We are a new breed of consultancy that leverages purpose-driven strategy and storytelling to grow your business and social impact.

What story will you need to tell not just to stand out from your competitors but also to generate the levels of loyalty and engagement needed to grow the brand and bottom line long term?
 

The purpose behind your business is the heart and soul of your brand. It is the authentic story of why you exist and the difference you want to make. It’s the most engaging story you will ever tell.

When purpose is the core strategy for brand engagement you get into the hearts, minds and actions of your most important audiences. You become unforgettable. You discover your unique differentiator. Best of all, because human purpose is always rooted in improving life, you drive social change. You take a stand and your audiences get behind you. They become your biggest advocates. They don’t just buy you, they buy into you.

In the digital age, it’s critical for business leaders to understand that people want to actively participate with brands in the pursuit of a compelling vision for change. And it must be authentic. Millennials especially are relentless in their pursuit for authenticity.  Purpose brings authenticity to your brand. It is the truth and the why. 

Purpose drives profit too. Purpose and values-driven brands have been shown to outperform comparison companies by 16 to one. They enjoy 400% higher revenues, 700% greater job growth and 1,200% higher stock prices.

Today, there is a call for brands to play an even more substantial role in people’s lives. Purpose-driven brands can now wholeheartedly tap into an army of enthusiastic supporters who want to be personally invested in a brand’s social purpose and who will reward those brands that allow them to participate in the journey.

We work with our clients to discover their unique purpose and develop a clear and authentic storytelling strategy to engage customers around that mission.
 

Click here for more data on how purpose increases profit and growth.

Who We Are And What We Stand For

We are a new breed of consultancy that leverages purpose-driven storytelling to grow your business and social impact.

Business in service to a thriving planet. 

Heart&Soul branding was founded on the belief that conventional business can heal the world. When people build and run companies from their highest values and purpose, it delivers profitability to stakeholders, meaningful work to employees, and positive social change to our culture.
 

Business as healer is generative in nature.  It brings into fulfillment a thriving planet. This is the true purpose of business, the founding principle.  Purpose is not a lofty, touchy-feely dream, it’s a proven business strategy that delivers positive results on every level. All of us can experience well-being, abundance and a sense of meaning.
 

What if your business, your life, your legacy, could do that?
 What would that mean to you, your family, executive team, investors, and customers?
 

Whether you’re a beauty brand that wants to help women find self-acceptance, or a tech firm that wants to build socially responsible products, our promise is to help you figure out your purpose, position your brand around it, and tell your story so you and your business can rally millions and remake the world.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
- Mary Oliver

Our Team The Best And The Brightest

Michele Gough
Chief of Strategy & Storytelling

Meet Michele

orn and raised in England. Michele has been a published author and fashion journalist, an entrepreneur who founded several start-ups, and a business leader who, as head of consumer marketing, helped grow Smashbox Cosmetics into a half billion dollar enterprise securing a successful acquisition by Estee Lauder Companies in 2010.

Michele has also been an enthusiastic student and teacher of human development workshops, and more recently a passionate advocate of horses and understanding the role they can play in human development.

In 2011 at the height of her career with Smashbox, Michele quit. Having accomplished her career goals and after the passing of a dear friend, she found herself asking deeper questions, primarily about her own purpose and legacy. For the next year she spent most of her time deeply immersed in nature with her horse Romeo. It was here she had a revelation that if people were living their highest values and purpose through their organization it would result in personal fulfillment, positive social change, and yes…profit. Business had a new purpose, and so did Michele.

The following year she founded Heart&Soul Branding and since then has worked with many brands helping them discover their purpose, articulate their story, and develop engagement strategies that build trust and drive growth for the bottom line and the world at large. 
 

Meet Michael

Born in Vienna, Austria.  Michael spent a year at Oxford University studying politics and philosophy (this was when his hair began to fall out) before moving to NYC to pursue a modeling career. It was while modeling in Europe that he had the opportunity to direct his first music video for a friend’s band and fell in love with the art of visual storytelling.

Back in NYC Michael switched careers and become a production assistant working in commercials with some of the industry greats. In 2007 he moved to LA to complete an MFA in Broadcast Cinema at Art Center Collect of Design. Here he won top awards and after graduating in 2009 began living the LA dream. A serious back injury in 2010 forced Michael to get honest. His work took a new direction and authenticity became the key theme. Two years later a near death motorcycle accident prompted spiritual growth and a commitment to telling stories that move the heart and soul by showing the true nature of humanity, and the positive impact we can have on the world.

As a lead filmmaker for X-Prize, a global enterprise that offers millions of dollars to solve the world’s greatest problems, Michael has produced, shot and edited, hundreds of brand films that engage and inspire you in incredible stories of global change, unimaginable innovation, and radical business and technology breakthroughs for the benefit of human kind. His moving films have become the centerpiece of X-prize’s marketing strategy.

The hair lost in Oxford never grew back, however, these days you’ll find him compensating for that by sporting a grizzly man beard.

Michael is about to give birth his most meaningful creation to date, his first child.