boot-01
boot-02
boot-03
boot-04
boot-05
boot-06
boot-07
boot-08
boot-09
boot-10
boot-11
boot-12
boot-13
boot-14
boot-15
boot-16
boot-17
boot-18
boot-19
boot-20
boot-21
boot-22
boot-23
boot-24
boot-25
boot-26
boot-27
boot-28
boot-29
boot-30
Hannah McGough Studio
The Studio Los Angeles · Global (Remote)

Hannah
McGough

Hannah McGough

An independent brand & marketing studio for products that deserve attention — and the ones that have already earned it.

Practice Brand strategy, naming, positioning, go-to-market & creative direction. From 0→1 launches to legacy revivals. Principal Hannah McGough — based in Los Angeles, working internationally.
Studio collaborations → Now booking Spring 2026
Trusted by.
A working roster
50+ brands across 5 service areas
Creative
Alterna·AT&T· ChapStick·Cycle Tea· Disney·Goldfaden MD· HPPY Skin·OurX· PancakeNow·Pure Kana· Puroast Coffee·Real Techniques· Suave·TIDL· Vida Cap·Windskin· Youngblood
Advertising
Alpyn Beauty·Ashapops· Funny Water·MAËLYS· Sorel·TOMS· Varsity Spirit
360 Marketing
Beauty Bakerie·Blank Beauty· Ever·Leverden· Premium Jane
Brand Identity
Blossoming Box·Elevar· Fenix CBD·Hatfetti· One Earth Health
Sephora Skincare Desk
Managed as Sephora merchant partner
belif·Clarins· COOLA·Erborian· Fresh·GLAMGLOW· Glow Recipe·Kopari· L'Occitane·Laneige· philosophy·Shiseido· Sol de Janeiro·St. Tropez· Supergoop
I
Selected Work.Engagements that shaped the studio.
Case studies &
Full portfolio on request
Click a project to open. Click outside to close.

Sephora — skincare desk.

Sephora merchant partner
Beauty / Retail

As a Sephora merchant partner, I identified, vetted, and launched breakout skincare brands into Sephora's national retail footprint — bridging brand teams and the merchant desk.

What I led
  • Brand vetting and merchant fit assessment for the Sephora Skincare Desk
  • Launch readiness — positioning, GTM, retail-creative alignment
  • Cross-functional choreography between brand teams & Sephora buyers
  • Post-launch performance review & expansion strategy
Brands launched / managed
  • belif
  • Clarins
  • COOLA
  • Erborian
  • Fresh
  • GLAMGLOW
  • Glow Recipe
  • Kopari
  • L'Occitane
  • Laneige
  • philosophy
  • Shiseido
  • Sol de Janeiro
  • St. Tropez
  • Supergoop
Sephora

ChapStick — cultural reset.

CPG / Heritage Brand Revival

Acquired by Suave's new holding company, ChapStick needed to feel relevant to a generation that had aged out of it. The work: a social-first brand reset, a flagship product launch, and an early creator program built from scratch.

What I led
  • Social-first content strategy and full brand reset across IG & TikTok
  • Produced ChapStick's Honey Nourish launch — first major innovation as a heritage brand
  • Built ChapStick's creator program: briefs, benchmarks, and early community building
  • Visual direction for product reanimation & campaign assets
Impact
  • Repositioned a 100-year-old brand for a younger consumer in a single year
  • Built scalable creator & social systems still running today
ChapStick

Suave — Times Square & beyond.

CPG / Heritage Brand Revival

When Suave was sold by Unilever and emerged as its own holding company, it needed a creative reset to reach a new generation. A Times Square launch became an ongoing multi-brand production contract.

What I led
  • New creative direction across all Suave product categories
  • Produced the Times Square digital billboard launch campaign
  • Built ongoing production pipeline for digital, social, and retail — deployed at Walmart, Target, CVS, Dollar General
  • Visual direction for product reanimation & packaging refreshes
  • Monthly creator content across Hair, Bath & Body, Personal Care, Men's, Kids
Impact
  • Elevated visual identity of two heritage CPG brands simultaneously
  • Built scalable social & creator systems for ongoing partnerships
Suave

Riley Rose — retail concept, 0→1.

