ABOUT

Strategy isn’t decoration.

Wickwire + Co. is an independent brand consultancy led by Wick Vipond. We work with ambitious companies navigating the space between where their brand is and where it needs to be, helping to build something precise, differentiated, and aligned specifically to growth objectives over time.

The marketing and advertising landscape has become accustomed to rewarding distraction over meaning, and comparison over value. In a sea of sameness with fractions of difference, purpose, conviction, and perspective can be the true driver of long-term value. 

We believe that in a world of infinite replaceability, brand is the last defensible advantage. Everything we do is designed to make that advantage real, measurable, and impossible to imitate.

What we do.

We start where others stop, at the intersection of business strategy and brand. We do this by combining the foundational work of defining a brand that is impossible to replicate with a clear strategy and roadmap for sustainable growth.

We do this in the following ways:

  • Widen your MOAT. We provide counsel from one leader to another. Whether you’re facing AI disruption, market saturation, or a stagnating culture, we help you find (or rediscover) your epiphany and build a new foundation to support it. 

    • Focus: Brand Health Diagnostic, Growth Strategy, Narrative Architecture, Audience Intelligence, AI Enablement.

  • Manifesting what makes your business 1 of 1. If strategy is the blueprint, creative is the render. We build dynamic, modular brand systems designed to connect in the real world, not a slide deck. We create experiences that turn consumers into evangelists.

    • Focus: Brand Identity, Integrated Campaigns, Content Creation, Platform Development.

  • Sometimes I believe in the idea so much, I bet on it. Wickwire + Co. is one of the few sole proprietorships that puts our money where our mouth is. As the founder, I take an opportunistic approach to investing in businesses I believe in, with my own resources and capital.  

    • Focus: Seed Investment, Equity for Services, Performance-Based Fees, Strategic Acquisitions.

      • Note: If you think we'd be a match, reach out. I am always looking for the next category-definer.

With an abundance of partnership and dedication. We have been a part of the heavy, slow agency model and decided to eliminate the smoke, and take down the mirrors. In its place we subscribe to a refreshingly flexible approach -  adapting our process and team to your reality.

How we engage.

  • You have a specific problem; we have a lean solution. From a half-day workshop to a full launch, we consult, align on a plan, and get you to market. 

  • For high-growth teams that need a co-pilot. We act as your fractional CSO or creative engine, building the strategies and systems your internal team can take a run with.

  •  Direct support for the C-Suite to align brand, culture, and bottom-line growth.

Brand experience.

We bring decades of experience across a wide spectrum of businesses: B2B to B2C and B2B2C, DTC to CPG, entertainment to education, fashion to food, wealth to wellness, and many in between.

Client logos representing our background and experience. Notable clients include Sunoco, F&M Trust, SIG, the NY Jets, The Newark Museum of Art, UniFirst, Binto, and Loyola University of Maryland.
Wick Vipond giving a presentation in front of a blue-lit brick wall, wearing a button-up shirt and a gray cardigan.

Hi, I’m Wick.

Yes, that is really my name. When you reach out, I can give you the story. Beyond my name - I’m a husband, a girl dad, the second favorite human to two big fluffy dogs, and the might behind Wickwire +Co.

I founded Wickwire + Co. because I kept seeing the same problem: ambitious companies with genuinely differentiated offerings, nearly invisible in their categories. Not because they lacked quality, but because they lacked differentiation. Over time, their brand was working against them instead of for them.

Wickwire + Co. is an independent brand consultancy focused on the specific, difficult work of connecting brand strategy to business strategy. I help companies find their footing in a chaotic world, ensuring they define the next shift while others simply survive it. 

I deliver on this by focusing on:

→ Brand strategy and positioning

→ Identity systems that do real work

→ Messaging frameworks that hold across every channel

→ The kind of clear-eyed audit that tells you what's actually wrong

I’ve spent 22+ years in the trenches with executives and  founders alike, building notable brands, launching successful products into the market, and driving millions of dollars in stakeholder value. I've held executive roles at top independent agencies (Hero Digital - now merged with HUGE, Bounteous, Red Tettemer, and A&G) and helped build brands across every vertical imaginable.

My work has been recognized by GQ, Elle, The Verge, Time Magazine, and Fast Company’s Most Innovative Brands and has garnered awards from the Clios and the American Advertising Federation. The biggest form of recognition however is the results I consistently deliver for the businesses I work on behalf of.

If you brand isn’t doing the work your business needs it to do, let’s connect.

Great work and partnerships exist when there is moral and incentive alignment. We value: people (ours and yours), purpose, and profit—always in that order.

Strategies not based on the truth result in creative work that misses the mark or misses your audience entirely. We insist on honesty from the very start and transparency for the duration.

Great work and partnerships exist when there is moral and incentive alignment. We value: people (ours and yours), purpose, and profit—always in that order. Strategies not based on the truth result in creative work that misses the mark or misses your audience entirely. We insist on honesty from the very start and transparency for the duration.

Vision drives value much more than a 2% lift in impressions.

We adapt our process to fit yours, ensuring we become a unified working team aligned on the definition of success—for the project, the relationship, the business, AND the financial outcome.

Vision drives value much more than a 2% lift in impressions. We adapt our process to fit yours, ensuring we become a unified working team aligned on the definition of success—for the project, the relationship, the business, AND the financial outcome.

Think big and lead with a healthy dose of imagination and curiosity. Act small and apply an understanding of finance and capital investment to ensure the results deliver the maximum return on dollars spent.

It Should Be Fun: The engagement should be fun. The harder days should be challenging, not exhausting.

Think big and lead with a healthy dose of imagination and curiosity. Act small and apply an understanding of finance and capital investment to ensure the results deliver the maximum return on dollars spent. It Should Be Fun: The engagement should be fun. The harder days should be challenging, not exhausting.