Narrative Strategy & Brand Story Architecture Studio for Founders, Creators, and Mission-Driven Organizations.

TEll the story your work deserves.

You bring the notion. We build the narrative. That's how we turn artists into inspiration, founders into heroes, and brands into legends.

Let's BUILD your STory
Featuring
Home Depot
Beats
Decoda
YOLA National
Chevron
Fiture AI
Home Depot
Beats
Decoda
YOLA National
Chevron
Fiture AI
Home Depot
Beats
Decoda
YOLA National
Chevron
Fiture AI
A man wearing a black sweater with sleeves rolled up works on his laptop at a desk in front of a blackboard.
From Here to Hero

It’s not the market that kills you. It’s your narrative.

That's how much telling a story with impact matters.  When your brand story is unclear, your board gets cautious. Your donors hesitate. Your team invents their own interpretations.

The gap between what you do and what they understand widens. Momentum dies. Teams don’t lose because they’re weak. The world just doesn't know what they actually do.

Is your story clear? →

Audiences change everyday.  
Your story shouldn't.

Story isn't simply decoration. It's more than an entertaining tale told over a pitch deck. The story your brand tells is infrastructure across your entire organization.

Fundraising & Investment

Money conversations shouldn't sound like a first draft. But when there's no clear throughline, every talk with donors, grantmakers, or investors feels like a reset. It's not being underfunded—it's being under-understood.

Talent & Culture

When people aren't clear on the story they're in, they can’t see themselves in it. For team members, it leads to burnout. Work that's uninspired. Burnout that can't be explained. And turnover, because the people who should feel the mission, can’t.

Audience & Revenue

You're not meant to be compared on price, or convenience, or whatever's easiest to measure. But if your story isn't dialed in, you're a step away from being "one of those" instead of "the one."

How We Work

A movie doesn’t begin with film. Your business doesn’t start with marketing.

They begin with structure.

Before the camera rolls, the script defines what's true. Before the pitch deck, the narrative defines the mission.

Most organizations get this backwards. They nail the roadmap, the market analysis, the five-year plan—then bolt on the story like a throwaway line. But story isn't decoration. It's the architecture that holds everything else up.

We work with you to build that spine. A narrative system that guides decisions, attracts the right people, and makes your work the inevitability you already believe in. Not just a tagline. Not just the voice. The foundation underneath all of it. And that comes from you.

See how we do it →

From Inkling
to Protagonist

ACT ONE

Discovery

We dig deep into your brand, voice, and vision.

ACT TWO

Identity

We pinpoint what’s truly unique about you, your service, and your vision.

ACT THREE

Narrative Design

We build and push the story architecture: your why, your rhythm, your difference.

LAUNCH

Activation

The telltale moment. We push your voice far and wide, across platforms and systems and services. Ready to connect.

brand
+
narrative

humanity
+
soul

Story without a voice:
Ai's need for humanity

About Protagonist Ink

About Us

We're an identity studio built on over twenty years of story— times two.

Co-Founder and Creative Director Patrick Kirkland has spent over two decades as a screenwriter, copywriter and Creative Director for Fortune 500 brands including Apple, Verizon, and AT&T, learning how stories scale at the highest level.

Amy Kirkland has produced programs for LA Phil, Carnegie Hall, The Met Opera Guild, and Cirque du Soleil, bringing complex artistic visions to life.

Together, they founded Protagonist Ink to serve founders, artists, and organizations building something the world hasn't seen before. Because if you're creating something unprecedented, you need a story the world hasn't heard.

For founders, creators, nonprofits, and changemakers. We help build stories audiences can believe in.

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