Strategy Intake — the DK | creative studio

Before we sketch a single mark or pick a single colour, we need to know what we're building. This form is how we find out.

It works for service brands, product brands, destinations, and the hybrids in between. Tell us which kind in the first question and the form follows.

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

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

The session opener. We want to know why this brand exists in your actual voice — not the version you've practiced.

Q 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

Q 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?

Q 1.2

In five years, what does success look like?

Be specific. Number of clients per year. Tier of clients. Kind of work. Income. Team size. A book, a publication, a project you'd kill to land.

Q 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?

Q 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 this brand is for, and — equally important — who it isn't.

Q 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.)

Q 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.

Q 2.1 · Destination

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

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

Q 2.2

They've called three studios. Why do they pick you?

Finish this sentence: clients pick us because no one else can ___.

Q 2.3

Name names. Right fit. Wrong fit.

Two real past clients who were the right fit. One who was the wrong fit. One sentence each on what made them right or wrong.

Right fit

Wrong fit

03

Point of view

Produces — Brand pillars · Manifesto · "We believe"

The hardest section to do well. We're trying to extract what this brand believes that competitors don't say out loud.

Q 3.1

What does the rest of the industry get wrong?

No filter. What do you see other studios, agencies, or competitors doing that makes you cringe?

Q 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

Q 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.

Q 4.1

Five words for how this brand communicates.

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

Q 4.2

The dinner-party test.

If this brand were a person at a dinner party, how would they show up? Pick from each pair.

A

B

Talking

Does most of the talking

Asks the better questions

Opinions

Tells you what to order

Lets you decide, has a view if asked

Wine

Brings the one they love

Asks what you like first

Humour

Laughs easily

Measured, dry wit

Q 4.3

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

Same job. Three voices. Pick one.

A We help brands find their story and share it with the world.

B Most brands have a story worth telling. We figure out what it is and build everything around it.

C You have a story. We make sure the right people hear it.

Q 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.

Q 4.6

When a project goes well — what words do you hope they use about you?

A client tells someone else. They use a few words. What words do you want?

05

Selectivity

Produces — What we don't do · Trade-of-value rule · Engagement minimums

The most underused section in most brand decks — and one of the strongest. Premium brands say no on the page.

Q 5.1

The hard filter.

Finish this: we don't work with brands that ___.

Q 5.2

The green flags.

What tells you in the first conversation that a client is going to be a good one? Not project scope or budget — signals in how they talk.

Q 5.3

The minimum engagement.

Smallest engagement you'll take. Project size, timeline, budget — or is it more about fit than numbers?

Q 5.4

The trade-of-value exception.

Are there clients you take on at reduced rates because the relationship gives you something other than money — practice, access, lifestyle, equity? When is that okay?

End — Strategy intake · v1
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A series of questions, before we design anything.