BLACK + GOLD

What BLACK + GOLD does

BLACK + GOLD (legal entity NY Black and Gold Corporation) is a privately held creative agency founded in 2013 by Elizabeth Waterman, operating from Santa Monica, California, with corporate registration in New York. The studio delivers brand campaigns, creative production (notably photography-led work), brand strategy, and social media management to clients in the fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wellness, and entertainment verticals, with named accounts including Guess, Marc Jacobs, Moroccan Oil, Tangle Teezer, Hill House Home, Makeup Geek, and The Met Store. Pricing is project-based and not publicly disclosed; engagements appear to be bespoke creative deliverables rather than recurring SaaS or media contracts, and there is no public funding history.

The agency's commercial footprint is boutique in scale (11-50 employees) and portfolio-driven, with selected work showcased on its own site, including the 2021 MONEYGAME fine art photography book (internationally distributed via XYZ Books, Lisbon) and a 2022 pro-bono campaign for The Sidewalk Project. The business model is services-led, monetized through creative production fees and brand strategy retainers, with no disclosed productized offering, no published rate card, and no third-party revenue figures. There is no mention of AI tooling, proprietary technology platforms, or automation in the source material, positioning the firm as a traditional human-creative boutique in a category increasingly exposed to generative tooling.

Name

BLACK + GOLD

Legal name

NY BLACK AND GOLD CORPORATION

Website

https://blackandgoldagency.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

BLACK + GOLD is a Santa Monica-based creative agency founded in 2013 by Elizabeth Waterman, delivering brand campaigns, photography-led creative production, brand strategy, and social media management to fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wellness, and entertainment clients on a project basis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Monica

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Creative Campaign Services: Project-based creative services including campaign development, visual storytelling, and brand strategy for fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wellness, and entertainment brands.
2. Photography and Video Production: Photography, motion, and art direction services for branded content, editorial shoots, and branded campaigns.
3. Social Media Content Management: Social media management, content planning, and audience engagement strategy services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

BLACK + GOLD is a creative agency offering project-based creative direction, content production, and brand strategy services. The studio develops brand campaigns, visual storytelling, photography, motion, art direction, social content systems, brand positioning, and launch strategy for fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wellness, and entertainment brands. Work is delivered on a per-project engagement model with personalized service led by founder Elizabeth Waterman.

Product overview

Black & Gold is a creative studio and agency that functions as a single unified creative service rather than a platform-based architecture. The studio offers three primary service offerings: Brand Campaigns (campaign development, visual storytelling, social content systems), Creative Production (photography, motion, art direction, branded content), and Brand Strategy (positioning, campaign architecture, launch strategy). These services are delivered by founder Elizabeth Waterman and her team to clients across fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wellness, and entertainment sectors. The studio also maintains a portfolio of completed projects including editorial photography campaigns, social media management work, and fine art publications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brand Campaigns

Quantifiable outcome

• 500+ followers growth per month on each social channel
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Mother New York: Mother is an independent global creative agency with strong fashion, beauty, and lifestyle credentials. It competes with Black + Gold for brand campaign work but operates at significantly larger scale across multiple offices.
• Anomaly: Anomaly is a global independent creative agency with significant fashion, beauty, and lifestyle accounts. It competes for the same brand campaign and creative strategy budgets as Black + Gold but at much larger scale and broader capability set.
• Wieden+Kennedy: Wieden+Kennedy is a global creative agency network known for premium brand storytelling, with deep fashion and lifestyle work (e.g., Nike). It represents the larger incumbent alternative to boutique studios like Black + Gold for enterprise brand campaigns.
• 72andSunny: 72andSunny is a global creative agency with deep experience in fashion, beauty, and entertainment brand campaigns. It overlaps with Black + Gold on creative campaign production but serves a broader and more enterprise roster.

Emerging players

• The Wall Group: The Wall Group is a talent management and creative agency rooted in fashion, beauty, and entertainment editorial production. It overlaps with Black + Gold on editorial photography and personal brand work for public figures and founders.

Direct peers

• Caravan: Caravan is a creative agency serving consumer and lifestyle brands with brand strategy, campaign production, and content development. It is comparable in service scope and target verticals, though typically operating at a slightly larger scale than Black + Gold.
• Red Antler: Red Antler is a Brooklyn-based creative and branding agency specializing in DTC and founder-led consumer brands across beauty, lifestyle, and home — a closely comparable peer in terms of client type, vertical mix, and boutique creative model.
• Bureau of Collective: Bureau of Collective is a boutique creative studio serving fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands with photography, campaign direction, and brand strategy — directly comparable to Black + Gold in scope, vertical mix, and boutique scale.
• Atelier Davis: Atelier Davis is a boutique creative studio serving fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands with campaign direction, photography, and brand content. It is a close boutique-scale peer to Black + Gold in service offering and target verticals.
• L'Amour Creative: L'Amour Creative is a boutique fashion and lifestyle creative agency offering campaign production, photography, and social media services to premium brands — closely mirroring Black + Gold's service mix, client base, and project-based engagement model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/agencyblackandgold
• Xx.com/blackandgoldnyc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 BLACK + GOLD