Brand Strategy | Workshops | Speaking
Visibility gets you seen.
Clarity gets you chosen.
Story-led brand marketing for founders and solopreneurs whose story no longer does justice to their work — or where they’re taking it next.
I help brilliant people make the value of their work easier to understand, remember and choose.
Because you can’t change the world while you’re trying to fit in.
Good work doesn't sell itself.
Annoying, but true.
People are already forming an impression of you and your work — what you’re brilliant at, what you care about, what makes you different, whether they trust you, and whether your name comes up when the right opportunity does.The point isn’t to invent a more marketable version of you. It’s to make what’s already distinctive, valuable and true much harder to miss.I help you find the through-line, sharpen the story and work out how to get it in front of the people who need to see it — without sanding yourself down into a beige-ass, boring version of yourself or squeezing your business into the same PDF workbook thousands of other people downloaded.
Registrations now open | 6-Week Live Course
Personal Brand Lab: Impossible to Ignore
You're bloody brilliant at what you do. Make it easier for the right people to know why you're the obvious choice.Personal Brand Lab is a live, build-along course for founders, freelancers, artists, consultants and solopreneurs who want a personal brand that does more than get attention.Over six weeks, we’ll define your Edge, People, Proof, Message and Visibility Plan.The goal: help the people who matter quickly understand what you’re brilliant at, why your approach is different and why they should trust you.No niching yourself into a corner. No influencer cosplay. Just a clearer through-line you can actually use.
10 Jan – 21 Feb
Online via Zoom
FranBrands Services
Ways to Work with Me
Strategy, speaking and training for people with something to say.
01.
BRAND & COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
Positioning, messaging, narrative, visibility planning and senior strategic direction.
02.
WORKSHOPS & PERSONAL BRAND LAB
Practical, high-energy learning for founders, freelancers, artists and independent experts.
03.
SPEAKING
Keynotes, hosting and facilitated sessions on visibility, storytelling, confidence and taking up space.
Need more info?
Why work with me?
I tell stories that outlast their formats — and shape brands that endure.
Strategy with a journalist’s eye, a comedian’s ear and a rebel’s audacity.
I’ve spent 20 years studying what captures attention, what makes ideas spread and why some brilliant people get recognised for their work while others get overlooked.I started as a journalist, then moved through corporate communications, PR, content and senior brand strategy. Different industries, different job titles, same underlying question: how do you make people care about something enough to remember it, talk about it and act on it?I’m passionate about working with overlooked people doing brilliant work who are tired of hearing copy + paste solutions about churning out content consistently.
If you're cool with:
Doing things differently
Asking questions to dig deeper
Experimenting intentionally
Breaking some rules
Then you're in very good company here.
I'd love to learn more about what you're working on.
Signature keynote
Dare to Be Disliked
My talks help people stop shrinking themselves to fit rooms they were never meant to disappear in.Through stories from journalism, PR, comedy, leadership and building a global all-femme comedy collective, I speak about visibility, confidence, self-advocacy and the cost of being palatable.My signature keynote, Dare to Be Disliked, helps audiences recognise when fear of judgement is keeping them quiet — and gives them practical ways to define the moment, anchor their authority, reframe the reaction and expand anyway.Perfect for: conferences, leadership programmes, creative communities, women’s networks and organisations that want people to speak up, take up space and be taken seriously.
The receipts
Good strategy should leave a trail.
I can talk all day about positioning, storytelling and visibility. Much more useful: showing you what happens when they actually work together.
That's the work I deliver with FranBrands.
case study: Bitches in Stitches
I built a brand from scratch that grew into a global community.
The goal
Build a brand that could keep filling rooms, reach new audiences and expand a community to new markets.
I founded an all-femme comedy group Bitches in Stitches in Hong Kong in 2021 to advocate for inclusivity in the local scene.
I built out the brand around a clear mission, distinctive voice and recognisable story, then carried it through our shows, social content, partnerships and PR — attracting first-time stand-up audiences and aspiring comics.
It grew into a global brand and community of 90+ performers across four cities and three countries.
