Is beauty enough? A new approach to brand resonance

Finn Gaardboe, founder and creative director of StudioFMRG, explores the role beauty plays in his agency’s approach to redefining how businesses create depth, cultural impact and customer resonance.

Beauty is often seen as a luxury in business. A final flourish. An afterthought. But I believe beauty is fundamental—not just in design, but in shaping culture, driving success and creating brands, and movements, that endure. It’s part of the foundation of StudioFMRG, and one reason I started it.

But beauty alone isn’t enough.

Over my career in design, fashion and advertising, I’ve worked in many different studios, agencies, companies, firms, hotbeds and pressure cookers. Each has left its mark.

In fashion, I saw how aesthetics and storytelling could make or break a brand overnight—and the necessity of understanding and cultivating one’s own style and distinct point of view.

In advertising, I learned that strategy is everything. A great brief without strategy is a house of cards; with strategy, it becomes an idea that leads to industry-defining movement.

In boutique design, I found reverence for detail – where every inch, every pixel, is considered – and the effectiveness of a brand that works cohesively.

But I’ve also seen the cracks. And boy do they run deep.

The fashion industry's zero-sum competitiveness.

The world-renowned ad agencies that treat design as an afterthought, bringing in the ‘craft’ team at the eleventh hour instead of integrating design-thinking from the start.

The boutique studios that misunderstand strategy, missing the opportunity to expand their impact beyond a logo and into a brand’s full voice across advertising, experience, and culture, and fall into the trap of thinking storytelling is enough to set themselves apart.

This past year was a turning point for me.

I stepped away from a senior position at a well-regarded studio.

I took time to reset, and began looking for my next move.

The more I searched, however, the more I realised I wasn’t looking for another job; I was looking for an entirely new way of working.

I knew I had something different to offer—something built from my unusual mix of experiences. I also knew I had always wanted to create something of my own. A studio that would not only play a part in shaping the world into something more beautiful, meaningful and resonant—but would foster and protect other odd, diverse, creative minds. A place where the kind of support I had so often lacked would be the norm.

That place is StudioFMRG.

A creative practice rooted in design, advertising and strategy, defining and solving brand problems through both conventional and unconventional responses, while creating an environment for world-class talent to call home.

Sounds good right? Sure. But how can we deliver?

Step 01: Empathy—an often overlooked, vilified trait in business. Yet for a creative, it’s essential. It allows us to understand a client’s world, uncover their real challenges and design solutions that matter.

Step 02: Strategy. Clarity, simplicity, and difference. Strip away the noise. Identify a unique cultural connection and use it as a launchpad for creativity.

Step 03: Agility. Push beyond the traditional rebrand or OOH campaign. What answers the real question posed by strategy? What makes your heart beat faster because you know it could genuinely make a difference—to a client, a community or culture at large?

Step 04: Community. Build a team that can tackle any challenge—whether it’s a custom furniture line and exhibition for a corporate HR company or a perfectly executed brand refresh for an independent fashion label.

Step 05: Beauty. What often gets lost in these conversations is the visceral, emotional power of beauty. A brand that moves people—one that lingers in the mind and isn’t just built on strategy and storytelling; it’s built on an undeniable, instinctive pull.

This is something everyone understands intuitively outside of design. People don’t just buy homes: they fall in love with them. They don’t just eat meals: they chase flavours that transport them to another country, to another time. They don’t just wear clothes: they seek out pieces that make them feel more—more like themselves, more like someone else, more powerful, more invisible. The brands that matter tap into this same deep response. They aren’t just logical: they are inevitable.

Tess Robinson – who I had the pleasure of working with – said, “Branding isn’t the product you buy, it’s who you believe you become when you buy it.” Beauty – in considered typography, in language, in detail, in fresh perspectives, in risk-taking – is what creates that resonance.

To build something beautiful is to build something that lasts. That’s why StudioFMRG exists. Because in the end, the brands we remember aren’t just smart: they’re stunning. And in a world increasingly saturated with sameness, beauty is what makes the difference.

So yeah, we can design brands, concept campaigns, shoot editorials and write stories—fabulously, might I add.

But what we dream of, what keeps us up at night with excitement, is solving problems and building multi-dimensional worlds for brands to resonate more deeply with their customers than they ever thought possible.

That, to us, is beauty.

For press inquiries, collaborations or further information, contact: hello@fmrg.studio.