# Delightful > Delightful is a two-person creative studio providing research, brand strategy, content strategy, and video to agencies and brands. Founded and run by partners Steve Bryant (research and strategy) and Maru M. Iglesias (content and video), the studio is headquartered in Mexico City and works with clients worldwide. Delightful operates without an account-management layer: the two partners do the work themselves, either as independent modules or as part of a client's clustered team. Delightful is a freelance studio, not an agency. Two operators. Clients have included Intuit, Comcast Business, Scribd, HighGround, M31 Capital, Adidas, MetLife, MSCI, Unilever, Bumble, Reebok, The Royal Institution, GPCA, Article Group, and Nymzo, some of them through agencies (Haus, JKR, The Working Assembly, Assemblage, Canopy Insight, Storythings, Otherward). Engagements typically pair strategic research with production, and the partners deliver directly to client teams. Site: https://thisisdelightful.com Contact: https://thisisdelightful.com/contact/ Newsletter: https://stevebryant.substack.com ## Start here - [Delightful — home](https://thisisdelightful.com/): What the studio is, what it sells, and a selected list of client work. "Delightful provides creative services for agencies and brands. Research, strategy, content design and ops, video. HQ in Mexico City with clients around the world." - [Services](https://thisisdelightful.com/services/): The four practices the studio sells — research, brand strategy, content strategy, and video and post-production. - [About](https://thisisdelightful.com/about/): The two partners, how they split the work, and how they operate. - [Contact](https://thisisdelightful.com/contact/): How to start a conversation about a project. ## People - [Steve Bryant](https://thisisdelightful.com/about/steve-bryant/): Partner, Research & Strategy. Runs audience, cultural, category, and competitive research and converts it into positioning, messaging, and content operations. Career began as an online journalist and editor; launched the men's lifestyle magazine InsideHook in 2012 and the Rental Car Rally road race; now based in Mexico City. Selected work: MetLife, Unilever, MSCI, Nymzo. - [Maru M. Iglesias](https://thisisdelightful.com/about/maru-m-iglesias/): Partner, Content & Video. Runs creative development, direction, production, and post — a hands-on senior operator working as director, producer, and editor with no creative handoff layer. Born in Venezuela, based in Mexico City. Selected work: Adidas, Bumble, Reebok. ## Services - [Research](https://thisisdelightful.com/services/research/): Landscape analysis, competitive mapping, community analysis, and cultural fieldwork. - [Brand Strategy](https://thisisdelightful.com/services/brand-strategy/): Category definition, positioning, naming, messaging architecture, and personas. - [Content Strategy](https://thisisdelightful.com/services/content-strategy/): Content design, channel strategy, UX and AI, editorial systems, editorial calendars, pilot programs, and content ops. - [Video and post-production](https://thisisdelightful.com/services/video/): Direction, production, social, corporate, animation, and explainers, plus editing, color, sound design, and motion graphics. ## Client work - [Client work index](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/): The full case-study archive — fifteen engagements across defense data, digital media, financial software, venture capital, telecommunications, apparel, financial services, consumer goods, social platforms, science, and non-profits. - [HighGround — Positioning and content strategy for a defense data company](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/highground/): 2026. With the deep-tech agency Haus. Competitive mapping of more than a dozen government-data and financial-data players, then category and naming system ("the data and intelligence company for aerospace and defense"), positioning, messaging pillars, proof architecture, and a content strategy organized around five buyer jobs and the federal budget calendar. HighGround adopted the positioning; content production is ongoing. - [Scribd — An original YouTube series](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/scribd/): 2026. With the studio Assemblage. Created, researched, wrote, directed, and produced a weekly short-form series on Scribd's YouTube channel in which each episode overturns a common belief with one primary document and one reusable research move; built the greenlight criteria, research-move library, and script-review process behind it. Maru M. Iglesias directed and produced the episodes; photography by Mark M. Holthusen. - [Intuit — Positioning directions for Intuit's business products](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/intuit/): 2026. With JKR, on the Intuit.com transformation. Developed strategic directions for Intuit Accountant Suite and Intuit Enterprise Suite, partnered with JKR's designers on visual directions, presented them to Intuit, and wrote story flows and site copy for Intuit.com. - [M31 Capital — Positioning and content strategy for a research-driven investment firm](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/m31/): 