What is the P&M Point System?

We specialize in flexible creative retainer partnerships, and use the number of deliverables (instead of hours) as the basis of our agreements.

Context

Our team serves as your fractional creative director/department, helping founders and marketing leaders elevate their brand, website, and other communications.

These “Creative Alliance” partnerships cover everything from graphic design to website maintenance, from executing multi-channel campaigns to defining top-level creative strategy—all while keeping things super flexible and collaborative. They also allow us to plan ahead more effectively, instead of just tracking hours as they’re logged.

How it works

Creative Alliance agreements offer a flat monthly rate for a target number of points (deliverables) per month. We treat this as a target—not a hard cap. Workloads ebb and flow, so we’ll collaborate monthly to hit your target and adjust quarterly as needed.

Many creative professionals use hourly rates for retainers, but this makes future capacity planning a challenge and does not represent the true value of the partnership. Clients buy our quality, service, and expertise—not desk time.

That’s why we shook things up.

Key advantages of the P&M point system:

• Clearer capacity
  Measuring capacity in points (tasks) simplifies project planning.

• Predictable costs and consistent “bang for your buck”
  Charging for points delivered (materials created) ensures consistent value.

• Super flexible and collaborative partnership
  Creative Alliances ensure we don’t interrupting projects with budget ceilings.

Not all tasks are created equal

“Points” allow flexibility. Because a simple web update shouldn’t cost the same as a 24-page sales deck, we use a three-tier system:

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

Don’t worry: you don’t need to track this! We assign points transparently to each request and update you twice monthly.

What clients say about our point system

“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, and thank you to our pilot clients who were the first to give this system a try back before it was cool!

If you’re a creative professional interested in this model, drop me a line austin@penandmug.com.

If you need a fractional creative department you can rely on, let’s connect and crush your goals!