What Manual Labor Studio does

Manual Labor Studio (also branded "ML") is a privately held, female- and minority-owned brand and marketing studio founded in 2012 by Samantha Choi Cadley (CEO & Chief Creative Officer), headquartered in New York/Brooklyn with 11-50 employees. The firm delivers integrated professional services across four offerings: Strategy & Consulting (audit and research, brand strategy, product rationalization, workshops, user journey mapping), Branding & Design (visual and verbal identity, design systems, brand guidelines), Marketing (go-to-market strategy, product marketing, campaign development, content and social), and Digital Experience (website design and development, e-commerce, SEO, testing and optimization). It is a services business rather than a technology platform; it operates no proprietary product, API, or SDK.

The business monetizes through project-based professional-services engagements quoted via direct consultation; pricing is not publicly disclosed. Its go-to-market is partnership-based enterprise field sales, positioning itself as an equal partner to clients contacting the firm through its website or business development outreach. The client base skews enterprise and mid-market B2B, concentrated in technology and ad tech (Boomi, Spotify, Xandr/AT&T, Blockgraph, Nativo, Koddi, PMG, Cognitiv, Alef), with additional work in transportation/infrastructure (Grand Central Terminal, Union Station), institutional/nonprofit (George Kaiser Family Foundation's "Tulsa For You & Me," Atlas School), financial services (Market Street Trust), and consumer/DTC brands (Kibün, Rubi).

The studio's differentiation rests on its diverse, founder-led team, a partnership operating model, and a documented portfolio of measurable outcomes — repositioning Boomi ahead of its $4B sale, a 61% sales lift and 80% conversion-rate gain for Nickey + Kehoe, and a 650% increase in organic LinkedIn searches for Cognitiv. It is WBENC-certified as a women-owned business and holds a trademark on its "Do Great Work With Good People" tagline. No external funding, parent company, or institutional ownership is indicated; the company is controlled by founders Samantha Choi Cadley and Todd Cadley (President & CMO).

Name

Manual Labor Studio

Legal name

Manual Labor Studio Corporation

Website

https://manual-labor.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Female- and minority-owned brand and marketing studio, founded 2012 in New York, providing strategy, branding, marketing, and digital experience services on a project basis to enterprise and mid-market B2B technology, ad tech, institutional, and consumer clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

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

Revenue model

1. Professional Services: Revenue generated through brand strategy consulting, branding and design services, marketing services, and digital experience (website design/development) engagements. Services are delivered through collaborative partnerships with clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Manual Labor Studio is a female-owned brand and marketing consultancy that delivers four integrated service lines: Strategy & Consulting, Branding & Design, Marketing, and Digital Experience. The firm partners with organizations to develop brand strategy, visual identity, marketing campaigns, and digital experiences for their customers. The company was founded in 2012 and operates out of Brooklyn/NYC.

Product overview

Manual Labor Studio is a brand and marketing studio offering professional services rather than a unified software product. Their portfolio consists of four integrated service offerings: Strategy & Consulting (advisory and research), Branding & Design (visual identity and design systems), Marketing (campaign development and execution), and Digital Experience (website design and development). These services work together to help companies define their brand promise and customer experience through messaging, design, and technology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategy & Consulting
• Branding & Design
• Marketing
• Digital Experience

Quantifiable outcome

• 28.8% increase in new users, 8.95% increase in pageviews, 20.2% increase in sessions for Boomi community platform
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• George Kaiser Family FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerManual Labor partnered with George Kaiser Family Foundation to introduce Tulsa's tech and innovation economy through a unified parent brand 'Tulsa For You & Me'. The foundation's $10 billion endowment supports organizations across commerce, innovation, income equality, and early childhood education, with Manual Labor helping align stakeholders and create a digital front door.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Lippincott: Brand strategy and design consultancy known for identity work and corporate branding engagements. Comparable boutique-but-premium positioning and similar enterprise client mix to Manual Labor Studio.
• Pentagram: Independent, partner-led design consultancy offering strategy, branding, and digital experience. Closest structural analogue to Manual Labor Studio: boutique, founder-driven, premium positioning, similar service mix across identity and digital.
• Red Antler: Boutique brand agency focused on brand strategy, identity, and launch work for consumer and tech brands. Comparable in size, premium positioning, and emphasis on launching/repositioning brands — directly relevant to Manual Labor's Boomi, Alef, and Kibün engagements.
• Mother Design: Independent creative studio affiliated with Mother London/New York, offering brand strategy, identity, and design. Closely comparable in size, culture-led positioning, and premium enterprise client mix.
• Gretel: Independent brand and design studio in Brooklyn offering brand strategy, identity, and digital design. Direct geographic and scale peer to Manual Labor, with a similar enterprise client mix and premium positioning.
• Siegel+Gale: Global brand strategy, naming, and design consultancy (part of Omnicom). Directly comparable on brand strategy, naming, and identity deliverables, with an enterprise B2B client base similar to Manual Labor's tech/SaaS roster.

Broad incumbents

• Landor & Fitch: Global brand consulting and design firm (WPP-owned) covering brand strategy, identity, and experience. Comparable service set to Manual Labor's four service lines, but with significantly larger headcount and global footprint.
• R/GA: Global digital agency (IPG-owned) offering brand, marketing, and digital experience services. Overlaps with Manual Labor's digital experience and marketing service lines, with deeper capabilities in technology and product design.
• Huge: Digital experience agency offering strategy, design, marketing, and technology. Overlaps with Manual Labor's digital experience offering, with a larger technology-build capability set and broader enterprise client base.
• Wolff Olins: Global brand consultancy (now part of Accenture Song) offering brand strategy, identity, and experience design. Directly comparable service offering to Manual Labor's branding/strategy work, but operating at much larger scale and with broader global reach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/manuallaborstudios
• Instagraminstagram.com/manuallabornyc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Manual Labor Studio