Jump to info on:
The Agents - The Founders

THE AGENTS

We are consumers and everyday people with uncommon ideas...a diverse pool of Creative Thinking Agents .

Our Creative Thinking Agents are, first and foremost, consumers. They are homemakers, writers, realtors, actors, small business owners, suburban parents and urban singles. They shop at the mega-stores, mom-and-pops and on-line and they buy the newest technology yet trust the old family favorites that they grew up with.

Our agents think on their feet.  They are positive, energized and playful while articulating strong and fully realized concepts. Thoughtly Crew delivers the greatest consumer ideators: thinkers, motivated by the challenge of diving headfirst into uncharted depths. We are thrilled and inspired by knowing that our ideas may influence the future of product development and marketing strategies. We love to construct and describe useful and strategic concepts that have an impact on our everyday lives.

Our agents have to jump through a few hoops before we are confident that they are ready to tackle your unique creative quests. They are tested with a Thoughtly Crew original, industry-specific creativity measure. Then agents are screened in interviews and workshops. Ongoing training in innovation and problem solving are peppered in with other fun exercises at our bi-monthly salons so that our agents stay fresh and are prepared to bring you the best and brightest ideas for your project.

Creative Thinking Agents are available to fit any demographic profile. While you may seek a specific profile, which we are happy to oblige, our demographically diverse agents are always flexible enough to think outside the stereotype.

Our agents can be a resource and asset throughout each step of your process, from ethnography, depth interviews, immersion, platforming, positioning and ideation to writing consumer-friendly concepts that may be used internally, or for testing in focus groups.

From small projects to the big ones and from start to finish,  Thoughtly Crew is your resource for creative thinkers experienced in the art of innovation.

THE FOUNDERS,
AKA: THE CREW BOSSES

Each of the four founders of Thoughtly Crew has more than 12 years of solid experience in ideation and creative consumer innovation. Though Thoughtly Crew has become their full-time focus, our founders continue to endeavor in many of their passions, avocations and general interests.

Scott Cheney is a devoted bicycling enthusiast who has toiled as an art dealer and sometimes bartender while enjoying his reputation as a film snob and a dog-loving-frisbee-flicking-crossword-puzzling poker player, that is when he's not rounding up Creative Thinking Agents for your projects.
Holly Birnbaum is an urban activist, word wrangler, world-traveling-polyglot-foodie and tireless ephemera collector.
Gabrielle Sutton is our lead client tamer and data charmer, as well as a long-time antiques dealer who's a rockabilly diva, and a voracious-reading-classic-board-gaming freelance philosopher and always the hostess with the mostest.
Sam Unsicker - Sam is now a full partner at BMT, Chicago, a toy and game design company. He has recently left his position with Thoughtly Crew to devote himself to this opportunity.