Group Hugg is a brand strategy and design consultancy for brands that refuse to be average.

We believe the most powerful brands are built on meaning. They stand for something distinct, create emotional resonance, and move people. As a women-led duo, we partner with founders and teams to articulate the foundational meaning of their brand and translate it into coherent systems of strategy, identity, and expression with cultural relevance and staying power.

Kris and Rox completed their graduate studies in the Master’s in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts, one of the most rigorous brand education programs in the world, chaired by the incomparable Debbie Millman. That foundation continues to shape how they think, question, research, and apply strategy with rigor and intention.

The Group Hugg model is intentionally focused and deeply collaborative. We lead the work directly and expand through a trusted network of collaborators to build brand systems with depth, precision, and lasting impact.

Small by design. Expansive by capability.

CREATIVE

Creative Direction
Brand Design
Visual Identity
Photo & Video
Art Direction
Packaging Design
Merchandise & Apparel
Illustration
Digital Content
Copywriting

STRATEGY

Brand Strategy
Brand Positioning
Brand Architecture
Naming & Nomenclature
Voice & Messaging
Communication Strategy
Content Strategy
Integrated Campaigns
Innovation & Concepting

project leadership

Creative Project Management
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Stakeholder Alignment
Production Planning
Vendor & Partner Coordination
Workflow & Process Design
Content Systems
Launch & Rollout Support

research & EXPERIENce

Research & Insights
Competitive & Cultural Analysis
Audience Definition
Customer Journey
Product & Brand Innovation
Retail & Experiential
Environmental & Signage
Film / Motion / Production
Full-Service Build & Install

THE DUO

RoXANNE BENEFIEL

Rox is a fractional creative director, designer, brand strategist, and the person you want in the room when an idea is stuck somewhere between vision and execution.

As Co-founder of Group Hugg, her work lives at the center of creative direction, brand strategy, and the deeply human skill of getting people to actually move together (founders, creative teams, executives, vendors). She is a master translator: fluent in the language of every stakeholder, diplomatically honest, and relentlessly focused on making the work really good.

With 15+ years across nonprofits, startups, wellness, and CPG, Rox has built and led creative systems for organizations at every stage of growth. She holds a Master's degree in Branding from the School of Visual Arts, serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at SVA, and is a former executive board member of The One Club for Creativity (Denver).

Her most recent work includes leading brand and content strategy for The Joyful Heart Foundation's full website reinvigoration. A project that required exactly what she does best: defining clear vision, managing complex stakeholders, and building creative systems to last beyond the engagement.

Outside of Group Hugg, Rox is a dancer and professional astrologer launching Stars on the Court, a women’s sports podcast and cultural media property exploring the individuals, personalities, and cultural energy shaping women’s basketball through astrology, symbolism, and emotional narrative. Summer 2026.

Kristen Branch

Kris is a fierce advocate for investing in brand development and design as essential functions of a comprehensive business growth strategy. A perpetual student of social movement study, Kris holds a Master’s degree in Branding from the renown program at the School of Visual Arts. Kris continues her academic career as an Assistant Teacher for the Masters in Branding programs’ Semiotics of Social Movement course and for thesis semester.

A Massachusetts native and graduate of Syracuse University, Kris has 20+ years of experience creating strategic brand and consumer-centric solutions for global CPG, retail, and publishing companies, garnering awards and establishing herself as a trusted go-to partner to reimagine the status quo.

Embracing a global holistic creative strategy for her work, Kris focuses on the “big picture” and making connections on how cross-functional systems can accelerate and enhance business and brand strategies for her partners. Partners include Disney, Amazon, Sundance, Sephora, Newell Brands, Target, Walmart, Live Nation, Simon and Schuster, BBB, and more.

Kris is the founder of Rowte, a branded house built on the ethos of talent sovereignty: the belief that athletes and artists should be authors, owners, and long-term stewards of their own intellectual, cultural, and economic value, of their sovereign talent brand, and that identity is not a byproduct of a career, but the foundational source of meaning-making for a talent brand.

Rooted in identity, authorship, governance, and enterprise development, the Rowte ecosystem includes Paper Rowte, (2023) a scholar-practitioner research platform advancing original thought at the intersection of identity, brand, and enterprise; Rowte, (June 2026) the strategic brand innovation and development practice for athletes and artists; and Rowte Brands (forthcoming), a full-service consumer brand venture firm.

Together, Kris and Rox are building an integrated ecosystem for developing and expanding identity-sourced talent brands and venture brands in sport and beyond.

WHAT WE DO