HUMANISING BRANDS
Michelle Blake & Associates
Purpose | Strategy | Insight
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We help brands do good, and do better.
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With purposeful, human-centred strategy
Innovation and new propositions
Always rooted in real and powerful human truth
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A beautifully-blended collective of senior practitioners. ​
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Fusing consultancy, client-side and research expertise
Bespoke to your needs
Imaginative, thoughtful, pacey approach
Starting people first, with empathy & imagination
Passionately purpose-driven, values-led
We're joyful collaborators, always curious about the world
PHILOSOPHY
One day I realised that the brands I buy are those that, yes, do a job (and do it well!), but where I have a choice - and mostly I do - I actively choose brands whose values align with mine.
And I started to think about what this meant… because although I’m just one person - apparently there are more and more people out there who are thinking this way. And I realised that what it’s about is wanting companies and brands to behave like the good people we know and value. We want them to have a point of view on the world, to be a net contributor, and we want to rely on the fact that they’re trying to do the right thing - even if they don’t always get it right. (Who among us does?)
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MB&a is about helping humanise brands, starting from purpose, what’s at the heart of the brand. Helping brands engage with people and the world in a truly meaningful way. To turbocharge the success of companies and brands that deserve to be better noticed and more loved.
WHAT CLIENTS SAY
MB&a understood our brand immediately and excelled at stakeholder management throughout the project. They developed a fantastic long-term innovation strategy, driven on consumer, brand and commercial insight, going above and beyond the brief.
Rebecca Cottee, Yeo Valley Organic
A real joy working with MB&a. Loved our fantastic, perfectly-assembled team, who’ve helped us get to a ground-breaking behaviour change strategy that we’re confident will have a real impact on our water saving targets! Would hugely recommend!
Melissa Painter, Affinity Water
I’ve worked with Michelle over a number of projects now, and it’s always a pleasure. But it’s the real thought partnership she offers that I particularly value. Really good at listening and getting to grips with the issues, and flexible in her thinking, Michelle can see through the clutter to deliver that little bit of magic that’s needed to get to a really good outcome.
Michelle's also very skilled at managing multiple points of view sensitively, which is invaluable on challenging projects with lots of stakeholders!
Sarah McDonald, Unilever
Michelle co-led the team that supported our relaunch of the Murad brand post the Unilever acquisition, helping us knit together a brand story that encompassed the richness of our history and product truths, and got the buy in of the founder, Dr. Murad.
Have loved Michelle’s ongoing commitment - even post project delivery, Michelle’s continued to be a great support!
Charlotte Settle, Murad
Michelle provided strong thought leadership to our strategic brand development project, driving for results at high speed, but never neglecting precision, pushing her team to run the extra mile for Mars, which was valued internally and resulted in further engagements.
It's always a pleasure to work with Michelle as she partners up with you in real 24/7 team work and coaches the collective brains to spark to their very best!
Robert Haller, Mars Petcare Europe
Michelle led a team of consultants in scanning the market and developing a portfolio of new business venture and growth opportunities for us. She rapidly understood our specific business situation and focused on the right opportunities for us, bringing innovative fresh thinking and challenging our preconceptions.
Michelle worked very effectively with my team to ensure ownership and buy-in to the results.
Matt Friend, Carbon Trust
Michelle looked for us at how companies and charities around the world were using community based digital / financial inclusion schemes and innovations as a key component of their brands.
As well as being incredibly personable, Michelle produced a very thorough, well organised report, helping us explore opportunities we could progress, and evaluating ease of implementation. I really valued Michelle's contribution!
Richard Mason, Lloyds Banking Group
INSPIRING CLIENTS
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SERVICES
Experienced. Imaginative. Future-forward.
See the bigger picture, imagine something new, and recognise what it takes practically to get there. Fusing rigorous analysis – a real desire to get under the skin of things – with insightful market understanding to rethink purpose, develop strategic options, invent new brands and imagine new propositions. Want to find out more?
Get in touch
HUMANISEÂ BRANDS
Find the story that's worth telling, what meaning can and should your company or brand have for people. Identify purpose, and position your brand for success - in a world where people are increasingly hard to reach, and where there's more and more noise. Humanising your brand for a digital world. Want to find out more? Get in touch
FOCUSÂ PORTFOLIOS
You know where you're headed, but is your brand portfolio fit for purpose? Do you have the right line-up, are brands positioned where you need them to be, are there new opportunities you've not got covered... Get set up to succeed. Want to find out more? Get in touch
INVENTÂ OPPORTUNITY
People don't buy strategy - they buy experiences and stuff…
Imagine the right innovation platforms, create innovation pipelines, and invent new propositions that truly deliver against your purpose and strategy. Accelerate growth for the future. Want to find out more? Get in touch
INTERPRETÂ THE LANDSCAPE
It's easy to end up head down getting through the day to day of a job, and lose sight of what's going on in terms of trends and your competition (new and emerging), where are the commercial possibilities. Be prepared to spot what's coming next, and identify new opportunities / upcoming threats. Want to find out more? Get in touch
MICHELLE & TEAM
My Story
Previously Founding Partner at Core Purpose, Strategy Director at Big Green Door, and Planning Partner at Ogilvy & Mather London… I’ve uncovered purpose, developed strategic options, invented new brands and reimagined the future.
With more than 25+ years of management and brand consultancy plus industry experience, I founded MB&a to do more of the work I love doing with people I love doing it with!
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‘Client-side’ and management consultancy experience, together with an MBA from London Business School, means that I totally get the commercial imperatives and implementation issues. With experience across industries (B2B/B2C, start-ups to blue-chips)... and geographies, from London to continental Europe to the Nordics, and from Shanghai to the USA, I bring a usefully fresh and broad perspective - and a good smattering of languages.
I live between London, Malta and a small fishing village in southern Sweden with my husband. My daughter is now off on to her own adventures in sustainability. Plus there's our cat, Pepper.
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I'd love to chat and introduce my wonderful collaborators, so do...
STRONGER TOGETHER
Meaningful collaborations. Blended skills.
A beautifully balanced and blended core of senior practitioners fusing agency, consultancy and client-side experience and perspectives. Our ‘film crew’ model results in just the right team for you and the challenge at hand…
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Purposeful, strategic
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Expert, practised
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Insightful, practical
