Explore a selection of case studies showcasing our strategic work across diverse industries.
BIOTECH STARTUPS
THE WILD WILD WEST OF CELL-BASED FOOD, LONGEVITY, AND THE MICROBIOME
Residing in Southern California, we're surrounded by a constant stream of visionary thinkers, biotech innovators, and a shared commitment to improve global health. Our project portfolio spans from food technology to cancer diagnostics to anti-aging supplements. Throughout, a consistent communications need emerges: to translate cutting-edge science effectively and to foster trust in the innovation, as well as the people behind it. Our approach includes producing innovative multi-media content to engage our audience, cultivating strong relationships with reporters at specific trade publications, garnering awards, and executing outstanding international speaking opportunities.
FROM KIOSK TO A BELOVED COFFEE BRAND
UPENDING THE COFFEE MARKET
When a specialty coffee roaster in Southern California sought to distinguish itself in a field dominated by prestige roasters in San Francisco and Portland, we shifted the narrative to highlight how its progressive farmer compensation practices helped establish a new, qualitative standard for valuating premium coffee. Supported by the research of an Emory University economist, our efforts yielded a Wall Street Journal feature reporting how the roaster's face-to-face, direct-trade agreements with farmers in global coffee-producing regions successfully circumvented volatile price structures set by commodities exchanges. With the incentive of fair market value driven by quality, crops improved seasonally, positioning both farmer and roaster to meet rising consumer demand for a superior tasting product with a globally minded back story.
WINE DIRECT FROM THE BARREL
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR INNOVATION
A longtime South African wine industry vet moved to Southern California with plans to embark on the next chapter of his career: a deceptively modest neighborhood-centric urban winery with the potential to radically alter the wine business. Thanks to an ingenious mechanism of his own devise, the winery can pour wine directly from the barrel without risking spoilage via oxidation, drastically reducing the cost, waste, and preservatives associated with bottling. With a patent pending, promoting his invention too soon could undermine its success, so we first established a record of brand quality. The brand's early vintages, produced by a master vintner with premium fruit from Napa and Sonoma growing regions, were submitted by traditional means to wine reviews and competitions, garnering double gold ratings and the recognition of influential sommeliers.
POLYNESIAN ISLANDS
BUILDING A HOUSE OF MULTIPLE SCIENCES
The intricate task of harmonizing commercial, scientific, and cultural goals came to the fore on a French Polynesian island estate once owned by a Hollywood legend. Here, a unique symbiotic model for ecotourism and biological research was developed. While operating independently, a research facility on the island serves as a de facto amenity to its neighboring, high-end resort, affording guests an opportunity to gain deeper knowledge of the local ecosystems and engage with the scientists surveying them. Their subsequent emotional investment would unlock unique fundraising potential to support the facility's research, but before this could come together, we needed to address potential public relations issues raised by installing a research facility on an island with historic significance to its archipelago's native culture. Native leaders conveyed a ceremonial blessing on the project, pronouncing it "Te Fare rau ihi," or "The House of Multiple Sciences" as a pledge to establish a cultural education center on the island to preserve its history.
SMOOTHIES AND New FITNESS Trends
PIVOTING WITH A SHIFTING MARKET
A sea change in the health and wellness industry shifted consumer demand, a publicly traded smoothie company sought to shed its high calorie image by introducing a healthy new line of fruit and vegetable offerings. In addition to procuring professional athlete endorsements, we recruited a team of well-known nutritionists to assemble a Healthy Lifestyle Council, tasked to advise the public on adopting a more fruit and vegetable-rich diet to counter health issues, such as childhood obesity. After a menu launch anchored around colorful photos of fresh produce, we continued to promote a healthy lifestyle message by producing an annual fitness expo, showcasing new fitness trends compelling enough to draw media coverage, evincing a brand in genuine support of advancing the sort of healthful living practices its customers share.