Strategy Intake — the DK | creative studio

Before anything gets designed, we need to understand what we're building — and why it exists.

This form works for any kind of brand: a small business just launching, a hotel group looking for cohesion across properties, a service business with multiple offerings under one roof, a product on a shelf.

It takes about an hour. Answer in your own words — short, plain, half-formed is fine. The unguarded line is usually the one we use.

Your answers save automatically in this browser as you type. When you're done, export them as a single document or print to PDF using the bar at the bottom.

Made in California, growing brands worldwide.

01

Foundation

Produces — Brand type · Why we exist · Vision · Spine phrase

Start here. Why this brand exists, where it's going, and what failure would actually look like.

1.0

What kind of brand is this?

Pick the closest fit. If it's a hybrid, pick the one the customer encounters first — and answer the follow-ups for both later in the form.

A Service · studio · agency · firm

B Product · physical good · packaged or shelf-bound

C Destination · place · hospitality · property

D Hybrid · two of the above held together

1.1

Why does this brand exist? Why did you start it?

Don't tell us what it does. Tell us why. What got you to start this, and what makes you keep going?

1.2

In five years, what does success look like?

Be specific. Revenue, reach, team size, the press mention you want, the shelf you want to be on, the property you want to be compared to. Numbers and texture both.

1.3

What would have to be true for this brand to fail on its own terms?

Picture this brand three years from now and you feel it has drifted. What happened?

1.4

One brand whose posture you envy.

Not their look — their stance. The attitude. Could be from any industry.

02

Audience

Produces — Positioning · Audience profile · Selectivity

Who buys it, books it, or hires it — and who doesn't. Both answers matter equally.

2.1

Describe the ideal client, customer, or guest in concrete terms.

Not personas with names — real attributes. Stage, size, industry, mindset, budget. (For products: who reaches for it. For destinations: who books it.)

2.1 · Product

Where does this product live, and against what?

For product brands. Where the customer encounters it, what sits beside it, and what they're choosing between.

2.1 · Destination

Where is this place, and how do guests find it?

For destinations, properties, hospitality, and place-based brands.

2.2

Three options in front of them. Why do they choose yours?

Finish this sentence: people choose us because no one else can ___. A customer, a guest, a buyer — someone with real alternatives.

2.3

Name names. Right fit. Wrong fit.

Two real past customers, guests, or clients who were exactly right. One who wasn't. One sentence each on what made them right or wrong.

Right fit

Wrong fit

03

Point of view

Produces — Brand pillars · Manifesto · "We believe"

What this brand actually believes — the point of view that competitors either don't have or won't say out loud.

3.1

What does the rest of your industry get wrong?

No filter. What do competitors, adjacent brands, or the category at large do that makes you cringe?

3.2

Three "we believe" statements. Don't polish.

Fill in the blanks. Don't polish — write what's true. We'll shape after.

We believe

3.3

What inspires you, lately?

A book, a meal, a place, a side conversation. Whatever's been on your mind.

04

Personality & voice

Produces — Personality · Voice & tone · Phrase library · Cringe list

How this brand sounds, in the room and on the page.

4.1

Six words for how this brand communicates.

Not what you do — how you sound. First six words that come to mind. Don't refine.

4.2

Where do you sit between these?

Drag each dot toward whichever side feels more like the brand. Sit in the middle if both are true.

Warm Cool

Formal Casual

Certain Curious

Classic Contemporary

Restrained Expressive

Serious Playful

4.3

Three ways to say the same thing — which sounds most like you?

Same job. Three voices. Pick one.

A We're committed to quality and creating an exceptional experience for every customer.

B We started this because we kept noticing the same thing missing in our industry. And decided to build it ourselves.

C We do this for people like us. People who'd notice when it's done right.

4.5

The throwaway introduction.

Two or three sentences the way you'd actually introduce this brand at a networking event. Don't think about it.

4.6

When someone has a great experience with this brand — what words do you hope they use?

A guest tells a friend. A customer leaves a review. A buyer refers someone. What words do you want them to reach for?

05

Selectivity

Produces — Who we're not for · Where we won't compromise · The hard limits

Strong brands say no on the page. This section is about what this brand won't do, who it won't serve, and where it refuses to compromise.

5.1

The hard filter.

Finish this sentence: we don't serve / sell to / work with ___. Complete it for customers, guests, partners, stockists — whoever is relevant.

5.2

The green flags.

What signals — early on — that a customer, guest, partner, or buyer is exactly right? Could be how they found you, what they say first, how they treat your people, what they already understand about what you do.

5.3

Where's the floor?

Is there a minimum — order value, booking rate, project budget, number of units, minimum stay — below which it isn't worth doing? Or is it less about numbers and more about fit?

5.4

The strategic exception.

Are there partnerships, stockists, accounts, or clients you'd take on at reduced margin because the relationship gives you something else — reach, credibility, access to a market, alignment with the brand? What's the rule, and what's the exception?

End — Strategy intake · v1
Save your answers using the bar below.

A series of questions, before we design anything.