MORE THAN A BRANDING & MARKETING FIRM.
WE MAKE LASTING CONNECTIONS THROUGH STORYTELLING.
We’re a branding, marketing and design firm with a heritage working with some of the world’s most loved brands. In that experience, we’ve learned that great storytelling creates lasting connections. Our lean and nimble structure now makes this caliber of storytelling available to organizations large and not-so-large. Here are some of the iconic brands our team has had the privilege to serve before forming EverAfter Group.
While working at The Walt Disney Company, EverAfter Group Founder Matt Ferguson was part of a team that developed the brand architecture for Walt Disney World under the umbrella positioning “The Most Magical Place On Earth.” Matt took the lead on the brand promise for Disney Resorts, centered around the opportunity to “Stay In The Middle of the Magic.” To this day, travel and tourism marketing remains both a specialty and a passion, with Disney’s storytelling principles being applied to destinations, attractions, and resorts of all sizes.
Members of our team worked with Starbucks for nearly a decade during a period of record-breaking expansion for the coffee giant. Its clear brand positioning around “Rewarding Everyday Moments,” including making Starbucks stores a “Third Place” beyond home and office, gave us a strong foundation for storytelling in our strategic and creative work. Our plan focused heavily on PR, earned media, and local store marketing rather than expensive national advertising, helping set the chain apart in its categories of food and beverage, as well as quick-service and fast-casual restaurants.
We didn’t come up with “Just Do It”—that iconic line has been around since before some of us were born—but members of our team have had the privilege of creating work under that powerful themeline for Nike, driven by its brand positioning of Authentic Athletic Performance. It serves as a strong reminder that when a brand has a compelling story, it elevates the work and makes it far more effective.
After acquiring LifeProof phone cases and expanding into other protective gear for essential items ranging from food to organ transplants, it was time for Otter Products to refresh its brand story. Our founder Matt Ferguson and his teammates at Storyland worked with Otter’s marketing team to build its brand positioning and architecture under the umbrella “Innovation for Life,” highlighting how the company helps protect some of the most essential things in our lives. The following year, it was named to Newsweek’s list of America’s Most Loved Brands.
A Team of Award-Winning Storytellers
Our world-class storytellers provide expertise across the spectrum of Paid, Earned, Owned and Shared media.
Services
Advertising | Public Relations | Design | Brand Storytelling | Strategy | Identity & Logos | Mission | Vision & Values | Social Media & Influencer | Film & Video | Websites | Organizational Culture | Media Planning & Buying | SEO | Events | Guerilla Marketing | Experiences | Lead Generation & Nurturing | Marketing Plans and Strategy
Industries & Specialties
Travel | Tourism & Hospitality | Attractions | Theme Parks & Destinations | Hotels | Resorts & Lodging | Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) | Restaurants & Food & Beverage | Real Estate & Mixed-Use Developments | Healthcare & Health Systems | Professional Services | B2B & Industrial | Nonprofit
Meet the Founder
Matt Ferguson | President
A storyteller at heart, Matt has spent his career leveraging the power of narrative to help organizations grow through branding, marketing, and experience design. He honed this craft at The Walt Disney Company during an unprecedented period of growth for its Parks and Resorts division, where he led national branding and integrated marketing planning initiatives for the Walt Disney World destination. Matt led the team that authored the current brand positioning for Disney Resorts as part of the team that developed Walt Disney World’s brand architecture. He also served on the opening teams for ESPN Wide World of Sports, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park, and multiple resort properties, including Disney’s BoardWalk Resort, Coronado Springs Resort, All-Star Movies Resort, and Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Over the past five years, Matt has served as Chief Innovation Officer at Storyland Studios, a group of former Disney Imagineers specializing in storytelling and experience design. There, he’s supported brands including M&M’s, Sports Illustrated, OtterBox and the Billy Graham Library. He continues to serve the organization today while also leading EverAfter Group, where he and his team create enduring connections through story-driven strategy, branding, integrated marketing programs, and customer experiences.
Prior to that, Matt was Managing Partner at Mower, one of the largest independent agencies in the US, where he helped fuel the growth of brands including GE, Chiquita, Tropical Smoothie Café, Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n’ Biscuits, Carowinds, Freightliner, Habitat For Humanity, Nucor Steel, Biltmore, Pinehurst Resort, Grove Park Inn and Paramount.
Matt is a sought-after speaker at national and international gatherings on storytelling, branding and experience design, including South by Southwest (SXSW), International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions (IAAPA), the American Marketing Association, and THINQ, as well as universities such as UNC–Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, and Florida State University.