Top 20 Branding Agencies by Speciality

List of Cities to find the best Creative, Design, Branding, and Advertising agencies:

1. Los Angeles, California
2. San Francisco, California
3. Manhattan & Brooklyn, New York
4. Chicago, Illinois
5. London, England

About This Branding Agency List

Most agency lists don’t break down the best agencies to select; they just decide based on undisclosed parameters. We’d like to change that and offer a bit of context for people searching for a good agency. Especially for Founders who are launching a new product or business. This is the insider's take on agencies. Shameless, self-plugs below - oh for sure!

Below, you will find two top ten branding agencies list broken down by two categories, budget and subject matter expertise. Because today, branding can mean so many things to so many people.

A lot of the agencies on these lists are unaffordable for most early-stage funded startups.
As a startup, small business owner or marketing leader at a midsize company, you can’t drop $300,000 or more on branding. So let’s get the top dogs out of the way. They have been around on average for about fifty-years, most of them started as advertising companies, typesetting shops or simply graphic designers.

Top 10 Global Branding Agencies

Less focused on startups, more focused on enterprise, legacy and clout. These companies will charge a client no less than $150,000 minimum to get started. By the end of a standard brand engagement the budget usually doubles.

1. Pentagram: Traditional Corporate Identity for Large Companies and Startups, Enterprise
   Budget Range: $250,000 +
2. Wolf Ollins: Brand Advertising & Campaigns for CPG and tech, Enterprise
   Budget Range: $300,000 +
3. Landor: Advertising for Global Campaigns, Enterprise
   Budget Range: $250,000 +
4. Siegel & Gale: Market Research and Analysis, Brand Strategy, Enterprise
   Budget: $400,000 +
5. Interbrand: Brand Development, Enterprise
   Budget: $400,000 +
6. Red Antler: Brand Identity & Advertising for Startup DTC
   Budget: $150,000 +
7. Vivaldi Group: Business Systems & Internal Branding
   Budget: $150,000 +
8. Lippincott: Brand Research, Internal Branding and Conent
   Budget: $150,000 +
9. Dentsu: Advertising and Broadcast
   Budget: $150,000 +
10. Mucho: Full Service Branding Agency
    Budget: $200,000 +

Top 10 Branding Agencies for Startups

These agencies pack a punch and deliver great work for a budget range that any startup can afford. Budget range between $25,000-$150k. The work is equally as high-quality as the top global agencies above. In a lot of ways, it’s a higher grade quality for the simple fact that a senior principal or partner is directly involved with your project deliverables as a subject matter expert. To increase volume and profit margins, most of the agencies above (with the exception of Pentagram) will hand the execution of your work off to a junior employee. We know because before we decided to shift our focus to work exclusively with High-performing Founders, we (shamefully) did the same thing.

1. La Visual: Full-service, startup-only branding agency.
   Crafting high-performing brands for high-performing founders.‍
   Budget: $30,000 per outcome
2. Meta Design: Full Service Brand Agency
   Budget: $75,000-125,000
3. Tenant: Corporate Branding & Brand Management for Enterprise Companies
   Budget: $75,000-125,000
4. BLVR: Branding for NGO or faith-based Churches
   Budget: $50,000-150,000
5. Clay: Branded Advertising
   Budget: $50,000
6. Motto: Corporate Branding for Large Enterprises
   Budget: $50,000
7. Matchstick: Branding and Design Agency for Enterprise
   Budget: $75,000-$200,000
8. Watson Creative: Full Service Branding Agency
   Budget: $75,000-$150,000
9. White Rabbit: Full-Service Web and Print Design Agency.
   Budget: $25,000
10. Unusual Branding: Boutique Shop. Creative Agency, Advertising, Content Marketing
    Budget: $25,000

Outcome 1: Brand Strategy & Verbal Identity
Outcome 2: Visual Identity & Brand Bible,
Outcome 3: Brand Launch & Verified Performance.
Budget: $30,000 per outcome