A Human-First Communications Company

In a market flooded with AI polish, credibility is the new competitive advantage.

BrokenMade gives founders and teams a practical system for aligning message, culture, and customer truth, so the brand holds up at every level. Not just in how it sounds, but in how it actually feels.

Take the Free Assessment → Watch the Manifesto Film ▶

The Manifesto

Watch the film.

A short film on why credibility matters more than ever, and what it takes to earn it.

The Problem

The system
is the problem.

Modern companies weren't designed to understand people. They were designed to scale efficiency, reduce risk, and maximize output.

That worked for a long time. Now it creates sameness.

You can't build human connection on structures designed to avoid vulnerability.

The Belief

Empathy doesn't scale through intention alone. It scales through structure.

When empathy is built into how decisions get made, the work gets stronger because it gets truer.

When the work is truer, the credibility is real.

Explore the Work → See the Method →

Ways to Work Together

Three paths.
Same goal.

These packages simplify the decision without limiting what's possible. Custom engagements available on request.

Fast Clarity

BrokenMade Spark Session™

A focused diagnostic for founders and small teams who need a clear read on what is off and what to do next.

Investment $1,799

Book a Spark Session →

BrokenMade Brand Reset Intensive™

A deeper engagement to realign message, culture, leadership signal, and customer truth.

Investment $15,000 – $20,000

Book the Intensive →

High-Touch Partnership

BrokenMade Advisory / Studio™

A strategic partnership for organizations working through something bigger: message, culture, leadership signal, and long-term alignment.

Investment $30,000 – $50,000

Start a Conversation →

If something here landed, let's talk

You don't need another agency. You need a more credible company.

BrokenMade helps align what you say, what you do, and what people actually experience. When those three are aligned, the brand actually works.

Book a Conversation → Take the Free Assessment →

Brand Signal Assessment

Your brand isn't invisible. It's just not landing.

What It Measures

The three things worth measuring.

01 Clarity

Can people tell what makes you different?

Most brands sound like everyone else in their category. This is how you tell.

02 Human Signal

Does your brand feel lived-in?

Polished and believable aren't the same thing. Most brands only get one.

03 Trust-Proof

Does the proof back the message?

Strong claims with thin proof create doubt faster than no claim at all.

Before We Begin

A few quick details.

Start with your info. You'll see your result and next step the moment you finish.

10 questions · 3 minutes · Immediate result

What you'll get

A score on how strong your brand signal is right now.

Where the friction is, specifically.

Three insights based on where you scored.

A next step that matches where you are.

Your info

Name *

Email *

Phone (optional)

Free · Fast · Immediate result

How Scores Work

Each question scores 0 to 4. Your total lands in one of four zones.

0–12

Surface Level

You're guessing more than you think, and your audience feels it.

13–22

Emerging Awareness

You can feel the friction. You just can't name it yet.

23–32

Growth-Ready

The substance is there. The signal isn't landing the same way twice.

33–40

BrokenMade Material

The work is there. Now make the outside match.

A mirror.

Honest about what people are actually experiencing when they meet your brand. That's what this measures.

Part 1 of 3

Rate each statement from 0 to 4.

0 = Never true. 4 = Always true.

Part 2 of 3

Keep going.

Now the ones that matter more. Where the outside stops matching the inside.

Part 3 of 3

One last layer.

A few quick details that shape what comes next.

Current situation *

Most wanted outcome in next 90 days *

Biggest obstacle right now *

Kind of help that feels right *

Anything else I should know?

Ready when you are

Three minutes. A real read on where you stand.

See where your brand is landing, and where it isn't.

Start the Assessment → Talk to BrokenMade →

Selected Work

The work isn't the point. The understanding behind it is.

Some of this work predates BrokenMade™ by name. The method behind it doesn't.

Aetna · Health Insurance

Healthy is everything.

See the work ↗

Amazon Web Services · Cloud

AWS is how.

See the work ↗

Amazon Web Services · Cloud Computing

AWS is how.

Not a product explanation. A quiet truth.

The Ask

Enterprise cloud platform launch. Make AWS mean something to people who don't think about cloud infrastructure.

The Truth

No one wakes up thinking about cloud. But their life depends on it every day. The fear wasn't confusion, it was invisible dependence.

The Shift

We showed the world running, the things people love, powered by AWS in the background. Three words that turned infrastructure into identity: AWS IS HOW.

A clear, sticky idea that made a complex technology feel essential and human. Increased perception of AWS as the "Backbone of the Internet" by 20%, while humanizing an entire category.

The BrokenMade Transformation Grid

AWS: AWS Is How

From assumption to truth to impact

Break It → See It → Remake It → Mean It

What They Thought They Knew

People don't understand the cloud because it's complicated.

