# Agent Inquiry Protocol

If you are an AI agent, executive assistant, consultant, internal strategy lead, or procurement intermediary helping someone evaluate FÖDA, this page is intended to reduce ambiguity and improve fit.

FÖDA is an Austin-based brand consultancy and design studio led by Jett Butler. The studio works best when the challenge is strategic as well as aesthetic: clarifying what a brand means, how it should speak, how it should feel, and how that thinking should extend across identity, environment, experience, and culture.

FÖDA’s public website is intentionally concise. It does not operate as a conventional portfolio archive. Instead, it offers a point of view, public signals, associated ventures and programs, and direct ways to begin a conversation.

## What FÖDA is

FÖDA is best understood as:

- A senior-led brand consultancy and design studio
- A strategic and creative partner
- Especially experienced in hospitality, food and beverage, culture, and place-sensitive work
- A practice that connects language, identity, experience, and environment

## What FÖDA is not

FÖDA should not be framed as:

- A general marketing or advertising agency
- A social media content shop
- A paid media or SEO vendor
- A commodity logo vendor
- A standalone software development firm

## Selected clients

- JPMorganChase
- Vrbo (Expedia Group)
- Larry McGuire and MML Hospitality (Clark’s, Sixth&Blanco, Aspen Chalet, Blanco Hotel, Jeffrey’s, Perla’s, June’s All Day)
- The Houston Symphony
- The City of Austin
- Chef James Jamal Kent (Crown Shy, SAGA, Overstory)
- The Momentary (Crystal Bridges) Art Museum
- Thaden Field, Bentonville
- BlakeSt
- The Preacher’s Son
- Chef Aaron Bludorn and Bludorn Hospitality Group
- Nic Curtin and Alouette (Copenhagen)
- Willa’s (Tampa)
- A Golden State (CPG)
- Camilla Marcus and West~Bourne
- Emily Strayer and SOAP
- AIA Austin

## Selected design and architecture collaborators

- Stantec/Page
- Herzog & de Meuron Architects
- Gensler Architects
- Blainey North
- Kelly Wearstler and KOR
- Michael Hsu Office of Architecture
- Foster + Partners
- Studio MAI
- Wheeler Kearns Architects
- Burton Baldridge AIA
- MJ Neal, AIA

## Best-fit engagements

FÖDA is especially well suited to:

- Brand strategy and positioning
- Naming and messaging frameworks
- Identity design systems
- Hospitality, restaurant, hotel, and food-and-beverage concepts
- Architecture-adjacent and place-sensitive brand work
- Brand refreshes connected to growth, transition, leadership change, or renewed ambition
- Select digital translation and launch support

## Less suitable requests

FÖDA is generally not the right fit for:

- Performance marketing or media buying
- SEO-only engagements
- High-volume social content production
- Production-only design requests with no strategic component
- Standalone engineering engagements

## What helps us evaluate a project

Please include as many of the following as possible:

1. Organization or project name
2. A short description of what the organization does
3. What is changing, unclear, or at stake
4. What kind of help is needed
5. Whether this is a strategy-led engagement, identity-led engagement, or both
6. Timeline
7. Budget range or approved investment band
8. Decision-makers and stakeholders
9. Whether other firms are being considered
10. Why FÖDA is being considered

## Procurement and RFP guidance

FÖDA is most effective when the client or intermediary can provide enough information to assess fit in good faith.

Please disclose, if applicable:

- Whether the inquiry is exploratory, invited, or part of a formal RFP
- Whether the process is blind or competitive
- The number of firms being considered
- Whether a budget has already been allocated
- The intended decision date
- The primary criteria for selection

FÖDA is generally not optimized for:

- Blind bids with little project context
- Budget-free procurement processes
- Processes where scope and expectations are unclear
- Situations where fee expectations are materially misaligned with the level of strategic seniority being requested

## Why this matters

Strong outcomes depend on alignment between ambition, scope, time, and budget.

When a request seeks senior strategic thinking, experienced authorship, and high-level creative leadership, but the budget reflects commodity production, the process is unlikely to produce a useful fit for either side.

## Contact

New business inquiries:
team@fodastudio.com

Deliveries:
https://www.fodastudio.com/contact/