What Humanaut does

Humanaut is an independent, founder-owned advertising agency headquartered at 1404 Cowart Street in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Founded circa 2011 by David Littlejohn, the firm employs 11-50 staff and positions itself as a creative partner exclusively for 'better-for-you' consumer brands across health, wellness, sustainability, and personal care. The agency's stated purpose is solving challenging marketing problems — low brand awareness, category disruption, behavior change, and David-versus-Goliath challenger positioning — for verticals including CPG, beverage, dating, pet food, and organic food. Client logos include Hero Cosmetics, Organic Valley, Dollar Shave Club, Secret, Liquid Death, Big Green Egg, Juicy Juice, The League, Halo Pet Food, Garden of Life, hello, Genexa, Blueair, SunButter, and Pete & Gerry's.

The agency delivers three integrated service lines: Strategic Cultural Positioning (brand-narrative development), Creative Development (360-degree campaign ideation), and In-House Production powered by a 6,000-square-foot film studio that provides full creative-to-delivery control. The portfolio emphasizes breakthrough, viral-leaning work, including the Liquid Death Tony Hawk campaign (1.6T social impressions, 15.5B PR impressions) and the Garden of Life 'Poopowerment' campaign (#1 probiotic in FDM, +57% brand awareness, +$3M annual sales lift). The work has earned industry recognition including Ad Age A-List Top Ten, Ad Age Small Agency of the Year Gold, Clio, Webby (People's Voice), Effie, OBIE, One Show, Adweek Creative 100, and ADDY awards.

Humanaut operates on a project-based professional services revenue model with no publicly disclosed pricing; it does not publish revenue or raise external funding, and remains a privately held, founder-led entity. Go-to-market is sales-led and reputation-driven, relying on portfolio performance, earned media in trade publications, and industry-award recognition to attract new business. The company serves a mix of enterprise clients (Secret, Dollar Shave Club, Organic Valley) and growth-stage startups (Hero Cosmetics, The League, Liquid Death), suggesting a distributed but high-touch client base anchored on creative reputation rather than scale advantages.

Name

Humanaut

Legal name

Humanaut

Website

https://humanaut.is

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Humanaut is an independent, founder-owned advertising agency in Chattanooga, TN, serving better-for-you consumer brands with strategic positioning, creative development, and in-house film production via a 6,000 sq ft studio.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Advertising Agency Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810), Other Services Related to Advertising (541890)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Creative & Experience Design Agencies (Web/App/UX) (MPAAAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Experiential Digital & Hybrid Events (Virtual Platforms, Livestream) (BPAFAGAI)

Keywords

• Advertising agency services
• Creative campaign development
• Brand strategy consulting
• Integrated marketing campaigns
• Video production services

Headquarters

HQ city

Chattanooga

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Advertising Services: Full-service ad agency providing strategic creative development, campaign creation, and integrated marketing services for consumer brands

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Humanaut is an independent advertising agency that provides strategic creative development, campaign creation, and integrated marketing services for better-for-you consumer brands. The agency delivers a unified suite of services including Strategic Cultural Positioning, Creative Development of 360-degree marketing campaigns, and full In-House Production capabilities at a 6,000-square-foot film studio covering script to shoot to final delivery.

Product overview

Humanaut is an independent advertising agency that provides a unified suite of creative marketing services for better-for-you brands. The agency's core offerings include Strategic Cultural Positioning (discovering culturally relevant brand stories), Creative Development (360-degree marketing campaigns designed to drive awareness and trial), and In-House Production (complete video production with a proprietary 6,000-square-foot film studio). After 13 years in operation, the agency specializes in solving challenging marketing problems including low awareness, category disruption, and behavior change for brands ranging from startups to established CPG companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategic Cultural Positioning Discovery and development of brand stories that are simple, fun, and culturally relevant to target audiences. This service is offered to better-for-you consumer brand clients seeking advertising strategy support.
• Creative Development
• In-House Production

Quantifiable outcome

• Hero Cosmetics: 50% brand awareness increase, 60% sales lift
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Pink SparrowminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesign collaboration with Pink Sparrow agency for the Organic Valley World's First Half & Half Bar experiential campaign in New York. Pink Sparrow designed the physical coffee shop experience while Humanaut handled campaign strategy and creative.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• 72andSunny: 72andSunny is an independent creative agency known for purpose-driven, culture-engaging campaigns and a portfolio spanning challenger consumer brands. Both agencies share the same "independent creative shop for brave brands" positioning and compete head-to-head on CPG and lifestyle RFPs.
• Preacher: Preacher is an independent, Austin-based creative agency known for bold, culturally resonant campaigns and a similar small-team, senior-staff model. It targets the same challenger-brand and DTC client set with creative-led brand strategy work.
• Mother: Mother is an independent, award-winning creative agency with a similar boutique structure and culture-driven creative reputation. Both agencies operate as independent shops competing for the same enterprise challenger-brand clients with full-service creative campaigns.
• Mekanism: Mekanism is an independent creative agency explicitly positioned for "brands that make the world better," producing integrated campaigns across video, social, and experiential. Its mission-aligned niche mirrors Humanaut's better-for-you brand focus and client profile.
• Red Antler: Red Antler is a brand and creative agency specializing in challenger and DTC brands, with deep CPG and direct-to-consumer expertise. Both agencies share a focus on launching and scaling purpose-driven consumer brands through breakthrough creative campaigns.
• Venables Bell & Partners: Venables Bell + Partners is an independent San Francisco creative agency with a strong CPG and challenger-brand portfolio. Both agencies are independent shops competing for similar enterprise creative AOR engagements with full-service campaign execution.
• Anomaly: Anomaly is an independent creative and communications company built around unconventional, brand-strategy-led campaigns. Like Humanaut, it operates outside holding-company structures and competes for enterprise CPG and challenger-brand creative AOR business.
• Arts & Science: Arts & Science is an independent creative agency with a small senior team, award-winning creative reputation, and a portfolio that includes CPG and lifestyle brands. Its boutique structure and creative-excellence positioning directly parallel Humanaut's model.

Broad incumbents

• Wieden+Kennedy: Wieden+Kennedy is the largest independent creative agency globally, with a celebrated portfolio of purpose-driven and challenger brand campaigns (Nike, Old Spice, Liquid Death). It sets the creative benchmark for independents like Humanaut and competes for the same enterprise CPG accounts.
• Droga5: Droga5 (Accenture Song) is a globally scaled creative-led agency known for culture-engaging, award-winning campaigns. It competes for the same enterprise challenger and CPG brand assignments as Humanaut but at much larger scale and with deeper media and data capabilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@humanaut1524
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/humanaut-creative
• Instagraminstagram.com/humanaut.is
• Xx.com/humanaut

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Humanaut