Brand Partnerships

Embedded brand and creative team, on retainer.

A Brand Partnership is a monthly retainer that gives you a senior, embedded brand and creative team without the overhead of building one in-house. We bank hours each month across strategy, identity, content, campaigns and social, then deploy them against your priorities as they shift. Four tiers exist so the rhythm can match the scale of your brand programme.

Resident

What it is

A light-touch retainer designed for organisations whose brand needs are steady but not heavy. Approximately 10–15 hours per month, banked and rolled forward where unused.

Best for

  • Brand stewardship for established identities
  • Steady-state content and social support
  • Ad-hoc creative across small campaigns
  • Founders who want a senior brand lead on call

Cadence

  • Monthly working session
  • Quarterly brand review
  • Async support between

Embedded

What it is

A meaningful partnership where Obvious operates as your fractional brand team. Approximately 25–35 hours per month covering strategy, design, content and campaign delivery.

Best for

  • Scale-stage businesses without a Head of Brand
  • Crown and tertiary teams running multi-stream programmes
  • Organisations mid-rebrand needing ongoing rollout
  • Founder-led brands in active growth

Cadence

  • Fortnightly working sessions
  • Monthly programme review
  • Always-on creative production

In-House

What it is

Obvious becomes your brand function. 50+ hours per month, structured like an in-house team with named leads across strategy, design and content, plus production capacity.

Best for

  • Crown entities and Ministries running continuous campaigns
  • Scale-stage organisations with national footprint
  • Tertiary institutions with annual recruitment cycles
  • Brands replacing or augmenting an internal team

Cadence

  • Weekly working sessions
  • Monthly steering meeting
  • Quarterly strategic review

Scoped

What it is

A partnership shaped around a declared budget. For organisations whose procurement, board or panel constraints require a fixed annual or monthly figure. Cadence and deliverables built backwards from the number.

Best for

  • All-of-Government engagements
  • Iwi organisations with committed budgets
  • Boards or panels with set creative spend
  • Sponsorship or partnership-funded programmes

Cadence

  • Built to match the declared budget
  • Reported against the bank monthly

Every partnership is governed by an Hours Bank. You see exactly what we spend hours on each month, what carries forward and what’s been delivered. No surprise invoices. No retainer creep.