Pearlfisher

What Pearlfisher does

Pearlfisher is an independent, strategy-first brand design agency founded in 1992 in London and currently operating studios in London (Shoreditch, relocated in 2025 to the Truman Brewery) and New York (SoHo). The firm serves global consumer brands across food & beverage, personal care, beauty, and lifestyle categories, delivering an integrated suite of services spanning insights and futures research, brand strategy and definition, visual identity systems, packaging design, brand world creation, product innovation, activation/GTM assets, and motion design plus CGI. Notable enterprise clients include McDonald's, Cadbury, Absolut, Coppertone, SodaStream, Sipsmith, Pernod Ricard's Kahlua, Diageo's Seedlip, General Mills (Gushers, Cinnamon Toast Crunch), NÜTRL, and BYOMA, with documented business outcomes such as a category sales turnaround for Cinnamon Toast Crunch and double-digit sales growth for Coppertone.

The agency's underlying capability rests on a multidisciplinary creative team of approximately 140 professionals, anchored by proprietary frameworks including the 'Wantability' philosophy and a culture of design effectiveness measurement. Pearlfisher operates on a project-based professional services model with revenue generated through enterprise client engagements, strategic pitches, and ongoing partnerships; pricing is not publicly disclosed and engagements are scoped per project. The firm maintains B Corp certification (application submitted in 2025) and holds industry recognition including Cannes Lions Gold and D&AD Pencils. Leadership transitioned in 2024 with Jason Brown appointed Global CEO, while founders Jonathan Ford and Mike Branson continue as Group Creative Director and Group Chairman respectively, with new Managing Directors installed in both London and New York studios in 2025. The company is privately held with no disclosed external funding, parent company, or subsidiary structure.

Name

Pearlfisher

Legal name

Pearlfisher

Website

https://pearlfisher.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Pearlfisher is an independent, strategy-first brand design agency founded in 1992, operating London and New York studios and serving global consumer brands across food & beverage, personal care, and lifestyle with brand strategy, visual identity, packaging, and motion design services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Brand Design Services: Professional services revenue generated from brand strategy, visual identity, packaging design, and creative consulting engagements with global brands. Projects are typically scoped and delivered on a per-engagement basis.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Pearlfisher is a strategy-first brand design agency that delivers an integrated suite of creative services spanning insights and cultural research, brand strategy and positioning, product innovation, visual identity systems, package design, brand world creation, motion design and CGI, and go-to-market asset development. The agency contracts directly with global consumer brands on a project basis across London and New York studios, producing foundational strategy and executional design deliverables under a single offering.

Product overview

Pearlfisher is a strategy-first brand design agency offering an integrated suite of creative services. The agency's core offerings include Insights & Futures (consumer and trend research), Product Innovation, Brand Strategy & Definition, Brand Expression & Experience, and Activation & GTM Assets. The portfolio spans visual identity systems, packaging design, motion graphics, and CGI production. Working across London and New York studios, Pearlfisher serves global brands in food, beverage, beauty, healthcare, and lifestyle categories with both foundational strategy services and executional design capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brand Strategy & Definition Strategic brand positioning and definition services that help brands find their optimal fit point between product and consumer needs, including brand architecture and positioning.
• Visual Identity Systems Creation of visual identity systems including logos, color palettes, typography, and brand guidelines that establish distinctive brand recognition.
• Package Design Packaging design services for physical products across food, beverage, beauty, and other consumer categories, including structural and graphic design.
• Brand Expression & Experience Multi-channel brand expression including brand language systems, brand world creation, and comprehensive brand experiences across digital and physical touchpoints.
• Insights & Futures Consumer behavior analysis, cultural trend analysis, and industry research to help brands understand macro trends and micro-dynamics for future growth opportunities.
• Product Innovation Product development and innovation services including category expansion, product portfolio strategy, and new product concept development.
• Activation & GTM Assets Go-to-market asset creation, brand manuals, print production, and materials design for brand launch and ongoing activation.
• Motion Design & CGI Animation, motion graphics, and computer-generated imagery services for brand communication and digital experiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• Cinnamon Toast Crunch redesign drove category from -0.9% to +5.7% dollar volume growth and became fastest-growing kids' cereal brand for two consecutive years
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AmantaniminorOthersNon-profit trusteeship partnership where Group Chairman Mike Branson champions education initiatives in Peru as part of his outside advisory work

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Saffron Brand Consultants: Independent brand consultancy with comparable footprint focused on brand strategy and identity for global clients, competing directly for strategic-led briefs.
• Pentagram: Independent, partner-led brand design firm covering identity, packaging, and brand strategy; closest creative-tier competitor for premium identity briefs at similar independent positioning.
• Ragged Edge: Independent London-based brand design agency focused on challenger and ambitious legacy brands, with similar strategy-first positioning and CPG-adjacent client work.
• Moving Brands: Independent brand and experience design agency with overlapping capability set (strategy, identity, motion) and similar challenger-brand orientation.
• Turner Duckworth: Brand and packaging design agency specializing in CPG and beverage work (e.g., Coca-Cola, Amazon, Budweiser) with overlapping client verticals and similar packaging-led creative identity to Pearlfisher.
• Design Bridge & Partners (Superunion): Global brand design agency of comparable scale and service scope (strategy, identity, packaging) with strong CPG and beverage portfolios, directly competing for the same enterprise brief profile as Pearlfisher.

Broad incumbents

• Interbrand: Global brand consultancy with deep strategy, naming, and identity capabilities — competes for strategic brand work at the upper end of the same client roster as Pearlfisher (recent hire destination of Pearlfisher's CEO).
• Landor & Fitch: Large WPP-owned brand consulting and design network operating at greater scale across strategy, identity, and environmental design — competes on enterprise RFPs where Pearlfisher also bids.
• Wolff Olins: Omnicom-owned global brand consultancy delivering identity, brand strategy, and experience design at a larger scale, competing on enterprise transformation engagements.
• Brand Union (now Superunion, WPP): WPP's global brand design network; a scaled incumbent competitor for integrated brand identity and packaging briefs in the same CPG verticals Pearlfisher serves.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/pearlfisherlive
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pearlfisher
• Instagraminstagram.com/pearlfisherlive
• Xx.com/pearlfisherlive

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 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 Pearlfisher