About Us
You know that feeling you get when someone asks what you’re incredibly passionate about? We’re that way about marketing. It makes us spring out of bed at the crack of dawn and work into the wee hours of the night.
We’re focused on helping purpose-driven organizations find new ways to market themselves more effectively.
Browse Our ServicesKeeping Good Company with Impact-Driven Organizations
Our best clients are companies that aren’t happy with the status quo and want a partner who is willing to push them and their marketing further.
View Case Studies
The Deep Varnish Manifesto
We believe the real magic happens beneath the surface.
Most organizations are busy doing the work. They’re innovating, serving, educating, creating impact — but when it comes time to share that story, something gets lost in translation.
The truth? You’re not just selling a service, a mission, or a product. You’re selling belief. You’re inviting people to see the world the way you do and to move with you toward something better.
We don’t do fluff. We don’t do noise. We do clarity.
Clarity cuts through crowded feeds, presentation decks, conference calls, and donor meetings. It sharpens your story, fuels connection, and turns casual observers into true believers.
Storytelling isn’t a tactic. It’s a strategy.
A good story builds trust faster than any campaign. It ignites imagination and makes data matter. It helps people not just understand your work but feel it.
Your story deserves more than just words on a page or slides on a screen. It deserves to be lived and shared.
That’s where we come in. We help you uncover the hidden brilliance in what you do and translate it into messages, visuals, and experiences that move people to action.
We’re not a traditional agency. We’re your strategic partner, your story amplifier, your clarity engine.
We work with purpose-driven organizations ready to push past “good enough” and step fully into who they are. Organizations that want to lead, inspire, and stand out — not blend in.
We believe in deep work, deep questions, and deep commitment to making your brand unforgettable.
Because in a world of noise, depth wins.
Let’s show the world what you’re really made of.
Our 3 Core Principles
- Don’t Mistake Activity with Outcomes
- You can spend countless hours posting to Facebook every week but ultimately if your phone doesn’t ring or those posts aren’t helping you sell more products, you’re wasting your time. To stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace, your marketing needs to be as unique as your brand. We make sure you have the right marketing mix in place and you’re tracking the right success measures.
- Always Be Intellectually Curious
- You can’t just sit still. You should always be looking for opportunities to refine and improve your marketing based on performance and what’s happening in the marketplace. With each client engagement, we proactively seek out and identify the best strategies and the latest marketing technology to ensure you’re positioned for continued growth.
- Focus on Relationships, Not the Sale
- More than anything else, we want to help businesses be successful. That means each interaction is about listening to their unique needs and challenges and exploring how we, or other resources in our network, can get them to achieve their goals.
Meet Shawn
Shawn Graham brings nearly two decades of proven success in building and growing brands through strategic marketing and creative campaigns. His work with the SAE Foundation led to a constituent-focused rebrand that placed vibrant, student-centered storytelling at the heart of every touchpoint, resulting in a 36% increase in first-time donations. His experience facilitating stakeholder sessions and board presentations ensures that your team and leadership stay active and engaged throughout the entire process. As a former board member for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Pittsburgh, he understands stakeholder dynamics from both sides of the table.
Our Extended Team
Web Design | Photography | Videography
Moly Yim creates visual identities that capture organizational soul. An award-winning designer, photographer, and filmmaker with 20+ years of experience, his design approach balances beauty with practicality—creating systems your team can actually implement.
Meta Ads | Google Ads | Growth Marketing
Adam Lasky helps companies grow revenue without sacrificing profit. Over 15 years serving as either CEO or CMO or VP of Marketing at a variety of companies, Adam has a history of growing consumer startups launch, scale, and refine marketing programs from infancy to $135m+ in annualized revenue.