE — Output ▶
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What we believe

Five truths.
This is how we work.

01

Clarity is a form of respect.

02

Louder rarely wins.

03

Customer loyalty is a two-way street.

04

Attention is a gift. Reward it.

05

Talk too much and your audience tunes out.

How it works

Four steps.
No surprises.

01
The Conversation
Real talk about your business: where it is, where you want it, and what's in the way. No pitches. We decide together if it makes sense.
02
The Intake
We build a clear understanding of your brand — the voice, the gaps, the opportunities. Then we map a 90-day plan around realistic goals.
03
We Go Live
The work begins. You have a direct line to the people doing it. Nothing gets lost in translation.
04
We Iterate
Every month, we review and adjust. We're not precious about old ideas. We keep what works.
Levels of involvement

Three tiers.
Pick what fits.

Tier 01

Presence

For brands that need their signal set — voice, direction, the core of showing up consistently.

$2,499 / month Accepting founding clients
01 / The proposition

We define your voice, your narrative, and the assets that carry it.
We don't run your calendar.
We make it worth running.

Who this is for

Founders and in-house marketing teams who know they have a brand — and know it isn't landing the way it should.

What Presence includes.
Per quarter / ongoing
  • 01
    Quarterly brand narrative
    Voice, positioning, the story your brand tells about itself — written, debated, and revised until it sounds like you on your best day.
  • 02
    Two branded video pieces per month
    Short-form, anchored in the narrative. Built to work as social, site content, or sales enablement. Produced in-house, not briefed out.
  • 03
    Asset & template library
    A working kit. Type, layout, tone references, and templates, so your team can execute inside the system without starting from scratch each time.
  • 04
    Monthly creative direction call
    One working session a month. Direct line to the person making the work. We look at what has shipped, what's next, and what needs to be reconsidered.
Presence sets the signal.

This package is designed to give your team a clear foundation to work from. If you need something more — like a partner to conceive and produce a monthly campaign, anchor video, and supporting assets — consider our Punch package.

Apply for Presence →
The signal path
INPUT Your brand, as it sounds today 01 / THE GAINSTAGE Voice · Narrative · System We set the level before anything amplifies. [ 0 dB ] OUTPUT What your team works from, every day VOICE · NARRATIVE Quarterly Brand narrative · Voice doc VIDEO · ASSETS Monthly 2 video pieces · template kit SIGNAL · SET
Fig. 01 · Presence 1 gainstage · 2 channels
Tier 02

Punch

For brands past setup. One monthly campaign — concept, video, everything — that shifts how people see you.

$3,499 / month Accepting founding clients
02 / The proposition

One campaign a month: concept, copy, direction, production.
Not a content calendar.
A point of view that reflects the truth and values of your brand.

Who this is for

Founders and marketing leads who've outgrown the freelancer-of-the-month pattern and want senior thinking on a monthly rhythm.

What Punch includes.
Per month / ongoing
  • 01
    Monthly campaign concept
    One idea with teeth. Briefed, debated, and written before anything goes into production — so the work is the argument, not the output.
  • 02
    Anchor video piece
    The centerpiece: thirty to ninety seconds, built to hold up as a :30, a social cut, or a page-top film. Directed, scored, finished.
  • 03
    Supporting campaign assets
    Stills, cutdowns, OOH concepts, web modules — whatever the concept needs to extend past the film and live across the channels you're in.
  • 04
    Long-form piece or campaign email
    A written anchor (editorial, manifesto, or campaign email) that conveys the campaign idea in a comprehensive, meaningful, substantial way.
  • 05
    Biweekly strategy call
    Two working sessions a month. Direct line to the person making the work. No account managers playing telephone.
Punch energizes your brand with monthly campaigns.

This package is designed to deliver one complete, considered campaign each month. If you need something more, like creative direction across every channel, ongoing oversight, and a partner for the unpredictable, consider our Peak package.

Apply for Punch →
The signal path
INPUT Your brand, your problem, the month ahead 01 / CONCEPT The idea with teeth One monthly campaign. Briefed. Defensible. Written first. 02 / THE GAINSTAGE Direction · Production · Craft Senior CD behind every frame. -20-10-5 -3-1 [ 0 ]+3 03 / OUTPUT The campaign, shipped VIDEO Anchor + cutdowns STILLS Supporting OOH · social WRITTEN Long-form piece · email DIRECTION Biweekly strategy HIGH-FIDELITY IMPACT
Fig. 02 · Punch 2 stages · 4 output channels
Tier 03 · Limited

Peak

Full creative partnership. Embedded. Two clients at a time. That's not a tactic — it's the honest limit.

$5,999 / month Limited · 2 max
03 / The proposition

For brands that need the kind of embedded creative leadership usually reserved for a full-time senior CD — without hiring one. Strategy, concepting, execution across every channel, and on-call access for the work that doesn't wait for next month. Two clients at a time. Past that, the work stops being the work.

Who this is for

Brands with real momentum — regional institutions, growth-stage companies, founders who know the next chapter needs senior creative leadership, not another freelance roster.

What Peak includes.
Continuous / on-call
  • 01
    Campaign architecture across all channels
    Not a monthly campaign — a creative system. Multiple concurrent campaigns, with a through-line that makes every touchpoint feel like the same brand speaking.
  • 02
    Anchor film + sustained production
    A flagship anthem piece each quarter, plus ongoing shorter-form production to keep the brand moving between milestones.
  • 03
    Quarterly brand audit & calibration
    Every ninety days, we pressure-test the system. What's working, what's slipping, what needs sharpening. A real document, not a deck full of compliments.
  • 04
    On-call creative direction
    Direct line for the unpredictable work — last-minute decks, PR moments, launches, the thing that came up yesterday. Answered like a partner would answer it.
  • 05
    Custom reporting & creative review
    Work-in-progress reviews, reference decks, production notes — built for how your leadership actually reviews creative, not for a standard template.
Peak is everything we do, for one brand.

