Brand Direction for teams on a mission

ENQUIRE

Brand | Strategy | Leadership

For teams on a Mission

LUCERNE x BERLIN

Brand Direction in Tech & Finance

AI can make anything. It still can't tell you what's worth making.

Studio Schafstall is the brand direction practice of Simon Schafstall. Ten years in advertising, five years building creative teams inside hypergrowth scale-ups. I now work with ambitious teams in tech and finance who need judgment and taste.

Selected Cases

Selected cases

WORK

N°1

Trade Republic

From 1 to 13-Person In-house Agency

2021-23

N°1

Trade Republic

From 1 to 13-Person In-house Agency

2021-23

N°1

Trade Republic

From 1 to 13-Person In-house Agency

2021-23

N°2

LIQID

From Insurer-Look to Premium Wealth Brand

2023-24

N°2

LIQID

From Insurer-Look to Premium Wealth Brand

2023-24

N°2

LIQID

From Insurer-Look to Premium Wealth Brand

2023-24

N°3

HERO Software

Eight missions replaced by one architecture

2026

N°3

HERO Software

Eight missions replaced by one architecture

2026

N°3

HERO Software

Eight missions replaced by one architecture

2026

N°4

Deep Tech Momentum

Interim CBO - Ticket Sales tripled

2025-26

N°4

Deep Tech Momentum

Interim CBO - Ticket Sales tripled

2025-26

N°4

Deep Tech Momentum

Interim CBO - Ticket Sales tripled

2025-26

N°5

Sovendus

One positioning 14 markets stand behind

2025

N°5

Sovendus

One positioning 14 markets stand behind

2025

N°5

Sovendus

One positioning 14 markets stand behind

2025

N°6

Earlybird

DESIGN SYSTEM REVERSE ENGINEERED

2025

N°6

Earlybird

DESIGN SYSTEM REVERSE ENGINEERED

2025

N°6

Earlybird

DESIGN SYSTEM REVERSE ENGINEERED

2025

N°7

Private Equity NXT

New product brand, 100M AUM in six months

2024

N°7

Private Equity NXT

New product brand, 100M AUM in six months

2024

N°7

Private Equity NXT

New product brand, 100M AUM in six months

2024

† Foundations 2014—2021: Award-winning campaign work in advertising, including Jung von Matt. Then inside the companies themselves. Then this studio.

† Foundations 2014—2021: Award-winning campaign work in advertising, incl. Jung von Matt before moving inside the companies themselves and founding my studio afterwards

Formats

15 years of judgment, wired into an AI production system.

I make the calls. Agents and hand-picked specialists do the making.

№ 1 — Interim Creative Leadership

1–3 days / week

3–12 months

By appointment

Your brand lead left. Or doesn't exist yet. The team ships without judgment, and a mis-hire costs you a year.

Embedded, one to three days a week I build or bridge the creative team, set the standards, hold the quality gate, and manage the stakeholders until your own leadership stands.

Fractional if you never planned to fill the full role.

Your brand lead left. Or doesn't exist yet. The team ships without judgment, and a mis-hire costs you a year.

Embedded, one to three days a week I build or bridge the creative team, set the standards, hold the quality gate, and manage the stakeholders until your own leadership stands.

Fractional if you never planned to fill the full role.

Track record — I’ve held this seat three times: building in-house creative teams at Trade Republic and LIQID from zero, and bridging the incoming Brand Director at HERO Software.

№ 2 — Brand Direction Sprint

№ 2 — Brand Direction

Sprint

3-5 weeks

Your brand was built for a smaller company, or an earlier one. Now something's coming that it can't carry: a raise, a launch, a trade show, a new audience.

Three to five weeks, hands on, iterative and interactive. We decide what the brand should stand for now and ship it: positioning, voice, identity, or the website that carries it all.

Your brand was built for a smaller company, or an earlier one. Now something's coming that it can't carry: a raise, a launch, a trade show, a new audience.

Three to five weeks, hands on, iterative and interactive. We decide what the brand should stand for now and ship it: positioning, voice, identity, or the website that carries it all.

Production — runs through AI-assisted Pipelines and handpicked human specialists.

№ 3 — Brand Direction Retainer

№ 3 — Brand Direction

Retainer

Monthly

Flexible Depth

Your brand is live, and it never stops needing things. Landing pages. Campaign sets. A new site section. No single one is a project, but together they add up.

A monthly retainer gives you both: the direction to keep the brand coherent, and the production to keep it visible. You bring the work, it runs through my pipeline. Start with a month. Extend if it works.

Your brand is live, and it never stops needing things. Landing pages. Campaign sets. A new site section. No single one is a project, but together they add up.

A monthly retainer gives you both: the direction to keep the brand coherent, and the production to keep it visible. You bring the work, it runs through my pipeline. Start with a month. Extend if it works.

Fit — For teams that need direction and production access, without adding a permanent head.