2026. With the deep-tech agency Haus. Defined the category ("investment intelligence firm"), positioning, audience value propositions, messaging pillars, and proof architecture for an investment firm founded by Bridgewater alumni, then built the content program and a 12-week launch calendar. M31 adopted the positioning and publishes on the strategy. - [Comcast Business — A customer storytelling system](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/comcast/): 2026. With The Working Assembly, for Comcast Business's Customer Advocacy team. Designed a tiered decision flow for choosing which customer stories to produce and who owns them, then messaging frameworks, story architectures, and templates for three formats (brand moment videos, proof-story case studies, sales activation kits) at three levels of effort. Adopted by the team; work is ongoing. - [MSCI — Content strategy for the world's biggest index maker](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/msci/): 2023–2024. Lead content strategists on the first MSCI.com redesign in over a decade, partnered with Work & Co. Audited and classified a site of more than 14,000 URLs including 5,000+ editorial articles, then built a new content taxonomy and migration plan. Role: strategy and research partner. - [MetLife — App content strategy for MetLife's first-ever personal finance app](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/metlife/): 2022. Launch content strategy and content governance for Upwise, a personal-finance habit app, in collaboration with Oliver Wyman. Role: editorial and strategy lead. - [Unilever — Cultural fieldwork and product ideation in India and Mexico](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/unilever/): 2024. International research, insights gathering, and product ideation for Unilever's home goods vertical, with Canopy Insight. Role: research and insights partner. - [Adidas — Executive production for Adidas Recode](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/adidas/): 2023. Executive producer for a documentary-style campaign shot in Mexico City and distributed across Latin America; locations, permitting, crew, budgets, and on-set art direction for social video and photography. - [Bumble — Production, direction, and editing](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/bumble/): 2023. Locations, crew, filming, and editing for Bumble México. - [Reebok — Executive production](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/reebok/): 2023. Location scouting, crew management, video direction and editing. - [The Royal Institution — Content strategy and advising](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/royal-institution/): Market research, insights development, and content strategy for the UK science institution, via Storythings. - [Article Group — Building a content marketing team and process](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/article-group/): Served as Head of Content, developing a multi-channel strategy reaching tens of thousands of brand decision makers. - [GPCA — Optimizing marcomm for a global non-profit](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/gpca/): Marketing-ops consulting and talent recruiting for a fast-growing financial-services trade association; optimized content production and hired the team. - [Nymzo — Strategy and voice for an innovative chess brand](https://thisisdelightful.com/work/nymzo/): Brand strategy and copywriting, with the NY creative agency Otherward — positioning and voice for the chess brand Nymzo. ## Writing Essays by Steve Bryant on strategy, content, consulting, AI, and culture. Most were first published in the newsletter Delightful at https://stevebryant.substack.com or on Medium at https://stevebryant.medium.com, and are republished here with thisisdelightful.com as the canonical URL. - [Writing index](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/): All essays, organized into seven topic hubs. ### Content strategy - [Make relationships, not things](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/make-relationships-not-things/): Argues content is a relationship rather than a product. Core claim: trust is built by consistency over time, so "you can't 'thing' your way to people trusting you," and all storytelling begins by deciding what kind of relationship you want with an audience. - [Make it for your audience's audience](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/make-it-for-your-audiences-audience/): How to create work that helps itself get shared. - [You don't get it. You aren't the point.](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/you-dont-get-it-you-arent-the-point/): Why brands are bad at storytelling — the storyteller is not the point of the discourse, the idea is. - [Content strategy hub](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/content-strategy/): Topic index. ### Content tools - [Steal this content toolkit](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/steal-this-content-toolkit/): 14 named tools for organizing, measuring, and creating content. - [Steal this competitive map](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/steal-this-competitive-map/): A method for reverse-engineering competitors' value