What Second Empire does

Second Empire is a fractional brand and marketing leadership partnership founded in 2024 and based in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona. The firm is operated by two co-founders — Kory Kapfer (Head of Brand, 27+ years of experience) and Aimee Kapfer (Head of Marketing, 15+ years of experience) — who embed inside client businesses as fractional Head of Brand and Head of Marketing on a part-time basis. Clients are typically established companies navigating an inflection point such as a repositioning, category shift, or in-house team capacity ceiling, where senior brand and marketing leadership is needed but two full-time salaries cannot be justified. Three engagement shapes are offered: Ongoing Leadership (multi-month/multi-year embedded partnership at a steady weekly cadence), Focused Initiative (project-based engagements for defined outcomes such as rebrands or market entries), and Advisory (lower-cadence executive-level guidance). Named engagements span hospitality (Fox Restaurant Concepts, Dash In/Wills Group), real estate (Camelot Homes), cultural institutions (Phoenix Art Museum), health tech and genomics (Exploragen, Genome Medical, Drawbridge Health), residential roofing (Kore Roofing), industrial distribution (Western Component Sales), and rare-disease nonprofit (Progranulin Information Navigator). Kory Kapfer founded and sold a prior agency, Kitchen Sink Studios, in 2024; Second Empire is structured as a private partnership with no external investors and no disclosed revenue.

The business operates on a relationship-driven, direct-sales GTM model — no intermediaries, no marketplace listings — with engagements custom-scoped per client and pricing positioned as a fraction of two full-time senior hires. Revenue mechanics are recurring: monthly subscriptions for Ongoing Leadership and Advisory, multi-year contracts for Focused Initiatives, all billed as sustained engagements rather than project fees. The firm has no underlying technology platform; the offering is the personal expertise and embedded operating model of the two founders. Third-party validation includes 7 MAME awards (including Best Overall Advertising) for Camelot Homes and an Awwwards nomination for the Phoenix Art Museum digital flagship, both attributed to work the principals led prior to or under Second Empire.

Name

Second Empire

Legal name

Second Empire

Website

https://secondempirecreative.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Second Empire is a fractional brand and marketing leadership partnership based in Phoenix, Arizona, founded in 2024 by Kory and Aimee Kapfer. The two operators embed inside established companies as part-time Head of Brand and Head of Marketing across multi-month to multi-year engagements spanning hospitality, real estate, health tech, and consumer industries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Phoenix

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. Fractional Leadership Services: Ongoing part-time embedded senior leadership partnership. Two senior operators (Kory leads brand, Aimee leads marketing) embed inside client businesses as Head of Brand and Head of Marketing at a fraction of the time and cost of full-time hires. Revenue generated through recurring engagement fees for sustained embedded partnerships, scoped initiatives, or advisory retainers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Second Empire is a fractional brand and marketing leadership partnership that embeds two senior operators inside client businesses as fractional Head of Brand and Head of Marketing. Co-founder Kory Kapfer leads brand strategy, identity, positioning, and creative direction, while co-founder Aimee Kapfer leads marketing strategy, messaging frameworks, and go-to-market execution. The firm delivers engagements through three shapes: Ongoing Leadership (weekly embedded partnership on multi-month to multi-year retainers), Focused Initiative (defined-scope rebrands, repositioning, market entries, or campaign launches), and Advisory (executive-level strategic counsel at lower cadence).

Product overview

Second Empire is a fractional brand and marketing leadership firm — not a software product or platform. The company provides three distinct service offerings: (1) Ongoing Leadership, where the firm embeds as fractional Head of Brand (led by Kory Kapfer) and Head of Marketing (led by Aimee Kapfer) at a steady weekly cadence for multi-month or multi-year engagements; (2) Focused Initiative, project-based engagements scoped for defined outcomes such as rebrands, market entries, or campaign launches; and (3) Advisory, executive-level strategic counsel for founders and CEOs seeking senior guidance without full embed. All services are delivered by the two co-founders personally, with no product or module architecture — the offering is the firm's expertise and engagement model.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Ongoing Leadership Fractional brand and marketing leadership embedded inside a client's business at a steady weekly cadence, with the two founders serving as the client's Head of Brand and Head of Marketing on a multi-month or multi-year basis. Sits inside leadership meetings, runs the brand and marketing function, and owns outcomes.
• Focused Initiative Project-based engagement for defined outcomes and timelines such as rebrands, category repositioning, market entries, or campaign launches. Scoped, led, and delivered end-to-end by the two founders, with handover to the client team after completion.
• Advisory Senior-level strategic sounding board on brand and marketing decisions for founders and CEOs at lower cadence, with executive access and no agency overhead. Designed for clients who need senior counsel without full embed.

Quantifiable outcome

• 18% faster sell-through on most recent development vs historical averages (Camelot Homes)
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Prophet: Brand and growth strategy consultancy advising established companies on positioning, customer experience, and transformation; comparable senior-level strategic engagements at significantly larger scale and broader portfolio than Second Empire.
• Interbrand: Global brand consultancy delivering brand strategy, identity design, and repositioning for established multinationals; broader scale and wider service portfolio, but competes for the same senior brand strategy engagements Second Empire wins.
• Landor & Fitch: Global brand consulting and design firm; similar strategic repositioning and brand campaign work for established enterprise clients, at materially larger scale than Second Empire.
• Tombras: Independent creative and media agency serving enterprise and growth-stage clients with brand campaigns, creative, and integrated marketing; comparable client caliber and similar senior strategic + executional engagement model.
• Lippincott: Brand strategy and design consultancy serving Fortune 500 brands; equivalent brand positioning, identity, and corporate rebranding engagements to the Focused Initiative track Second Empire runs.

Direct peers

• House of Kaizen: Performance-oriented marketing agency for mid-market growth companies; similar target customer segment (established businesses at inflection) and embedded-style partnership engagements, though the work skews more performance/paid-media than brand strategy.
• Chief Outsiders: Fractional CMO firm operating the embedded executive model — its 200+ roster of fractional CMOs delivers strategy-through-execution to mid-market and enterprise clients, virtually identical service offering, GTM, and target customer to Second Empire.
• Right Side Up: Fractional marketing leadership talent platform placing vetted fractional marketing executives and ops leaders into growth-stage and mid-market companies; same embedded executive delivery model and similar client profile to Second Empire's Ongoing Leadership engagement.

Emerging players

• Red Antler: Brand agency specializing in launching and scaling DTC and growth-stage brands; overlapping brand strategy, identity, and launch work for emerging companies — overlapping niches rather than direct head-to-head competition.

Regional players

• Kitchen Sink Studios: The Phoenix-based brand agency founded by Kory Kapfer in 1999 and sold in 2024; sat in the same Phoenix brand agency category and served overlapping clients before the transition to the Second Empire fractional model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/secondempire

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Second Empire