There is no tier above this one. Two clients at any given moment — that's the cap, and it's the honest cap. If the roster is full, there's a waitlist, and we work through it when something opens. Past Peak, you don't need a better tier. You need a full agency with media and PR — and we'll tell you who.

Apply for Peak →
The signal path
INPUTS · MULTI Every signal your brand is putting out, all at once IN · 01 Brand IN · 02 Campaigns IN · 03 Product IN · 04 On-call 01 / ARCHITECTURE Systemized creative direction One through-line. Many surfaces. 02 / THE MASTER BUS Senior CD · Embedded · On-call Every piece of work passes through the same hands. STRATEGY CONCEPT PRODUCTION MSTR 03 / OUTPUT · ALL CHANNELS One brand, coherent across everything FILM Anthem SOCIAL Always-on OOH Print · env. WEB Modules EMAIL Editorial ON-CALL Always QUARTERLY AUDIT · CALIBRATION MAX GAIN · CALIBRATED
Fig. 03 · Peak 4 inputs · master bus · full feedback

Ad spend goes directly to the platforms — no markup, no middleman. You own every account, every dollar, every data point. If we ever part ways, everything stays with you.

When the roster is full, we close. There's a waitlist, and we work through it honestly when something opens up.

Off the record

Hit Single.

FROM $7,499 · PROJECT

Not every brand needs a retainer. Sometimes you need one thing, done right. A campaign. A launch. A brand refresh. A film. A piece of work that moves the needle and stands on its own.

Flat-fee projects, scoped honestly at the start. Same senior creative direction, no retainer commitment. Available to new clients and existing retainer clients whose needs run outside their tier.

The studio

Small on purpose.
Serious by design.

We are a studio. Not a team of teams. Not a holding company with a name you'd forget by Tuesday.

Sixteen years of agency creative experience across restaurants, financial services, spirits, healthcare, public institutions, and a lot of businesses that were genuinely great at what they did — and just needed the marketing to catch up. Real fluency in regulated categories — alcohol, financial, healthcare — where the rules shape the creative as much as the brief does.

Strategy, copy, design, video, social, email, brand voice. One studio, one bill, one point of contact. Everything a traditional agency would hand off to four departments — handled here, by the people who actually made it.

We keep the roster small because that's the only way to do the work justice. Limited to six clients. When you're on it, you have our full attention. When it's full, we say so and keep a waitlist.

Award-winning creative direction. Based in the American South.

On the level

Just to be
clear.

What's a gain stage, anyway?
In audio engineering, gain staging is the discipline of setting every signal in the chain correctly — before it gets amplified. Get it wrong early and you amplify the noise along with everything else. Get it right and everything downstream sounds the way it's supposed to.

That's what we do for brands. We work on the signal before it hits the world — the voice, the message, the story worth telling. Because if you amplify a muddy signal, you just get louder mud.
Is AI involved in the work?
Yes — as a production tool. The strategy, the voice, the judgment about what's worth making — that's always human. AI helps us move faster on execution so more of the budget goes toward the thinking. If you have questions about how we use it for your specific work, just ask. We're happy to talk through it.
Do you work with brands in regulated categories?
Yes — a lot. Years of agency work across spirits, financial services, and healthcare means we know where the rules live: what you can say, where you can place it, which platforms are actively de-ranking regulated content, and how the law shifts state to state. The expensive way to learn this is from a burned ad account. The cheaper way is hiring someone who's already shipped compliant work in the category.
What about ad spend?
Goes straight to the platforms. No markup, no management fee layered on top. You own every account and every dollar in it. If we ever part ways, everything stays with you. That's just how it should work.
How do I know if this is right for my business?
Apply and we'll have an honest conversation. We'll tell you what we think we can do for you — and if we're not the right fit, we'll tell you that too. No pressure, no pitch. We'd rather send you in the right direction than take on work we can't do well.
How long is the commitment?
Three months minimum, then month to month. Three months is the shortest honest window to actually show you something real — anything less and we'd just be making deliverables, not moving a brand.
What if you're full?
We keep a waitlist and work through it in order. We'll be upfront about where you are and roughly when something might open. We don't rush current clients out the door to make room — that's not a great way to treat people.
Will I actually talk to the people doing the work?
Every time. Direct line. No account manager translating between you and the creative. When you ask a question, the person answering is the person making the thing. That's the whole point of keeping this small.
Honest about fit

Who this isn't for.

We'd rather say this out loud than waste a week of your time and ours figuring it out the hard way.

→ Businesses that want a dashboard of vanity metrics instead of work that actually moves them.

→ Anyone who needs a weekly tally of deliverables to feel like something's happening.

→ Brands that aren't ready to have a point of view — or aren't willing to defend one.

→ Brands that need a full agency with media buying, PR, and account management layered in. We have a ceiling for a reason. Past that, you need a different shape of partner — and we'll tell you who.

→ Anyone looking for the cheapest option. We're not it.

Start here

Let's get your
signal right.

Tell us what you're working on. We read everything and get back to you within a couple of days — usually sooner.

◉ Received

We'll be in touch — usually within 48 hours. Go make something in the meantime.

Drop the Needle →