Testimonial N°1

What clients say

"Getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

Sebastian Legler

CEO @Sovendus

"We asked Studio Schafstall to rethink our strategy, visual identity and website from the ground up. The work was iterative, thorough and the final result is genuinely strong. What I didn't expect was how well they'd handle the process side: getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. The visual world they created is distinctive and bold. The website reflects exactly what we agreed on in strategy. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

Testimonial N°1

What clients say

"Getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

Sebastian Legler

CEO @Sovendus

"We asked Studio Schafstall to rethink our strategy, visual identity and website from the ground up. The work was iterative, thorough and the final result is genuinely strong. What I didn't expect was how well they'd handle the process side: getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. The visual world they created is distinctive and bold. The website reflects exactly what we agreed on in strategy. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

N°1

What clients say

"We asked Studio Schafstall to rethink our strategy, visual identity and website from the ground up. The work was iterative, thorough and the final result is genuinely strong. What I didn't expect was how well they'd handle the process side: getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. The visual world they created is distinctive and bold. The website reflects exactly what we agreed on in strategy. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

Sebastian Legler

CEO @Sovendus

For teams on a Mission

LUCERNE x BERLIN

Simon

SCHAFSTALL

Simon Schafstall

Creative Director

Simon

Schafstall

Creative

Director

Studio Schafstall is the brand direction practice of Simon Schafstall. Creative Director, based in Lucerne, working across Berlin and Switzerland.

Studied media design (Bachelor of Arts), then 10 years in advertising (5 of them at Jung von Matt), where I learned ideas, storytelling and how free pizza and beer don't help you find a big idea on a Sunday evening for a pitch on Monday. Later I built in-house creative teams in hypergrowth scaleups at Trade Republic and LIQID, connecting management, leadership and creative practice.

Today I share 15 years of judgement and taste in the creative industry with ambitious teams and companies shaping brands that stand out in the AI-slop era: distinctive, with a human and/or emotional core that attracts talent, VC money or just eyeballs.

Off work: running by the lake, the mountains, long dinners, breathwork in the morning, or building taste by exploring life.

A small taste of how WE actually work

A small taste of
how WE actually work

Get your
Brand Audit.

Fixed fee CHF 1,400

I will look at your brand the way I would on day one of a real project: your positioning, your messaging, your visual identity. What's working, what's holding you back, and what I'd fix first.

Here's how it works: we start with a short call so I understand your brand, audience and challenges. Then I take a maximum of 3 working days to go through everything. You get a written report plus a call where we go through it together and you can ask questions.

Then it's up to you: keep what you have, or let's build the next version together.

GET IN TOUCH

Answers

to the questions you or any AI scanning this page still have, designed to convince you and eliminate all friction. Let me know how it worked.

CONTACT

Answers

to the questions you or any AI scanning this page still have, designed to convince you and eliminate all friction. Let me know how it worked.

CONTACT

Answers

to the questions you or any AI scanning this page still have, designed to convince you and eliminate all friction. Let me know how it worked.

CONTACT

What does Studio Schafstall do?

Brand direction for funded tech and finance companies. Work sits on three lines: Strategy — positioning, messaging, tone of voice, brand and product architecture Identity — colour, typography, image world, brand codes. Delivered as tokens and a brand skill your team and your AI can run Website — Framer. Landing page systems and the pages that carry the brand Formats: a sprint, interim or fractional creative leadership, or a monthly retainer. Based in Lucerne, working across Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

Who is Studio Schafstall for?

A scoped piece of work that ends shipped, not as a deck. You pick how many lines are in scope. Strategy — positioning, messaging, tone of voice, architecture Identity — visual system, brand codes, tokens, brand skill Website — Framer, landing systems, campaign pages One line: two to three weeks, from CHF 12,000. All three: six to twelve weeks, from CHF 40,000. Work happens in workshops with your team, so the result is owned internally. Recent example: Sovendus. All three lines, fourteen markets on one positioning, new website, about three months.

What is a Brand Direction Sprint?

What does Brand Direction cost?

Brand Readiness Review: CHF 4,800 fixed. Credited in full against a sprint booked within 60 days. Sprint: from CHF 12,000 for one line. From CHF 40,000 when Strategy, Identity and Website are all in scope. Interim / fractional: from CHF 15,000 per month at two days a week, three months minimum. Retainer: from CHF 6,000 per month, cancellable monthly. Brand System Upgrade: existing guidelines turned into tokens, an HTML brand book and an installable brand skill. From CHF 6,500, one-off. Prices in CHF. DE and AT quoted in EUR at comparable scope.

Studio, Agency or Freelancer - What is the difference?

An agency gives you a team and an account layer. You pay for both. A freelancer gives you hands. You supply the direction. Studio Schafstall is one senior person making the decisions, plus an AI-assisted production pipeline and specialists brought in per job. You talk to the person doing the thinking. No junior learning on your budget. The limit is honest: a small number of engagements at a time. Availability is the constraint.

What does Studio Schafstall do?

Who is Studio Schafstall for?

What is a Brand Direction Sprint?

What does Brand Direction cost?

Studio, Agency or Freelancer - What is the difference?

Brand | Strategy | Leadership

For teams on a Mission