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We are a bridge between the Street and the Suite.
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We forge meaningful relationships with audiences through 3 key differentiators:
We help clients navigate a fast-moving, chaotic world.
We turn chaos into clarity and ambiguity into answers.
As architects of the future, we help clients see the way forward, by using strategic imagination to build differentiated, meaningful brands - that communicate with empathy and build relevance.
Cultural Operating System
Our Approach
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DISCOVER
COMPANY CONTEXT
Unearth the mores of the internal culture, to illuminate its strengths, key equities, weaknesses, and misalignments.
AUDIENCE INSIGHT
Define the audience, be painting a picture of who they are, how they really live, and what motivates them past the point of consuption.
DEFINE
BELIEF SYSTEM
Clarify the soul of a brand, its foundational world-view and how it shows up in the world to solve problems.
BRAND POSITIONING
Stake out a distinct space in the hearts, minds and culture of the audience.
DESIGN
CREATIVE STRATEGY
Hone a singular idea, to drive relevance through your brand’s creative storytelling and experience.
DELIVER
BRAND INTEGRATION
Drive the strategy from end to end - from briefing, to agency selection, agency management and creative development - ensuring clarity of collaboration and the facilitation of break-through communications.
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“Understanding is the bridge between two minds”
— Matshona Dhiliwago, Philosopher
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Balancing the Story and the Spreadsheet.
Our approach unites perspectives that are frequently at odds with each other. We’ve taken our separate backgrounds from the client and agency sides of business and woven them into a unified practice.
Combining our experiences from working at L’Oreal, Revlon, Kiehl’s, Def Jam, Naked, Wieden + Kennedy, McCann and MediaVest, we have more than 30 years working with world-class brands.
Chuck Welch
founder + chief strategy officer
Nandi Welch
partner + head of business strategy
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Rupture is a game-changing partner – Chuck & Nandi - along with their village of creative experts and specialists - are our ‘go-to’ experts on some of our biggest brand challenges. The Rupture team consistently bring the trifecta of human-centricity, brand creativity always deeply rooted in the cultural zeitgeist - to complex portfolio, brand and business problems. Each engagement with Rupture we know the status quo will be meaningfully challenged, fresh insights unlocked and barriers broken. Our brands and teams always gain richer, sharper and stronger strategies and communication plans.
— Emma de Szoeke, SVP Insights, Data & Business Growth, Moët Hennessy USA
“Rupture was brought in to help us with complicated, brand-related work. Their thoughtfulness and external perspective helped bring in relevant cultural insight. They forged a path of openness within the internal groups to help us move forward collaboratively beyond just this campaign. The strategic thinking and perspective they brought will be invaluable well beyond the project.”
“Rupture has been an exceptional partner for us in shaping our brand & communications strategy. Collaborative, creative and challenging (in all the right ways), they excel at pushing the team to develop transformative ideas that are deeply rooted in culture and the consumer.”
“I was blown away by their work. They turned our ask to re-promote existing products into an opportunity to make us take a hard look at ourselves. In the end, we answered long overdue questions. Something had been missing from our earlier campaigns and they found it. It felt so right that I took the brand positioning and strategy to Fresh’s global lead as part of what the brand should stand for worldwide.”
“Nike Cultivator was a was promising direct to consumer startup within our incubator, that that needed a clear strategic direction. Rupture Studio came in and connected the dots between business, marketing, culture and lifestyle to develop an inspiring strategy. They not only understood what we needed for the platform, they took it somewhere unexpected and aligned our strategy approach to a larger Nike strategic directive.”
“The work that Rupture did for us was a true game changer. Because of them we’re now able to give our brand what it needs and execute on a real plan. They helped us reframe the opportunity for Volcan on many fronts – including refining the consumer audience, rearticulating the brand idea, and identifying cultural territories/behaviors/narratives for Volcan to include in the strategy moving forward.”
“Rupture’s strategic point of view was truly inspirational. They held provocative workshops where they helped us dive deep to define the challenge and clarify the opportunity for the brand. They brought unique insight, energy, and ideas to the table to crystalize the brand’s ethos and reason for being, clarifying the audience and helping us understand the cultural context. They challenged us to get beyond the norms of the category and see the potential of the brand and how we could be more impactful in people’s lives and culture. Hopefully, this catalyzes a spread of new thinking throughout the company.”
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