→

What They Saw

The fear wasn't confusion. It was invisible dependence. My business. My life. Running on something I can't see.

→

How They Remade It

AWS IS HOW. Not a product explanation. A quiet truth.

→

Why It Mattered

AWS became the unseen force behind human progress. By honoring what customers make possible.

World Series Launch

RIP Video We Made to Share Concept

Experiential

Using micro transponders in bag tags, as well as those located in airplanes, we demonstrated that AWS is how both you and your luggage get where you're going (pretty much) without a hitch, day in, day out.

OOH

Coca-Cola · HBCU

The world is my yard.

See the work ↗

Answer ALS · Nonprofit

What do you give a man hell-bent on rewriting the rules of ALS? His signature back.

See the work ↗

Answer ALS · Nonprofit Branding

Giving Steve his signature back.

From impossible ask to universal empathy.

The Ask

The NFL had pulled available airtime, leaving Answer ALS with a fundraising ask that felt impossible: autographed items from a man who couldn't sign.

The Truth

The real pain wasn't fundraising, it was loss. ALS steals your voice, your signature, your presence. Steve Gleason and Answer ALS changed what it meant to fight.

The Shift

Built an eye-controlled system so Steve could sign again, on the exact spot of his legendary punt block, turning memorabilia into meaning. Not a jersey. Proof Steve is still fighting and you're part of it.

The film was so powerful the NFL found airtime after all. Major awards followed, built on empathy, not budget. This brief changed Mike's life, and working for Steve Gleason and Answer ALS Managing Director, Clare Durrett, is a big part of why the BrokenMade Method™ was born.

The BrokenMade Transformation Grid

Answer ALS: Giving Steve His Signature Back

From assumption to truth to impact

Break It → See It → Remake It → Mean It

What They Thought They Knew

The NFL pulled airtime, leaving Answer ALS with an impossible ask: autographed items from a man who couldn't sign.

→

What They Saw

The real pain wasn't fundraising. It was loss. ALS steals your voice. Your signature.

→

How They Remade It

Built an eye-controlled system so Steve could sign again, on the exact spot of his legendary punt block.

→

Why It Mattered

Turned memorabilia into meaning. Not a jersey. Proof Steve is still fighting and you're part of it.

The Work

BMW · Olympics / Paralympics

Built for gold.

See the work ↗

Have a brief that needs breaking?

The next case could be yours.

Every engagement starts with a conversation. Start there.

Book a Conversation → See the Method →

The BrokenMade Method™

A repeatable system for empathy at scale.

Modern systems weren't built to be human. Ours is.

Four Verbs. One Method.

A repeatable system, in four moves.

One

Break it.

Question what the business stopped questioning.

Two

See it.

Find the truth people are actually living.

Three

Remake it.

Turn that truth into language, story, and system.

Four

Mean it.

Align leadership, culture, and every touchpoint.

The BrokenMade Difference

Empathy as an Operating System.

Most brand strategy is built around presentation and persuasion. The BrokenMade Method™ is built around introspection and service. That's the difference between a brand that sounds human and one that actually is.

The method in your context

Every engagement starts with a conversation.

The method adapts to the brand, the stage, and the stakes. See how it maps to yours.

Book a Conversation → Take the Free Assessment →

About

What you learn when the stakes are high.

Twenty-plus years inside the pressure: client-side, agency-side, and independently. Helping build brands, shape systems, lead strategy, and make work that had to hold up in the real world.

Why BrokenMade Exists

Personal long before it was professional.

It comes from having to rebuild. From learning what it actually costs when what you show the world doesn't match what's true on the inside.

At 15 a stroke.

After that ADHD, and the depression that came with it.

The lesson "What breaks us doesn't have to disqualify us."

Faced honestly, what breaks us can make us more empathetic, more self-aware, and more capable of understanding what other people are carrying.

That idea became the foundation.

Range

Built in real rooms.
On real sets.
Under real pressure.

Behind-the-scenes images from Mike's career across film sets, agency rooms, and live events

These images matter less as proof of status than as proof of exposure. I've been in the room where strategy gets made, where work gets shaped, where creative gets protected, where it gets watered down, and where it finally goes into the world.

That range is part of what BrokenMade brings to clients now.

The Perspective

Strategist and creative.

BrokenMade sits at the intersection of strategy and craft, which are usually handled by different people who don't quite understand each other's work.

I've spent my career doing both. Helping organizations clarify what they mean internally, then turning that truth into external work people can actually feel.

The person who finds the truth is the same one responsible for making it felt.

Reflections

What people have said after experiencing the work firsthand.

