Hi! I'm Emma Folz,
An independent brand strategy director with global experience and a passion for social impact.
With over 12 years of experience, I’ve led teams and developed powerful brand strategies for clients in a range of industries, including CPG, international non-profits, and startups.
Ways we can partner
As an independent contractor, I specialize in long term engagements where I can directly integrate with teams and lead high impact work streams.
- Agency Partners
I partner with agencies looking to bolster their brand strategy teams.
Best for:
– Adding capacity at the leadership level
– Covering parental leaves and sabbaticals
– Managing leadership transitions
- Direct Clients
I work with client leaders to take their brand and marketing to the next level.
Best for:
– Brand launches
– Brand refreshes
– Building out marketing teams and operations
My areas of expertise include:
Brand strategy is the cornerstone of my practice. Brand purpose, consumer insights and segmentation, trends analysis, and brand architecture are particular areas of focus.
Leading teams to take on big brand challenges inspires me. My leadership experience in a contract position includes covering a sabbatical for an agency’s Chief Strategy Officer, managing an agency-wide emerging talent training program, and serving as the interim Director of Marketing and Communications for a non-profit in Guatemala.
Leveraging my talents to drive social impact is incredibly important to me. I prioritize working with brands that are doing their part to help create a more sustainable, healthy, enjoyable, and equitable world for all.
My worldview is heavily informed by my experience living in Central America and working on international development initiatives for over three years. I bring a global, multicultural perspective to my work for national and international brands alike.
About Emma
I am a corporately-trained brand strategist who is passionate about helping great brands reach their maximum potential.
As an independent brand strategist, I’ve tackled big brand strategy challenges for over 25 brands, led departments, guided founders, and helped teams improve their internal processes.
My diverse career background has been propelled by a relentless curiosity, an enthusiasm for learning about people and culture, and a desire to make a positive impact.
I started my career in inventory and sales planning at Target and J.Crew before transitioning into brand strategy consulting with the Seiden Group in New York. I was rapidly and steadily promoted as a brand strategist while working on a variety of brands in Bayer’s consumer care portfolio, particularly Dr. Scholl’s.
Craving more direct social impact and global experience, I moved to Central America to learn Spanish and gain experience in international development. While there, I started my own brand strategy consulting practice and worked directly with clients in Central America and in the US.
Case Studies
Interested in hearing more about a particular project that’s not listed here? I’d be happy to share additional case studies.
Relaunching an iconic brand post acquisition
When Bayer acquired the Dr. Scholl’s brand in 2014, the brand suffered from a multi-year sales decline, a sprawling product portfolio, and an unstructured innovation plan. I played a critical role as an account lead and brand strategist on a multi-year, cross-agency effort to overhaul the brand top to bottom.
Activities: Account Management · Brand Architecture · Naming · New Product Development · Product Claims · Brand Positioning · Brand Purpose · Consumer Segmentation and Insights
Results: The brand relaunch successfully reversed the sales decline and the relaunch advertising campaign won a Silver Effie.
Driving brand and organizational transformation
In Fall 2019, Mayan Families (now Natün Guatemala) was rebuilding after a contentious split with the organization’s original founders. New leadership was working towards transforming the organization’s operating model to support locally-led, sustainable programming. I was hired for 6-months as the interim Director of Communications and Marketing to relaunch the brand, rebuild the Communications team, and drive Q4 fundraising campaign communications.
Activities: Team Management · Department Operations · Q4 Fundraising Campaigns · Brand Strategy Guidelines · Brand Architecture · Digital Marketing · Website Relaunch · Naming Exploratory
Results: The brand strategy work served as a driving foundation for evolving the organization towards its new vision and mission. The communications team was rebuilt with new processes to support both internal and cross-functional collaboration. Natün had a successful Q4 2019 fundraising season with the highest grossing Giving Tuesday campaign in the organization’s history.
Energizing stakeholders around a powerful new brand identity
Potawatomi Business Development Corp (now Potawatomi Ventures) is a tribe-owned holding company dedicated to growing wealth and investments for the Forest County Potawatomi. 20 years into the business, a lack of brand understanding and recognition was inhibiting the brand from additional growth. PBDC hired Hanson Dodge as their first outside agency to help clarify and amplify the brand for their complex web of stakeholders and subsidiary businesses. I was contracted by Hanson Dodge to lead strategy at the agency while the Chief Strategy Officer was on a 2-month sabbatical. I owned strategy on this engagement.
Activities: Brand Discovery Workshops · Qualitative Research · Competitive Analysis · Trends Analysis · Brand Positioning · Stakeholder Mapping · Creative Brief · Naming · Brand Visual Identity
Results: The brand strategy work energized key stakeholders and positioned PBDC for growth. The success of the engagement helped unlock three additional new business opportunities for Hanson Dodge with PBDC.
Modernizing emergency relief and challenging category leaders
Canary is a female-founded fintech startup whose flagship offering is Grant Circle, an enterprise emergency relief fund platform. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a surge of interest in employer-funded emergency relief funds. Canary needed a powerful brand to position itself as a modern solution against the two incumbent brands dominating the market. I was contracted by the co-founder responsible for sales and marketing to help align the three co-founders around a shared brand strategy. I oversaw the development of a brand visual identity, new website, and updated sales and marketing materials. I also managed the process for hiring and transitioning to a full-time marketing manager once the updated brand was launched.
Activities: Brand Analysis · Brand Purpose · Audience Profiles · Brand Architecture · Brand Visual Identity · Website · Brand Relaunch Support · Recruiting · Project Management
Results: Armed with an updated brand and a shared vision, the Canary team was able to expand its client pipeline from smaller companies to contracts with recognized regional and national players.
Get in touch
Interested in working together? Please message me below or email me directly. I look forward to hearing from you!