In 2024, marketing decision-makers have more choices than ever when it comes to hiring an agency. There are strategy boutiques, full-service agencies, design shops, production studios, advertising agencies and a host of other options. Here at Redscout, we are a brand consultancy, and we help our clients build the confidence to navigate strategic, creative and product challenges. In this article, we’ll unpack what it means to be a brand consultancy, and when to hire one kind of agency vs another.
What Is a Brand Consultancy?
At Redscout, our team has been answering big brand questions for nearly 25 years. During that time, we’ve seen a variety of RFPs come through the door. Clients call us for projects big and small, for everything from rebrands, north star and visual identity work to innovation and employee engagement. At the center of these projects is helping our clients know which bets to make to position them for growth.
Brand consultancies like Redscout work on business challenges related to their client’s brand. These can be visual or strategic, related to employee strategy or product innovation. We work across sectors and disciplines–and the key thread that ties our work together is brand. All of our work helps clients realize the full potential of their brand and team by bridging insights, ideas, and implementation.
Brand Consultancy Project Types
While design studios mainly focus on creative work and advertising agencies on marketing campaigns, brand consultancies work on a broader range of product types. At Redscout, our projects fall into three categories: strategy, design and implementation. Below is a breakdown of what those projects typically look like.
Strategy
Strategy projects typically answer fundamental questions about how a client’s brand operates and shows up in the world. Who are we for? What do we believe? Why do we exist? Here are the five most common types of strategy projects we work on as a brand consultancy.
- Brand Strategy: Defining your core value proposition and how it shows up in the world
- Innovation Strategy: Ideating and launching new products that are aligned to your brand
- Portfolio Architecture & Naming: Helping define how your products and brands should work together
- Qual and Quant Research: Discovering trends to help your business make smarter decisions
- Audience Definition: Identifying and defining your target audience and their demographic and psychographic characteristics
Design
Brand consultancies like Redscout leverage design to solve clients’ challenges. One of the benefits of using a brand consultancy for design challenges is that we use our foundation in brand strategy to build design systems that reflect the value proposition and unique attributes of your brand. Here are some of the common projects we take on.
- Visual Identity & Systems: Building a cohesive and ownable brand identity that helps you stand out and communicate your value
- Website Design: Applying a strong visual identity to your brand’s digital front door
- Packaging: Bringing your brand identity to life across SKUs and formats
Organization & Implementation
Organization and implementation projects answer questions related to the inner workings of a client’s brand. How do employees interact with your brand internally? Does leadership have the confidence and clarity needed to navigate a personnel change? Below are some of the organization and implementation projects we work on.
- Go-to-Market Strategy: Bringing new products to receptive buyers
- Creative Communications: Implementing a new brand strategy in our key communication channels
- Change Management: Helping companies navigate a leadership change with confidence
- Socialization: Rolling out new corporate or brand strategy across an organization and translating it into easily understood messaging
Other Types of Agencies
While brand agencies like Redscout bring in multiple disciplines from strategy to design to research to approach client challenges, there are some projects that require a narrower lens. For more specialized projects, here are some other common types of agencies and their areas of specialization. Sometimes, Redscout will partner with these types of agencies on the execution of a campaign or creative vision, or a specialist will come in after the core brand strategy is set.
Design Studios
Design studios mainly work on projects related to visual identity and physical design. If your core brand identity is already in place, but you need help extending that design onto a new product’s packaging or website redesign, you may want to call a design agency. Design studios will often work from an existing brand strategy or visual identity and apply it onto new surfaces.
Advertising Agencies
Ad agencies work primarily on ideating, developing and launching advertising campaigns. In 2024, some advertising agencies also work on programmatic media buying and helping secure inventory for ads to run. Consider working with an advertising agency if your core brand strategy is set and you’re looking to get more awareness for your brand or drive more sales for a specific product.
Social Media Agencies
Social agencies help brands manage their social media strategy and execution. This work can range from tactical production of posts and captions to high-level decision making around prioritization of channels and campaign ideation. Consumer brands in particular can benefit from having an agency manage their social media strategy, especially if their in-house team is lean.
When to Call Redscout
At Redscout, we love working on complex challenges related to our clients’ brands. If you’re looking to build a more confident brand that helps drive your business forward, reach out to us at growth@redscout.com to learn more about how we work.
