Patrick Kelly
Freelance Creative Director / Brand Strategist
Los Angeles, CA
www.patrick-kelly.com
instagram @pmkellyjr
Q What do you do?
“Patrick is a freelance Creative Director and Brand Strategist with 15+ years in beauty and wellness.”
Across their career, they have worked inside and led consumer product brands from concept to implementation and across every stage of business.
Patrick was the founder and CEO of Sigil, a 100% natural, gender-fluid fine fragrance, beauty, and lifestyle brand. Sigil garnered critical praise for its inclusive voice, engaged community, and high-performance perfumes and skincare. Through Patrick's direction, Sigil achieved bootstrapped 6.5x revenue growth in three short years.
In addition to Patrick's work founding and leading Sigil through many growth milestones, Patrick has recently helped to develop and launch an international, multi-brand e-commerce identity, co-led a skincare brand's identity refresh and launch, and more.
Patrick has an academic background in literature, film, and writing. He brings this lens to his approach to creative direction, brand development, and business strategy.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
Patrick is excited to work with like-minded, creative founders who want to make an impact in their field by giving back to the interests of their community through social and environmental best practices. The intersection of business and activism is what has differentiated Patrick's work inside and for brands, he has helped to build, launch, and grow.
Other brands Patrick has worked with and for include Patagonia, Aveda, L'Occitane, and more.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
Patrick leads with a values-first, collaborative approach. They choose to only work with founders and teams who build their success, products, and raison d'être around social and environmental equity and improvement.
Q What’s your style?
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
Brand Strategy and Creative Direction are my passions—helping collaborators and creatives refine, realize, and launch their idea through brand identity, packaging, product development, and creative.
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
In between sprints, make space for grace. Some of the best insights come from taking a moment away from the problem to breathe and allow new perspectives to form.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
Open to ephemeral, one-time creative productions, and longer-term creative retainers for ongoing creative direction. One-time, or ongoing brand and business strategy, from concept to implementation.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
Mid-sized to large brands operating in the CPG space—specifically beauty and wellness.
Q: What is your rate?
I'm open to working with small brands, solopreneurs, and startups on a monthly retainer or project-to-project basis.
Project minimum fee of $2,500, depending on scope. Inquire with details for a quote.
Creative retainers start at $5,000 per month, depending on scope. Inquire for a quote.
Brand strategy and identity start at $10,000, depending on various factors.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Constantly reading, observing the market, chatting with peers, benchmarking, watching beautiful films.
This member profile was originally published in April 2022.