Modern Animal Strategy & Design Studio

What Modern Animal Strategy & Design Studio does

Modern Animal Strategy & Design Studio is a privately-held, full-service marketing and product innovation studio founded in 2015 by Nathan Meffert and Jordan Meffert in Brighton, Michigan. The studio operates as an integrated practice combining Design Thinking methodology (refined at IDEO and Stanford d.school) with Lean production principles, delivering strategic marketing, brand identity design, web design and development, product design, media production, and print and publishing services under a unified 'Growth System' framework. The Growth System is a productized offering that begins with a 4-12 week strategic sprint followed by ongoing execution, with a stated 6-month minimum engagement to stabilize the system. The studio deliberately caps each quarterly cohort at three Growth System clients, supplementing with a Small Business Marketing Package ($3,000/mo), Web Refresh and Strategic Sprint ($5,000 one-time), Embedded Marketing Leadership ($4,000/mo), Outsourced Agency ($5,000/mo), and project-based work starting at $1,000.

The business model is a sales-led, application-based professional services practice serving a hybrid mix of local Livingston County small businesses and nationwide mission-driven organizations, including Catholic ministries, labor unions, manufacturing firms, and non-profits. Pricing is publicly disclosed and ranges from $1,000 project work to $5,000/mo retainers, with stated outcomes including 80% year-over-year client retention, 425% typical marketing ROI, and 10+ years of partnership across 20+ organizations. The studio is privately funded by its founders with no external institutional investment, operates with a team of under 15 people, and is currently in a post-hiatus growth phase after building and divesting The Saintmaker (a Catholic e-commerce startup sold to Sophia Institute Press in March 2024) and returning to client work in 2025 with a product-innovation sprint for TAN Books.

Name

Modern Animal Strategy & Design Studio

Legal name

Modern Animal

Website

https://modernanimal.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Modern Animal is a Brighton, Michigan-based full-service marketing and product innovation studio serving values-aligned organizations nationwide. It packages strategy, creative, channels, and reporting into a 'Growth System' delivered through capped quarterly cohorts, with additional web, brand, product, media, and print services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Brighton

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, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Services - Retainer: Monthly retainer engagements for ongoing marketing leadership and outsourced agency services. Clients commit to minimum terms (6 months for Growth System) with optional ongoing scaling after month 6.
2. Professional Services - Project-based: One-time project engagements for web refresh and strategic sprints, as well as one-off projects including web design, brand identity, printed materials, digital products, and promotional videos.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Modern Animal is a values-aligned marketing and design studio that provides integrated strategic marketing, brand identity, web design and development, product design, media production, and print and publishing services through a flagship Growth System offering. The studio operates as a fractional outsourced marketing department for mission-driven organizations, accepting only three clients per quarter, with minimum 6-month engagements and tiered monthly retainers starting at $3,000.

Product overview

Modern Animal is a full-service marketing and innovation studio that operates as a single integrated offering rather than a modular platform. The core offering is The Growth System, a comprehensive growth engine combining strategy, creative, channels, and reporting. Supporting service offerings include Strategic Marketing, Brand Identity Design, Web Design & Development, Product Design, Media Production, and Print & Publishing. For smaller budgets, they offer the Small Business Marketing Package and Web Refresh & Strategic Sprint as distinct entry-point products. The studio also develops proprietary products, having built The Saintmaker (a Catholic eCommerce startup acquired in 2024) and designed the TAN Books Bible Study App and Journal.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Saintmaker: A Catholic e-commerce startup built by Modern Animal to $1M in sales and 12,000+ customers, acquired by Sophia Institute Press in March 2024. A project that combined spiritual tools, Catholic sources, and traditional products.

Quantifiable outcome

• 425% typical marketing ROI on engagements
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Mekanism: Full-service creative agency with purpose-driven brand storytelling work. While broader than Modern Animal, it competes for similar brand storytelling engagements from mission-driven and values-aligned clients.
• Chemistry: Independent creative agency known for purpose-driven work and brand storytelling. Shares Modern Animal's emphasis on cultural relevance and integrated strategy-plus-creative offerings.
• The Richards Group: Independent full-service advertising agency with deep integrated marketing capabilities. Comparable as a full-service strategic marketing partner, though serving broader markets than Modern Animal's values-aligned niche.
• Wieden+Kennedy: Iconic independent creative agency that, like Modern Animal, emphasizes craft and brand storytelling. Comparable on creative excellence and cultural relevance but operates at substantially larger scale.
• 72andSunny: Global creative agency known for culturally relevant, values-driven campaigns. Comparable in creative ambition and brand-building craft though at much larger scale than Modern Animal.

Emerging players

• Bonterra: Technology company serving nonprofits and mission-driven organizations with marketing and fundraising software. Adjacent peer given shared values-aligned organizational focus, though operating in software rather than services.

Direct peers

• Big Duck: Branding and marketing agency exclusively serving nonprofits and mission-driven organizations. Closely comparable to Modern Animal's values-aligned positioning with similar nonprofit focus, smaller team, and integrated branding-plus-marketing offerings.
• IDEO: Pioneer design thinking firm explicitly referenced in Modern Animal's methodology. IDEO's human-centered design approach is foundational to Modern Animal's core technology stack, making it the closest methodological peer.
• Forum One: Digital agency focused on mission-driven organizations, nonprofits, and associations. Comparable to Modern Animal's web design and digital marketing services for values-aligned clients.

Regional players

• HenkinSchultz: Midwest-based full-service creative agency of similar scale to Modern Animal. Comparable as a regional boutique full-service agency with integrated branding, digital, and media offerings, though without Modern Animal's values-alignment positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/modernanimalco

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 Modern Animal Strategy & Design Studio