Retail / In-Store Concept
Forever 21 Incubator

An entirely new beauty retail concept built inside Forever 21's incubator — from naming and brand world to in-store experience design and merchandising strategy.

What I led
  • Brand foundation: name, voice, identity, in-store experience principles
  • Merchandising strategy across beauty, gifting & lifestyle SKUs
  • Launch marketing & PR across digital and retail
  • In-store brand experience design

Editor's note: full case study being written. Email for current write-up.

Riley Rose

Blank Beauty — tech to consumer.

Beauty Tech / 0→1 Brand Build
Featured: WSJ, Forbes, Vogue Business

The product was real. The brand wasn't. I joined Blank Beauty at zero and built the brand infrastructure from scratch — positioning, consumer research, full website & social redesign, and the marketing systems that drove $30K/month in DTC sales within the first quarter.

What I led
  • End-to-end brand strategy & GTM for a beauty tech platform — cross-functional across product, eng & marketing
  • Consumer research across Reddit & private focus groups; built a Customer Advisory Board
  • Launch of customizable nail polish powered by proprietary "Huey" technology
  • Full-funnel marketing: paid, organic, email, partnerships, conversion strategy
  • Website, landing pages & conversion flows for multiple consumer personas
  • Complexion category expansion playbook — debuted at CosmoProf Miami, Jan 2026
Impact
  • Grew revenue from near-zero to consistent $30K/month DTC
  • Earned editorial coverage in WSJ, Forbes, Vogue Business, Entrepreneur
  • Left a full-funnel infrastructure & repeatable acquisition model behind
Blank Beauty

Early-stage stars — building from 0.

Multi-engagement
0→1 builds & foundations

Building from 0 is a throughline, not a one-time assignment. These are engagements where I came in early and built the foundation: positioning, naming, GTM playbooks, and the early-stage brand system the team can run.

What "early-stage" means here
  • Brand foundation — name, voice, positioning, identity guardrails
  • GTM playbook the founder can run without me
  • Conversion-aware creative system for paid & organic
  • Hiring & agency-selection guidance for the next 12 months
Selected early-stage builds hover to pause
[ mini-beauty-bakerie.jpg ]
Beauty / Cosmetics Beauty Bakerie Scaled DTC to $200K/month; PR including GMA & CosmoProf keynote; brand sold in acquisition.
[ mini-selfies.jpg ]
Cannabis Selfies Prerolls #1 product at MedMen; multiple Forbes features driving early-stage awareness & credibility.
[ mini-pancake.jpg ]
Food + Beverage Pancake Now Contributed to rapid brand momentum including Shark Tank placement.
[ mini-premium-jane.jpg ]
Wellness / Supplements Premium Jane Work expanded to two additional brands by the same principals; partnerships with Club Pilates & Restore Hyper Wellness.
[ mini-khelp.jpg ]
Wellness / Supplements Khelp Repositioned toward a high-converting niche audience aligned with Erewhon & health food retail channels.
[ mini-hppy-skin.jpg ]
Beauty / Skincare HPPY Skin Established a distinct identity in a crowded category with elevated perceived product value; positioned for retail & e-commerce launch.
[ mini-ever.jpg ]
Beauty / Skincare EVER Repositioning contributed to long-term growth leading to acquisition.
[ mini-leverden.jpg ]
Luxury Home Goods Leverden CB2 retail placement; Vogue feature; brand activations in New York & Seoul.
[ mini-forest-riot.jpg ]
Beauty / Skincare Forest Riot Repositioned brand identity & messaging for US entry; full web and launch asset suite delivered.
[ mini-la-peony.jpg ]
Fashion / Apparel La Peony Clothing Established a premium, editorial brand identity supporting e-commerce & wholesale positioning.
[ mini-hatfetti.jpg ]
Fashion / Accessories Hatfetti Pop-up activations at Saguaro Hotel; growing corporate gifting & wholesale partnerships.
[ mini-windskin.jpg ]
Outdoor / Active Lifestyle Windskin Elevated brand from niche concept to lifestyle positioning across web, social, Amazon & retail.
II
Engagements, how we work together.
Four ways in
Booking Spring 2026
Custom scopes welcome
№ 01 — Build

Brand Build — 0→1.

