What Vault49 does

Vault49 is an independent, founder-built brand design and strategy agency founded in 2002 and headquartered at 180 Varick Street in New York, with a second studio in London serving as its European hub. The firm operates in the horizontal segment of large consumer packaged goods, beverage and spirits brands, providing a full spectrum of creative services spanning brand strategy, visual identity, packaging design, verbal identity, innovation and NPD consulting, licensing, environments, and activation. Its client roster is dominated by Diageo, for whom Vault49 has served as Global Design Agency of Record since 2021, working on Guinness, Smirnoff, Baileys, Propel and Smirnoff Ice, alongside enterprise clients including PepsiCo/Frito-Lay and Pronghorn Spirits.

The agency's core offering layers proprietary research and strategy methodologies over craft-led execution. Street Level Insights™ is a trademarked, on-the-ground ethnographic research approach, while a 'Futures Approach' identifies cultural drivers shaping future consumer behavior, and a semiotic brand-analysis framework deconstructs category codes. Design output combines these strategic inputs with in-house craft capabilities, including screen printing, hand illustration, bespoke texture creation, embossing and specialty finishing for premium spirits and consumer-goods packaging.

Revenue is generated entirely through fee-based professional services — project work and agency-of-record retainers — sold direct to enterprise and mid-market brand owners. As a privately held, founder-owned LLC with no outside capital, the firm operates two transatlantic studios serving a global client base. August 2025 marked its first CEO appointment (Spencer Ryan), while co-founders John Glasgow and Jonathan Kenyon continue to lead creative direction; the agency has been actively expanding senior strategy and client-services bench through targeted hires from peer boutiques in 2025.

Name

Vault49

Legal name

Vault49 LLC

Website

https://vault49.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Vault49 is an independent, founder-led brand design and strategy agency founded in 2002, operating studios in New York and London. It serves global CPG and beverage clients — notably Diageo as Global Design Agency of Record — across brand identity, packaging, innovation, and cultural strategy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Brand Design and Strategy Services: Vault49 generates revenue through fee-based professional services engagements including brand strategy, brand identity, packaging design, verbal strategy, innovation/NPD, digital, environments, POS, out-of-home, licensing, and activation. Revenue is project or retainer-based, serving enterprise CPG and beverage clients. As an independent agency, revenue is derived entirely from client engagements rather than product sales.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Vault49 is an independent brand design and creative agency that provides brand strategy, brand identity, packaging design, innovation/NPD, creative strategy, licensing and merchandise design, and environments and activation services. The agency operates from studios in New York and London, serving enterprise CPG and beverage clients including Diageo, PepsiCo, and Pronghorn Spirits, with proprietary consumer research methodologies such as Street Level Insights™ and Futures Approach.

Product overview

Vault49 is a brand design and creative agency with studios in New York and London, founded in 2002. The company operates as a creative services firm rather than a software/SaaS platform. Its core offerings include Brand Strategy & Identity, Packaging Design, Creative Strategy, Innovation & NPD, and proprietary research methodology called Street Level Insights. The portfolio includes high-profile client work for Diageo brands (Guinness, Smirnoff, Baileys), Pronghorn Spirits (Edmond's Honor), and PepsiCo (Propel, Frito-Lay Minis). Services span brand positioning, visual identity systems, packaging design for premium spirits and consumer goods, new product development, and 360 brand experiences including environments and activations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brand Strategy & Identity
• Packaging Design
• Innovation & NPD
• Creative Strategy
• Licensing & Merch Design
• Environments & Activation
• Street Level Insights™

Quantifiable outcome

• Smirnoff X1 Spicy Tamarind: +400% volume sold; Diageo's most successful innovation launch ever; now a permanent global line extension
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• D&AD ShiftminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVault49 hosted an evening with the D&AD Shift 2026 cohort at its New York studio. D&AD Shift is an award-winning industry-led program supporting people without traditional training to enter the creative industry. Vault49 participated through screen printing workshops and creative mentoring sessions, reflecting the agency's commitment to fostering diverse talent in design.
• How2RecycleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVault49 partnered with How2Recycle to design a campaign that simplifies recycling, shifts consumer perceptions, and inspires behavior change around sustainable packaging disposal.
• Roam (Virtual Office Platform)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVault49 has partnered with Roam since its early days to facilitate hybrid working across its New York and London studios. Rose Akehurst, Managing Director of Vault49 London, participated in Roam's 'The Office of Tomorrow' panel discussion. The partnership supports the agency's global collaborative working model.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Pentagram: The archetypal independent, partner-led brand design firm. Pentagram operates the same founder/partner-driven model as Vault49 across multiple global offices, with similarly prestigious CPG, beverage, and cultural clients, and serves as the benchmark for premium independent design work.
• Pearlfisher: London-based premium brand design agency specializing in packaging and brand identity for food, beverage, and consumer goods. Direct overlap with Vault49's CPG/beverage focus and packaging design core service, including comparable marquee spirits and snacks clients.
• Bulletproof: Independent brand design agency with deep CPG and beverage packaging expertise. Senior Vault49 designer Ally Thomasson previously worked at Bulletproof, evidencing direct talent and category overlap; both compete for premium brand identity and packaging engagements.
• Mother Design: Brand design and identity arm of the Mother creative collective. Operates with a similar independent, founder-led creative culture and competes directly with Vault49 for premium brand identity, packaging, and cultural strategy work for CPG and lifestyle clients.
• Carter Wong: London-headquartered independent brand design agency with comparable scale and a long-standing reputation for CPG, beverage, and packaging work. Direct competitor in the same UK/US independent design agency tier that Vault49 occupies.

Emerging players

• Koto: Fast-growing independent brand design studio with a similar craft-led, culturally-fluent positioning and CPG/beverage client wins. Smaller and earlier-stage than Vault49 but increasingly competing for the same premium brand identity briefs.

Broad incumbents

• Landor & Fitch: One of the largest global brand consulting and design firms, now part of WPP. Competes with Vault49 on enterprise CPG/beverage rebrands and AOR pitches, but at significantly greater scale and with a broader consulting-led offering beyond pure brand design.
• Siegel+Gale: Global brand strategy and design firm within the Omnicom network. Targets similar enterprise rebranding and simplification briefs as Vault49, but operates at network scale with a strategy-led model rather than Vault49's craft and cultural-immersion approach.
• Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR): Global independent brand design agency (now part of WPP) with deep CPG and beverage expertise, including major spirits and snacks clients. Competes for the same enterprise AOR engagements as Vault49 but with substantially broader geographic reach and headcount.
• SUPERUNION: WPP-owned brand and design network (formerly Brand Union) serving global CPG, beverage, and FMCG clients. Overlaps with Vault49 on enterprise brand identity and packaging work, but delivers through a network model rather than Vault49's founder-led boutique structure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@vault49
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vault49
• Instagraminstagram.com/vault49
• Xx.com/vault49
• Facebookfacebook.com/likevault49

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 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 Vault49