Prize-nominated author, copywriter and brand story consultant
I help teams and individuals find and use their unique story, crafting communications and campaigns that hit home and deliver strategic objectives.
Often in dialogue with emerging technologies, always with a critical ear to the zietgeist, I refine and enhance authentic community stories to create shared values, new language and common understanding.
In a career spanning more than 20 years and three European cities, my narrative interventions have helped build businesses, platforms, organisations and culture, and have appeared at world-class shows including Cannes Festival of Creativity, Drapers Awards, and the EMEAs.
Open Studio
Established in 2018, my home studio in Berlin Kreuzberg (10 minutes walk from Berghain︎︎︎) is my base for working with clients, partner teams and co-creators.
Our approach fuses storytelling, craft and system design to deliver tangible audience engagement and real brand equity fast and fuss-free.
In a world of wily storytellers, trickery and bots, I help you find your authentic voice and a language that enables your people to tell a story that cuts through the noise.
I am always open to working with new and returning clients and project teams, whether you’re part of a large organisation or network, a small business or a boutique studio.
For rates and services drop me a line: stef.macbeth@gmail.com
You’ll find me on various platforms if you search “Stef Macbeth”.
A Tale of Three Cities
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I studied Philosophy and English at the University of Glasgow and was awarded the Edward Caird Medal in 2005. On graduating with a masters degree, I got my dream job at Sub Club︎︎︎ coming aboard just one week after my final exam as an in-house writer and co-promoter for Saturday nights, Subculture.
Working with a tight-knit group of artists and permanent staff, I helped steer one of the UK’s most influential independent venues through a complex period of transition, helping to secure both commercial futureproofing, robust artistic integrity and an incredible sense of community (that, 20 years on, still shines bright today).
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A move to London in 2006 led to a ‘proper job’ at JWT︎︎︎where I wrote copy and created integrated campaigns for household names such as Rolls-Royce, Visit Ireland, Deutsche Bank, Kraft Foods, Starbucks and others.
As a side hustle, and to keep me connected to the artists and underground culture I love, I found a creative outlet with Global Soundtracks, a project I worked on with friends. Presented by Tom Ravenscroft shortly before he joined the BBC 6 Music team, the biweekly podcast ran for 26 episodes.
In 2010 I joined Story Worldwide, an independent agency led by the singer from Gang Of Four︎︎︎ where as a senior member of the creative department I learned to lead pitches, (re)write briefs, manage teams and make workshops more interesting.
A speculative project I initiated, and ran, on story modelling︎︎︎ for brands in the digital age was the centrepiece of an Internet Week︎︎︎ session hosted by Story and attended by Fortune 500 company executives and several key figures in the tech industry.
Another lighthouse project I worked on at Story was a landmark digital campaign for The Havens︎︎︎. Made on a shoestring budget using footage shot at a real warehouse party, the native YouTube campaign (one of the first examples of interactive video) helped kickstart a long-overdue conversation about consent that would only finally enter the mainstream a few years later with the #metoo︎︎︎movement.
In 2012 I co-authored the copywriting syllabus for the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
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Since moving to Berlin in 2013 I have split my time between commercial, artistic and grassroots projects. This includes a period working with the artist Douglas Gordon, a commission for Borealis Festival and my debut novel, which comes out on Velocity Press this summer (2025).
Partners over the years include VICE Media agency Virtue and their client Carlsberg, Berlin startups such as Kontist, CoMatch and Blink Labs, and high-end whisky maker Royal Salute︎︎︎. (For the latter, I worked on some cute micro-limited edition batches which were sent directly from the master distiller to key customers around the world. I was also responsible for a well-received newsletter.)
Between 2015 and 2018 I was at Zalando, where I was a senior creative on several brand activations including one with James Franco and contributed to lighthouse projects such as Project Muze︎︎︎an ai enabled customization tool created in partnership with a team at Google. In 2017, off the back of an award-winning employer brand campaign for which I was the creative owner, I became co-lead of the employer branding deparment at Zalando, leading a team of 12 and helping to establish core competencies and best practices at Europe’s largest online fashion retailer.
In 2018 I set up my freelance business. Recent highlights include providing editorial leadership, brand architecture and strategic activation for Beckers Group, a pan-European brand relaunch for Papyrus, a fundraising story for a community-based coffee venture, and several award-winning brand storytelling projects for SEGRO.
Our approach fuses storytelling, craft and system design to deliver tangible audience engagement and real brand equity fast and fuss-free.
In a world of wily storytellers, trickery and bots, I help you find your authentic voice and a language that enables your people to tell a story that cuts through the noise.
