EMBR Brand Agency

18/03/2025

I’m a fan of PDA.

That’s a hook and a half, isn’t it?!

But the truth is, I really want to dedicate this post to the person who’s recently been my right-hand,

Emily and I have worked together for years in various capacities, and fair to say it’s been a wild ride!

She’s the most amazing website strategist, designer and developer, and her own growth has been off the chart this year. 💻 🚀

But aside from her epic design capabilities and Starbucks obsession (it’s actually becoming a bit of an issue), she’s just an all-round good egg.

We’ve laughed.
We’ve cried.
We’ve worked damn hard.

And I couldn’t have imagined going through these past few years without her!

So as we start to think about the next evolution of EMBR and our own personal growth journeys, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you.

Thank you, Emily for just being you.

Your next chapter awaits and I know that you’re going to absolutely smash it!

And just remember - never let anyone dim your light or dull your sparkle 🔥✨

You’ve got this.

xx

Ps. bottle of wine requested in exchange of future references (it was in your employee contract small print)

PPs. the photoshoot below was soooooo much fun - more please!

02/12/2024

If their brand objective was to get people talking….they are.

If their brand objective was to change people’s perception of Jaguar….they are.

If their brand objective was to move to a more futuristic brand vs a heritage one…..they are.

Are these things for the better?

Only time will tell.

Personally I’m not too much of fan.

But again, depends what they’re hoping to achieve.

My real question is this.

If they wanted to go totally left field, moving so drastically away from their heritage with such a different position (potentially risking their existing brand equity), why didn’t they go that step further and change the brand name?

I mean, it’s about as far away from a brand refresh as you can get, so why not go for full hog, all in.

New name. New tagline. New everything.

It would be a bold move for sure, but I mean….I think at this point, they’ve already jumped over the line with two feet, jazz hands and all.

❓What do you think of the Jaguar saga?

Are you a lover or a hater?

Ps. I’ve resisted posting about it until now because I hate jumping in the bandwagon, but genuinely curious to hear your thoughts.

16/11/2024

19/10/2024

Such a great first day with .mentor. The event was amazing! Some really incredible speakers and energy in the room, I feel so honoured to have been a small@part of it. The branding that created also looked 🔥

11/10/2024

People come and go in your life.

Some make an impact. Some don’t.
Some just get you. Some don’t.

And then there are others who just totally change your view of the world and this man right here, , is one of those people for me.

I met Chris when I climbed Kilimanjaro in January this year for and to say he left a lasting impression, is a serious understatement.

There’s not enough words to explain the dedication Chris and his wife Zoe have to positively impacting the lives of others.

So I’ll just say this.

Go and look at the work Hope4❤️ does.

Tackling poverty, human trafficking and everything in between.

It’s honestly mind blowing what they’re doing, challenging and reshaping the way the charity sector operates.

Seriously trailblazing.

So when I found out he was working just around the corner today, of course we had to grab lunch!

And you know what…..it’s been a reminder.

When you’re having a tough dark day, just make sure you surround yourself with a bit of light.🔥

Thank you Chris x

04/10/2024

, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Yesterday, I went to Karren Brady’s Women in Business & Tech Expo at the Excel centre and on paper, it had a lot of potential.

Keynote speakers including Katie Piper, Batoness Floella Benjamin, Linda Plante plus many many more.

However, the effort and investment put in by the some of the bigger brands with the aim of encouraging and recruiting female talent into the industry, was quite frankly, embarrassing.

Some were better than others obviously.

But the biggest disappointment was Microsoft.

One of the biggest most recognised brands in the world, and this was their offering.

This was how they showed up.

This is how much effort they put in to recruiting high quality female talent.

Zero.

A trestle table.
A table cloth.
Some brochures.

Shameful.

👆🏻 this is why there is a talent shortage of women in tech.

Because businesses aren’t doing enough.

The individual women on all of the stands, including Microsoft, were passionate, caring and absolutely fantastic.

It’s the companies themselves that I don’t think are quite hitting the mark.

Karren Brady has done an incredible job at trying to raise awareness of this issue and the overall event was a great start.

But it just highlights, there’s still a long way to go.

➡️ How would you feel if you saw that stand from Microsoft?

Would you feel like they cared?
Would you feel like they wanted you?

I’m going to hazard a guess and say no.

Just because you’re a big business, doesn’t mean you get to be lazy.

Brand reputations are formed and destroyed on micro- experiences like this.

It’s time to do better.

Ps. Check out Cisco’s stand across the hall in the comments (different expo, not focused on women). Notice the difference?

Melissa Matson🔥
Brand Strategist & Provocateur
Caller out of bad business branding

21/09/2024

If you want to get 100s of leads into your business by the end of the week, do this today.

Send unsolicited (terribly) branded pens to them.

Seriously. Do it.

Go on Companies House.
Get their address.
Print a ‘branded pen.’
Don’t worry about using their brand colours or fonts.
It’s not important.
Post it to them.
Add your business card.

Bob’s your Uncle. Fanny’s your Aunt.

They’ll be heading straight to your website and ordering, pronto.

Job’s a good’un.

You’re welcome.

PS. if you’re sending to a branding agency, spend LESS time on the branding. They’ll see through the lack of personalisation. They have vision.

PPS. If you’ve ever received one of these pens, then gone and ordered some, send me a DM. We need to talk.

PPPS. If you think this is serious, there is no hope for you. I’m sorry.

Melissa Matson
Brand Strategist & Provocateur
Caller out of terrible brand ideas.

16/09/2024

In the spirit of MAFS that’s starting tonight, I’ve got to say it.....

