Creative Retainers
For brands that are built and ready to move. A monthly creative partnership where we handle the strategy, design, and execution of everything your brand touches — so you don't have to.
$3,000 – $6,000 / month · Minimum 3 months
Your brand, fully supported.
A monthly retainer that gives you ongoing access to our full team — strategy, design, and implementation — across every touchpoint your brand occupies.
What it is:
Built around your business.
We combine three types of hourly work — strategy, design, and implementation — in a custom ratio based on what your business actually needs each month.
Minimum 90 days.
We require a 3-month minimum because real creative momentum takes time. Most clients stay well beyond that — and the work gets better the longer we're in it together.
We’ve helped clients with…
📬 PR mailers
🎁 Packaging
⛱️ Events + Pop-ups
🛝 Slide Deck Design
🎥 Photo + Video Shoot Direction
📱 Social Media Content & Management
📧 Email Design & Strategy
🧢 Merch
🖨️ Print Design
🪧 Signage
📄 Document + Internal Design
📣 Campaign Concepting
💻 Website Design & Build
🏆 Sponsor Decks
How it’s structured:
Your retainer is a custom combination of three types of work. The ratio shifts based on your season, your goals, and where you need the most support.
Strategy Hours
This is where the plan gets made. Campaign concepting, content direction, brand decisions, rollout timelines. This time is with Michelle — once a week, every other week, or once a month depending on your budget and cadence.
Design Hours
The actual execution of creative work — social graphics, print collateral, packaging, event materials, digital assets, merch. Whatever the strategy calls for, the design hours bring it to life.
We typically budget for about 1-2 rounds of edits on the design work.
Implementation
Getting things live and making sure they land correctly. Scheduling posts, coordinating with vendors, handing off files to printers, signage teams, or merch suppliers. Not design work — but it takes our time, and it matters.
⚙️ We Build Your Custom Scope
Based on your goals, budget, and business needs, we build a monthly retainer combination of strategy, design, and implementation hours that makes sense for where you are.
How it works:
🗓️ Strategy Meeting Sets the Tempo
Each cycle opens with a strategy session — weekly, biweekly, or monthly with Michelle. This is where campaigns get planned, priorities get set, and work gets delegated to the team.
🤝 The Team Executes
Design and implementation hours get deployed. Assets get made, scheduled, coordinated, and delivered. You stay focused on your business — we handle the creative output.
⛺️ Everything Lives in Basecamp
All communication, assets, approvals, and timelines are managed through Basecamp so nothing gets lost in email threads or DMs.
📈 Hours Flex With Your Season
Leading into a campaign? We bump up design hours. In a slower stretch? We shift toward strategy and planning. The retainer is designed to move with you, not against you.
⏰ Review + Renew at 90 Days
At the 90-day mark we assess what's working, what's shifted, and whether the scope needs to evolve. Most clients renew — and most retainers grow from there.
View our Portfolio
Frequently Asked Questions
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You have an existing brand, ongoing creative needs, and you're ready to stop managing it yourself. Most clients come on because they have a busy season, a launch, or a specific initiative they need support building toward.
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Generally yes. We don't typically take on a retainer unless we've already designed your brand — the branding informs everything else. There are exceptions, but that's the standard.
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It opens with a strategy session with Michelle — weekly, biweekly, or monthly depending on your scope. That session sets priorities and delegates work to the team. From there, design and implementation hours get deployed across whatever your brand needs that month: social content, print collateral, packaging, events, campaigns, vendor coordination.
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Fill out the contact form at mkwcreative.co/contact and tell us about your business and what you're working toward. We'll take it from there.
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Most often our team can turn around a first draft of a design request within 72 hours. However, since we set the priorities at the top of the month meeting, we typically have a set workflow for how to get all the tasks accomplished together. You’ll always know where your project stands.
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We do a review together — what's working, what's shifted, whether the scope needs to change. Most clients renew. You're never locked in past the minimum without choosing to be.
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If you happen to go over hours, we will let you know immediately and bill you for the difference.