For founders bringing a new product or company into the world. Strategy, name, voice, identity foundation, and a launch playbook the team can run.

Scope
Discovery → identity → GTM
Duration
4 — 8 months
Best for
Pre-launch & Series A consumer
Inquire →
№ 02 — Reposition

Brand Turnaround — the reset.

For legacy or stalled brands that need a clear-eyed audit, a sharper position, and a relaunch the org can rally behind. Surgical, not sentimental.

Scope
Audit → reposition → relaunch
Duration
8 — 16 weeks
Best for
Mid-market & legacy CPG
Inquire →
№ 03 — Advise

Advisory Retainer — on call.

For founders & CMOs who need a brand brain in the room. Monthly hours, working sessions, a sounding board on creative & strategic decisions as they happen.

Scope
Ongoing partnership
Duration
3-month minimum, renewable
Best for
Operators in motion
Inquire →
№ 04 — Speak

Speaking & Editorial — public voice.

Keynotes, panels, contributed essays, podcast appearances. Subjects: building consumer brands, the operator's view of creative, and what most decks miss.

Scope
Single booking or series
Duration
Per engagement
Recent
Available on request
Inquire →
III
Practice, a short statement.
Independent since 2020
Operator-trained
Strong opinions, loosely held
Hannah McGough

I build brands the kind of way operators wish more strategists did — with the P&L in one hand and the customer in the other.

Ten years inside Sephora, Forever 21's incubator, and the brand benches of Target, Walmart, CVS & Ulta — and a handful of consumer startups that made it (and a few that didn't). I read decks, I read shelves, I read rooms. The work I'm proudest of is usually the work no one knew I touched.

I work independently, with a small bench of trusted collaborators — designers, copywriters, photographers, producers — assembled per engagement. No agency overhead, no junior staffing surprises. Just the right people for the build.

Based in Los Angeles. Available internationally. Most engagements begin with a call.

— hannah
Sectors
Consumer · Retail · Beauty · CPG · DTC · Hospitality
Operates from
Los Angeles · open to NYC & international travel
Education
Cornell University — Communications & Media Studies, Film
Philosophy
Great brands must first solve a real problem that a lot of people care about — and will gladly pay money & attention to you (over others) to get help with.

It's through this lens that the best identity, creative, and marketing can be born — and a business can sustain.

A working theory

Brands=people.

I view brands the way I view people. Just like the best people, the best brands have distinctions that make you want to support them at first meeting — and stick around for the long haul.

[ brands-people.gif ] Brands = People — a stick-figure analogy in three layers
№ 01
With a look.

Packaging, aesthetic, color palette, typography — the surface signals that pull you in across a shelf, a feed, a search result.

№ 02
And a personality.

Tone of voice, point of view, beliefs, social presence — what makes you stay once you've stopped to look.

№ 03
And friends.

Choice of collaborators, partners, retailers — the company a brand keeps says more than its tagline.

I've given talks on this. Email for the deck →
IV
Field Notes, things I keep thinking about.Published on LinkedIn · quarterly-ish.
CPG / Consumer Behavior

The Great Consumer Audit Is Here

The era of vibes-based branding is closing. We're entering the Great Consumer Audit — a mass reassessment of whether brands actually deserve the trust they've been coasting on.

Read on LinkedIn → Community / Brand Strategy

Communities Are the New Brands

Communities have become as culturally powerful as the brands trying to reach them — and in some cases, more trusted. The real work is partnership models where the fit is the point.

Read on LinkedIn → Brand / What Makes People Care

The Niche Advantage

Most brands don't have an awareness problem — they have a sameness problem. The future isn't louder brands, it's sharper ones.

Coming Soon
Inquire

Let's build something great.

Whether you're building a brand, a platform, or something that needs to move — I'd love to hear what you're working on.

Replies within 48 hrs
hello@hannahmcgough.com Los Angeles, CA · Available globally
Mock v4 · all changes