Thesis

In short

Thesis was founded in Portland in 2002 and now presents itself as a creative marketing agency more than a web shop. Its pitch has three parts: strategy and campaigns, in-house craft across design, film, motion and photography, and the systems that let a brand turn out content at volume. It sits at #4 on our Portland list, where that production capacity sets it apart from studios built around a single launch.

Scale is easiest to see in the Nike work: 5,500+ creative briefs and 25,000+ assets a year across Nike regions. Thesis shot the Nike SB Nyjah 4 launch itself in the Mojave, Los Angeles and Big Bear, ending in film, print and a collectible zine. ELEMIS got a US campaign, tagline and design system for its Marine Cream, Ozlo a Sleepbuds relaunch, and Adobe a unified brand design system.

Consumer, beauty, sport and tech brands that need a steady stream of campaign content, with someone to build the workflow that produces it (it set up Airtable creative operations for Bobbi Brown), will get the most from Thesis. It also runs TEDxPortland's yearly brand. Teams after packaging, a standalone website rebuild or product interface design will find the offer pointed at marketing instead.