Mike has been an incredible asset to any project we have thrown at him. His ideas are endless due to his ability to listen, innovate and collaborate. It is rare for a creative to work as long as he has with us and remain as enthusiastic as day 1. He pushes the boundaries each time and continues to win awards, despite that not being the goal. His patience to see through ideas is endless. Mike is a leader and a doer.

Steve Gleason Founder, Team Gleason & Answer ALS September 9, 2019, Client

Michael (Mike) worked for me on several accounts at KBS. He is passionate, enthusiastic, hard working and talented. Mike played a pivotal role in the Monster.com new business win for KBS. I hope to work with Mike again at some point in the future.

Dan Kelleher Chief Creative Officer at Deutsch February 26, 2016, Managed Mike at Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners

Mike is a rare talent: he's dedicated to excellence, optimism, positivity, and he has a real appreciation of craft. It's because he truly loves what he does, and that's a priceless and untrainable intangible. Bonus: the guy can really present, like CRUSH it in the room. He's the son of a minister and the oratorial apple did not fall far. I'd relish the chance to work with Mike again, and anywhere he chooses to be would be lucky to have him.

Ciaran Rogers Director of Strategy at Camp + King January 28, 2016, Worked directly with Mike at KBS+P

Mike Merritt is a guy that I want on my team or around me at all times. He's got an infectious personality and a positiveness that helps drive projects. He's relentless, smart, funny, and adaptive. Most of all he's got passion in spades, with the ideas and writing to back it up. I'd recommend Mike whole-heartedly and personally can't wait to work with him again.

Todd Goodale Creative Director, NBC News / MSNBC May 23, 2016, Managed Mike at Ogilvy & Mather

Around the office we call this guy Mr. October. When you need a big hit late in the game he is a go-to player. For me, the stuff that separates the good from the great is consistency. Mike has never faltered to over-deliver options upfront, and has no shortage of tricks on how to refine work at the end of the line. I could go on but I'll just say this, if you need a writer to bring more ideas to the table than the ones you are working with, call him.

Nate Virnig Creative Director at KBS January 12, 2017, Managed Mike at KBS+P

These reflections come from clients, collaborators, and leaders who experienced the thinking, strategy, and creative work that helped shape BrokenMade.

Fit Check

If you're building a more credible company, that's what BrokenMade was built for.

By aligning the truth inside the business with the message outside it.

Get Started →

Probably not a fit if

You're looking for someone to make the brand sound smarter, without doing the harder work of making it actually mean something.

Contact

If something here landed, let's talk.

You don't need another agency. You need a more credible company.

BrokenMade helps align what you say, what you do, and what people actually experience. When those three are aligned, the brand actually works.

Start a Conversation

Tell me what you're working on.

Other Ways In

Prefer to reach out directly?

Skip the form. Email, phone, or book a short intro call, whichever feels right.

Email

info@brokenmade.com

Best for specific project questions or proposals.

Phone

(347) 344-8776

Leave a message if unanswered. I return calls same-day when possible.

Intro Call, Free

Request a 20-min intro

A short call to see if there's a fit. No prep required.

Not ready to talk yet?

Take the assessment instead.

Three minutes, ten questions, and a clearer read on where your brand is landing and where it isn't. No call required.

Take the Assessment → See the Method →

Watch the film.

The systemis the problem.

Empathy doesn't scale through intention alone. It scales through structure.

Three paths.Same goal.

BrokenMade Spark Session™

BrokenMade Brand Reset Intensive™

BrokenMade Advisory / Studio™

You don't need another agency. You need a more credible company.

The three things worth measuring.

Can people tell what makes you different?

Does your brand feel lived-in?

Does the proof back the message?

A few quick details.

What you'll get

Your info

Each question scores 0 to 4. Your total lands in one of four zones.

A mirror.

Rate each statement from 0 to 4.

Keep going.

One last layer.

Three minutes. A real read on where you stand.

Healthy is everything.

Healthy is everything.

AWS is how.

AWS is how.

The world is my yard.

The world is my yard.

What do you give a man hell-bent on rewriting the rules of ALS? His signature back.

Giving Steve his signature back.

Built for gold.

Built for gold.

The next case could be yours.

A repeatable system, in four moves.

Break it.

See it.

Remake it.

Mean it.

Empathy as an Operating System.

Every engagement starts with a conversation.

Personal long before it was professional.

Built in real rooms.On real sets.Under real pressure.

Strategist and creative.

What people have said after experiencing the work firsthand.

If you're building a more credible company, that's what BrokenMade was built for.

Prefer to reach out directly?

Take the assessment instead.

The system
is the problem.

Three paths.
Same goal.

Built in real rooms.
On real sets.
Under real pressure.