Brand strategy with an anthropologist’s eye

Kaylin Goldstein, Principal

Kaylin is a brand strategist with training in anthropology (PhD, University of Chicago). For 20 years — at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Leo Burnett and now independently — she’s helped companies figure out what they really mean to people and where to go next. She partners with marketing leaders, founders and creative agencies who are building or rebuilding a brand and need a senior partner who can frame it in a way they couldn’t have gotten to on their own.

WhO we wOrk With

Marketing Leaders

You recognize the importance of creating a strong strategic foundation, and it’s more than your team can handle.

Selected clients: De’Longhi, Moen, Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, Laguna Seca, Carrom

Founders

You’ve developed a strong product and are attracting interest but feel like you’re missing the narrative that will catapult you to the next level. You want a fresh set of eyes on what you're building and ideas for how to grab outsized attention on limited budgets.

Selected founder clients: Oddball, PACT!, Empower Rideshare

Creative Agencies

You have a pitch in two weeks, a challenging brand architecture project or a C-suite presentation that requires a POV they haven’t heard before. The stakes are high enough that you want senior thinking on it and need someone who can jump right in.

Selected agency partners: Slap Global, FINN Partners, Cultivator, Sukle, Fortnight Collective, Born & Bred, Good Conduct, Markham Yard

What we DO‍

The Re-Frame

A 4-week engagement designed to shift how your team understands the brand and what makes it distinctive. For when teams are stuck, leadership has changed or growth has stalled.

Output: Now/Next framework and Brand-on-a-Page

Brand Deep Dive

An 8-12-week immersion into your customer: their motivations, behaviors and trade-offs. First we identify the hypotheses and knowledge gaps, then carry out the learning plan with methodologies (qual, quant, social listening, expert interviews etc) designed to bring you into closer contact with the people you're designing for.

Output: Field Sessions, Research Report and Implementation Workshop

Clarity Session

For this live 90-minute working session designed specifically for founders and builders, you come with your vision, we come with questions that push you to dig deeper.

Output: Written synthesis of what we heard, what we see and where the narrative heat is, based on 20 years of experience working across categories on brands that have successfully scaled

FOR AGENCIES:
STRATEGY ON-CALL

Seasoned strategy director (ex-Crispin, ex-Leo) who can take the reins on a pitch, partner with the existing team, or architect your agency’s strategic approach. Already immersed in multiple consumer categories (CPG, financial services, health, tech, premium lifestyle, insurance) and complex B2B offerings. For when a client is looking for more than the regular team can deliver or a project calls for a senior-level strategist and there isn’t one in-house.