I am always open to working with new and returning clients and project teams, whether you’re part of a large organisation or network, a small business or a boutique studio.
For rates and services drop me a line: stef.macbeth@gmail.com
You’ll find me on various platforms if you search “Stef Macbeth”.
A Tale of Three Cities
Glasgow
I studied Philosophy and English at the University of Glasgow and was awarded the Edward Caird Medal in 2005. On graduating with a masters degree, I got my dream job at Sub Club︎︎︎ coming aboard just one week after my final exam as an in-house writer and co-promoter for Saturday nights, Subculture.
Working with a tight-knit group of artists and permanent staff, I helped steer one of the UK’s most influential independent venues through a complex period of transition, helping to secure both commercial futureproofing, robust artistic integrity and an incredible sense of community (that, 20 years on, still shines bright today).
London
A move to London in 2006 led to a ‘proper job’ at JWT︎︎︎where I wrote copy and created integrated campaigns for household names such as Rolls-Royce, Visit Ireland, Deutsche Bank, Kraft Foods, Starbucks and others.
As a side hustle, and to keep me connected to the artists and underground culture I love, I found a creative outlet with Global Soundtracks, a project I worked on with friends. Presented by Tom Ravenscroft shortly before he joined the BBC 6 Music team, the biweekly podcast ran for 26 episodes.
In 2010 I joined Story Worldwide, an independent agency led by the singer from Gang Of Four︎︎︎ where as a senior member of the creative department I learned to lead pitches, (re)write briefs, manage teams and make workshops more interesting.
A speculative project I initiated, and ran, on story modelling︎︎︎ for brands in the digital age was the centrepiece of an Internet Week︎︎︎ session hosted by Story and attended by Fortune 500 company executives and several key figures in the tech industry.
Another lighthouse project I worked on at Story was a landmark digital campaign for The Havens︎︎︎. Made on a shoestring budget using footage shot at a real warehouse party, the native YouTube campaign (one of the first examples of interactive video) helped kickstart a long-overdue conversation about consent that would only finally enter the mainstream a few years later with the #metoo︎︎︎movement.
In 2012 I co-authored the copywriting syllabus for the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Berlin
Since moving to Berlin in 2013 I have split my time between commercial, artistic and grassroots projects. This includes a period working with the artist Douglas Gordon, a commission for Borealis Festival and my debut novel, which comes out on Velocity Press this summer (2025).
Partners over the years include VICE Media agency Virtue and their client Carlsberg, Berlin startups such as Kontist, CoMatch and Blink Labs, and high-end whisky maker Royal Salute︎︎︎. (For the latter, I worked on some cute micro-limited edition batches which were sent directly from the master distiller to key customers around the world. I was also responsible for a well-received newsletter.)
Between 2015 and 2018 I was at Zalando, where I was a senior creative on several brand activations including one with James Franco and contributed to lighthouse projects such as Project Muze︎︎︎an ai enabled customization tool created in partnership with a team at Google. In 2017, off the back of an award-winning employer brand campaign for which I was the creative owner, I became co-lead of the employer branding deparment at Zalando, leading a team of 12 and helping to establish core competencies and best practices at Europe’s largest online fashion retailer.
In 2018 I set up my freelance business. Recent highlights include providing editorial leadership, brand architecture and strategic activation for Beckers Group, a pan-European brand relaunch for Papyrus, a fundraising story for a community-based coffee venture, and several award-winning brand storytelling projects for SEGRO.
Life Practice
I continue to push myself, my teams and the disciplines in which we work, channeling what I learn from my twin passions of storytelling and music into every project I touch.
I am a dedicated and habitual reader and cultural magpie:
Dickens to Andrew O’Hagan, Ali Smith, Claire Keegan, Percival Everett, Zadie Smith, Rachel Cusk and too many others to name, everything Mark Fisher ever wrote, anything by Sally Wainwright or James Graham, Steve McQueen’s films for the big and small screen, Jeremy Deller’s public performance pieces, fashion blogger Bliss Foster, subversive children’s fiction from Raymond Briggs to Michael Rosen’s Uncle Gobb series, lots of podcasts including the New Yorker Fiction Podcast, Backlisted, Lost and Sound︎︎︎, Philosophize This!︎︎︎ Ezra Klein, The Rest Is Politics...Bandcamp.
I also try to get away from media as often as possible, whether taking my kids camping, bouldering with friends, meeting up with my Berlin English language writers’ group, playing chess or going for a walk. I also enjoy cooking classic British dishes, exhitions, theatre, classical concerts, clubbing and new ideas, forms and creative expressions that challenge my preconceptions and remind me that there is so much more to discover and learn.