“It’s not you, it’s me.”

We just aren’t going to work.

Let me tell you why.

❌ If you want a ‘yes person’ to regurgitate what you’re telling them, I’m not for you.

❌ If you want someone to rinse and repeat what you’ve already done, I’m not for you.

❌ If you want someone to give you pretty visuals without a solid strategy behind it, I’m not for you.

❌ If you want someone who treats you as just a number to tick off a list, I’m not for you.

And you know what, I’m good with that.

Because I know somewhere, out there, is my perfect business match.

The one that I’d swipe right for.

✅ If you want someone to challenge your thinking, I’m for you.

✅ If you want someone to hold a mirror up to your current reality and tell it to you straight, I’m for you.

✅ If you want someone to facilitate conversations, creating alignment and internal growth, I’m for you.

✅ If you want someone to dig deep to understand all the layers and nuances of your business, so we can better share that magic with the world, I’m for you.

✅ If you want someone to position your brand and create a message that makes the world sit up and pay attention, I’m for you.

✅ If you want someone to care about your results just as much as you do, I’m for you.

✅ If you want someone who believes in the potential of your brand and the team behind it, I’m for you.

So if you think we’d be a perfect match, let’s chat. Because things are always so much better together.

I wouldn’t swipe right for just anyone you know 😉

➡ Who’s going to be watching tonight?

Melissa Matson 
Brand Strategist & Provocateur



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What’s next? Well...you can do 3 things:
1 - Hit the bell icon on my profile to be notified when I post.
2 - DM me to chat about all things brand, design and disruption
3 - Check out EMBR’s website and book a call📱 
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08/09/2024

Following on from yesterday’s post about collaboration, I’m so excited to announce that I’m going to be a speaker at the Awakened Leaders Summit on the 11th - 13th September.

Are you ready for a female revolution for the heart led, purpose driven business space?

Because if you are, then this might be right up your street.

You’re invited to join us over this three day storm of successful, heart-led, awakened leaders.

Over the three days you can expect to learn:

👉🏼 How to position yourself to your ideal client to speed up the process to turn them into clients and make the impact you want to create.
👉🏼How to connect with your unique soul blue-print and create profit from a business you love.
👉🏼How to use your intuition to create profit.
👉🏼 Raise the game and think outside the box in terms of visibility to be known for what you do.
👉🏼 How to stop inconsistency in results with structure & systems that create more time freedom to enjoy life.

You’ll not only get the opportunity to learn from industry leading names, but also an opportunity to introduce yourself in the breakout sessions.

Business doesn’t have to feel lonely, you don’t have to go it alone.

It’s collaboration over competition all the way.

And best of all, you can join us for all of this for FREE.

Sign up using the link below ⤵

https://lnkd.in/e2-k8qEF

Let me know in the comments if you can make it!

I can’t wait to see you there 🔥

Melissa Matson
Brand Strategist

04/09/2024

Someone once told me a shouldn’t say this as it would ruin my chance of getting clients.

I love working with boring business.🧡🗄️

There. I said it.

I love working with businesses that are traditionally ‘unsexy.’

Most branding agencys salivate over consumer goods or Silicon Valley roll-outs.

Sexy they might be.

But the truth is, they’ve usually been there, done that and got the T-shirt.

My bag is igniting real change and impact.

✅ Disrupting industries that have been stale for decades.

✅ Turning on lightbulbs in the boardroom that may not have seen the brand building opportunity before.

✅ Creating cultural change from the inside-out.

And that’s the difference with EMBR vs a traditional design-led agency.

We aren’t here just for the surface-level pretty stuff (although we do that amazingly).

We dig deep, peel back the layers, and build brands that drive true business growth.

Sure, it’s more of a challenge.
But the rewards are sooooo much greater.

So if you’re a boring business that’s ready to think a little differently and stand out from the crowd, we might just be a perfect fit.

🦩Be a flamingo in a room of pigeons.

You know it makes sense.

02/09/2024

Hi! My name is…. What? My name is…. Who? My name is?

Old school introduction (showing my age) but if you get it, you get it 😉

It’s been a while, but September is going to be an incredible month of comeback and consistency.

Kicking things off with a well overdue intro.

So hey 👋🏻

I’m Melissa.

Brand Strategist and founder of EMBR Brand Agency, on a mission to ignite brands and the people behind them.
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▪️A forever Yorkshire lass living down south for 15 years (Hertfordshire).
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▪️Hype girl: The eternal optimist. I believe that anything is possible with a killer strategy and a desire to learn and level up.
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▪️Brand strategist: +10 years experience working for some of the biggest global brands, now specialising in building brands that feel as good as they look. Taking the big brand thinking and applying to scale-up founder-led businesses🔥.
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▪️Challenger: Never settling for the status quo. Always looking for ways to do things differently and challenge the ‘blah blah’ boring cookie-cutter approaches.
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▪️Mummy: Proud momma to two human firecrackers and two furbabies.
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✔️ I’m all about.....early mornings, period dramas (Outlander anyone?!) kitchen dancing, outdoor life, branding books (to a geekily obsessed level), real connections, authenticity.
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❌ I’m not about.....hustle culture, artificial people, long texts (seriously, hit me with a voicenote anytime), bullsh*t, band-aid fixes, one-size-fits all, excuses.
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So that’s a little about me, but I’d love to know who’s out there reading this now. Have you been around for the journey or are you a newbie to our corner of the internet?
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Can’t wait to connect!
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Melissa x
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Ps. I’ve joined a 30 day LinkedIn challenge with so expect to see a lot more of me!