propositions into a landscape map. - [Steal this value proposition template](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/my-value-proposition-template/): An interactive Canva whiteboard built on the Strategyzer value-proposition framework, with worked examples from InsideHook and MetLife's Upwise. - [Content tools hub](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/content-tools/): Topic index. ### Agency strategy - [Efficient positions for agencies](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/efficient-positions/): Frameworks for competitive positioning — the difference between knowing how to get work done (operations) and knowing how to approach the market (positioning). - [Attention strategies for agencies](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/aligning-agency-promotion-and-business-strategy/): Frameworks for aligning content strategy with business strategy. - [Agency strategy hub](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/agency-strategy/): Topic index. ### Indie consulting - [How to judge project size](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/how-to-judge-project-size/): A matrix for right-sizing effort, scoring a project on degree of ambition, scope (known knowns to unknown unknowns), leadership strength, stakeholder support, and contracting strategy. - [Put the resistance to work for you](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/put-the-resistance-to-work-for-you/): On client shame and neuroticism, and how to work with it. - [Indie consulting hub](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/indie-consulting/): Topic index. ### AI - [You're wrong about tomorrow](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/youre-wrong-about-tomorrow/): How to judge the rate of improvement in AI systems. - [Try having lots of bad ideas](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/try-having-lots-of-bad-ideas/): On idea volume as a creative strategy. - [AI as therapy](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/ai-as-therapy/): On advice, AI, and what people actually want when they ask. - [What a Midjourney GUI might look like](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/what-a-midjourney-gui-might-look-like/): A speculative interface design for image generation controls. - [AI hub](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/ai-artificial-intelligence/): Topic index. ### Online philosophy - [Seeing the world through Facebook's eyes](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/seeing-the-world-through-facebooks-eyes/): Why trying to perfectly manage a thing usually kills the thing. - [Stop letting danger pay attention to you](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/stop-letting-danger-pay-attention-to-you/): Making better decisions in a mediated world. - [Online philosophy hub](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/online-philosophy/): Topic index. ## Special projects Self-initiated work, most of it predating or running alongside client engagements. - [Special projects index](https://thisisdelightful.com/special-projects/): All studio side projects. - [Gaming Trends](https://games.thisisdelightful.com/): A free directory of trends, reporting, data, and primary sources behind the video gaming market in 10+ countries, with an MCP endpoint for Claude. - [Wiimbledon](https://thisisdelightful.com/special-projects/wiimbledon/): The world's first Wii Tennis tournament, created in 2007 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, timed to coincide with Wimbledon. Drew hundreds of costumed players and coverage from New York Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and ABC World News Tonight. - [Rental Car Rally](https://thisisdelightful.com/special-projects/rental-car-rally/): A road race founded by Steve Bryant, described by the studio as the world's silliest. - [The Great Steak Debate](https://thisisdelightful.com/special-projects/great-steak-debate/): The advertising and sponsorship vehicle for InsideHook, the men's lifestyle magazine Steve Bryant launched in 2012 — a blind taste test of the nation's most popular steak purveyors. - [Julian's](https://thisisdelightful.com/special-projects/julians/): A reported handbook for curious travelers in Mexico City, covering the city's attractions alongside Mexican history, religion, politics, and cuisine. - [Mar-a-Lago Applications](https://thisisdelightful.com/special-projects/mar-a-lago-applications/): A 2017-era satirical site for applying to Mar-a-Lago membership by mailing rubles to the Winter White House. - [Schadenfreude Lager](https://thisisdelightful.com/special-projects/schadenfreude-lager/): A 2018 satirical beer concept. ## Optional - [Culture etc. hub](https://thisisdelightful.com/writing/culture-etc/): Personal essays from the Delightful newsletter on Mexico, travel, driving, meditation, and media — lower priority for questions about the studio's services. - [Steve Bryant on Substack](https://stevebryant.substack.com): The Delightful newsletter, original publication venue for most essays on this site. - [Steve Bryant on Medium](https://stevebryant.medium.com): Earlier essays, original publication venue for several posts republished here.