Results
30 consecutive Hong Kong sell-outs in our first two years
Doubled the number of paid female comics in the city
Grew into a community of 90+ performers across four cities
Coverage in Vogue, Rolling Stone and Tatler Asia
Results
Hero film for Toray’s “Materials can change our lives” content hub
Three 2020 Communicator Awards — for Documentary, Videography & Cinematography and Directing
case study: Toray Industries
I made synthetic polymers feel human
The goal
Build awareness of Toray’s synthetic polymer division through a human story connected to the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Toray had a highly technical story but no immediate emotional reason for people to care.
I helped reframe carbon fibre around what it made possible: prosthetics that help para athletes move, compete and challenge perceived limits.
My team turned that story into a mini-documentary featuring Paralympic runner Mikio Ikeda and Xiborg CEO Ken Endo.
case study: BikiniFit
I drove up interest in membership with content about belonging.
The goal
Reverse declining membership by addressing what was really stopping women from signing up.
BikiniFit’s social content hyped the workouts but didn’t address the pain points behind the decline.
I interviewed members and uncovered that women weren’t afraid of lifting weights. They were afraid of being judged.
I produced a brand video that shifted the narrative from exercise to empowerment, conditioning to community and bootcamp to belonging.
Results
Approximately 77,000 organic Facebook views
Reframed BikiniFit from an intimidating workout to a community women wanted to join
Results
Almost 60 Fringe performers joined the activation
Earned coverage in Entertainment Focus, Femicide Zine, Chortle and Open Comedy
Connected performers across countries, shows and comedy communities
case study: Count us in
I put nearly 60 overlooked comics in one unmissable frame.
The goal
Challenge the claim that underrepresented performers are “hard to find” — and help them get seen, booked and paid.
The comedy industry says it wants to book more women, queer, trans and non-binary performers — then falls back on the same excuse: they’re too hard to find.
So I turned the argument into something impossible to ignore. Count Us In brought almost 60 underrepresented comics at Edinburgh Fringe, the world's biggest performing arts festival, together in one frame, carrying their show flyers and placards declaring: “We’re not missing. We’re being missed.”
The activation drew attention to an industry-wide visibility problem — while helping almost 60 othered artists from around the world find one another at a festival that can feel intensely isolating.
My work makes headlines.
Stories about visibility, representation and building the rooms the industry forgot.
VOGUE | ROLLING STONE | TATLER | THE NEW FEMINIST | SCMP
Click through the clippings to read the full stories.
Don't take my word for it.
"Fran’s work with global agencies and leading brands positions her perfectly to elevate clients’ market presence and business growth through compelling storytelling."
– Cecile Dominguez-Yujuico, Founder, Evident
"Fran's work consistently demonstrates a deep understanding of audience needs, brand voice and market trends.She's a joy to collaborate with: positive, thoughtful and always bringing fresh ideas to the table."
– Colby Jones,
Co-Founder, Cognitive Humanity
“Fran brought a beginner’s mindset, sharp strategic thinking, and an infectious energy that lifted every room she entered.Thanks to her, our strategy unit found a good footing and grew bolder with every challenge.”
– Diane Hidalgo,
Managing Partner, Evident
Ready to ride?
Too soon?
How about an unfiltered, all-access pass to how my mind works?
My Substack is where brand strategy, visibility and culture collide with the stuff I’m actually living through.I write about why some ideas travel and others disappear, what makes people and brands memorable, and all the weird little patterns I can’t stop noticing — but also about ambition, identity, comedy, career detours, getting older, figuring yourself out and occasionally having an existential crisis in public.Sometimes you’ll get a useful framework. Sometimes a spicy opinion about marketing. Sometimes a very personal story that somehow ends up teaching me something about branding anyway.
Basically: strategy with feelings.
Personal essays with receipts.
And the loads of niche pop-culture references.
Ready when you are
Bring me the messy version.
Tell me what you’re building, launching, pitching or trying to make visible.You don’t need to arrive with the perfect brief, a polished brand strategy or a colour-coded comms plan. We’ll work out what’s actually getting in the way, what needs fixing first and what the smartest next move looks like.If the problem is something I can help with, I’ll tell you how.If it isn’t, I’ll tell you that too.
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