A Better System for Creative Partnerships

We specialize in creative retainer partnerships, and use the number of project requests per month as the basis of our agreements (not hourly rates).

Context

Pen & Mug operates as your fractional creative director & creative department. We partner with founders and marketing leaders like you to elevate and optimize your organization’s brand identity, website, software product UX, events, campaigns, packaging, and other communications across any/all channels.

We call these steady partnerships Creative Alliances.

If you have a Creative Alliance with Pen & Mug, you have a dedicated creative team at a consistent monthly rate; typically less than the cost of a single full-time role. Our small team of experts (real humans!) will learn your brand inside and out, and be ready to tackle everything from defining top-level creative strategy to designing each and every piece of a multi-channel campaign.

Whatever we’re working on, our P&M Point System makes it easy to plan projects weeks/months in advance, keeping costs and capacity predictable while still remaining highly flexible and collaborative if (when) priorities need to shift.

We can’t stress this enough: our point system works so much better than an hourly rate for everyone involved, and we have the 5-star client reviews to prove it.

How it works

Creative Alliance retainers are structured as a flat monthly rate for a retained number of points (aka ‘requests’ or ‘deliverables’) per month. This guarantees we can take on any project up to your retainer total each month, and gives all parties more consistency and predictability than an hourly rate ever could.

As new creative needs are identified and projects are added to the queue, we’ll work closely with our point(s) of contact on your end to prioritize everything appropriately and hit your retained number of points as accurately as possible each month.

Key advantages of our point system

• Clearer capacity
  Measuring capacity with points (tasks) instead of hours simplifies project planning.

• Predictable value
  Tiered, flat-rate pricing ensures consistent value for your dollar.

• Flexible priorities
  We can easily adjust our focus when priorities change, and won’t interrupt projects with budget ceilings.

Not all projects are created equal

Designing a single social media graphic shouldn’t cost the same as building out a 16-page booklet or deck, but nobody wants to deal with a complex menu of different prices for every possible creative need. Our point system solves this with a flat rate per point and a simple three-tier system for rating different projects:

• Small = 1 point
• Medium = 3 points
• Large = 6 points

Don’t worry: you don’t need to memorize this! We assign points transparently to each new request as they’re added to our queue. We’ll also provide a dashboard where you can see your total points used/remaining each month whenever you want to, and we’ll share reminders and reports consistently as well.

What clients say

“The Pen & Mug team consistently over-delivers. Their flexibility and investment in our growth make it a true partnership.”

Whitney Kimerling
Chief Creative Officer @ Hootenanny Games

“Pen & Mug has seamlessly become an extension of our team.”

Hana Elliott
VP Product Activation @ Solutions by Text

Thank you

Thank you Aimee Romero of Love and Science for your inspiration and collaborative brain power in coming up with this system. Big thanks also to our pilot clients who were the first to give this system a try back before it was cool!

If you’re a fellow creative professional interested learning more about this system, drop me a line austin@penandmug.com.

If you’re a founder or marketing leader looking for a fractional creative team you can rely on, let’s connect and crush your goals!