Paul Pierson joins BCG's BrightHouse division as managing director
BrightHouse, a global creative consultancy and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) company, has added branding and design thinking expert Paul Pierson as a managing director. He will be based out the firm’s Atlanta headquarters.
Founded in 1995, BrightHouse was the first creative consultancy designed to uncover an organization’s purpose. According to the firm, revealing a company’s purpose, or reason for existence, helps grow its people, profits, and social impact. It also provides a useful framework to power effective leadership, marketing, and product and service innovations.
Acquired by BCG in 2015, the independent business division provides a range of creative and strategic services, including insights, actions, branding, and films. BrightHouse has worked with notable companies such as McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, and American Express. It has offices in Atlanta and Berlin.
During a nearly 20-year career, Pierson has helped established brands break through and new brands find differentiated positioning. Pierson was previously a managing partner at branding agency Carbone Smolan, where he built digital and brand strategy around a core design-driven philosophy. During his tenure at the agency, he advised numerous high-profile companies, including Canon, Google, Nissan, Morgan Stanley, and BCG.
Pierson joined Carbone Smolan in 2003 as a designer, working his way up to the level of creative director and partner before becoming a managing partner in 2015. He started his career as a designer at graphic design studio Jakdesign. Pierson studied psychology, philosophy, and graphic design at Brown University.
In his new role at BrightHouse, Pierson will focus on advancing the firm’s design thinking and branding capabilities. According to Pierson, the unique, purpose-centered focus of BrightHouse will be a solid anchor point for his future client work.
“When an organization understands and acts based on their reason for being, it gives so much clarity to employees, executives, and is a tremendous jumping off point for creative expression,” he said. “One of the main things I hope to accomplish is taking the amazing Purpose work we do and finding more ways to embed it deep into the heart of organizations and their customers.”