Is this you doing the work, or a team?

Mike Dewey does the creative work on every account. He's supported by a tight bench of producers and editors when a project needs them, and an AI workflow layer that handles the operational work a junior team used to: indexing the library, surfacing patterns in what's winning, prepping variants for him to approve or scrap. AI reads the data and fills production gaps, not the creative. Nothing ships without him.

How do you use AI in the work?

Brand-protective by default. Tooling handles the operational layer (library indexing, pattern surfacing, variant prep). Generative assets get used only where they sharpen the work or fill a gap that can't be shot, and only with the brand's sign-off. Where you'd rather we didn't, we don't. The judgment about which is which sits with the CD, not the machine.

How many clients do you take at once?

Five at a time, on purpose. Selectivity is part of what the retainer pays for. The cap is the product.

How is Studio different from a fractional creative director?

Studio is a vendor engagement with defined deliverables, not a fractional headcount role. One weekly call with the CMO or founder, no day-to-day creative ops. Same senior creative leadership, vendor operating model.

What does one variant mean in your tier counts?

One variant equals one testable creative unit: a unique hook, body, and CTA combination. Each variant is delivered in all standard aspect ratios as one variant, not three. Aspect ratios are delivery, not separate variants.

Do you work with brands focused on organic content, not just paid Meta?

Yes. Library mining works for organic Reels, Shorts, and TikTok the same way it works for paid Meta. The Pilot tier is the natural home for footage-library-driven organic work.

Can I use AI to mine my existing footage library?

Yes. Library mining is included on all three tiers. The system indexes existing footage by topic, speaker, moment, and emotion, then surfaces clips that match the brief. Run and Lead add generative fill on top of retrieval when the work calls for it.

Who owns the deliverables?

The brand owns all deliverables, generated and hand-crafted. Worldwide, perpetual, no royalties. The studio's tooling stays with Miru Studio; output rights are the brand's.

What if I do not like the variants?

Two revisions per variant are included on all tiers. Edge cases negotiated up front in the kickoff call.

How fast can you start?

Five business days from signing to kickoff. The first batch of variants ships at the end of week two.

Do you manage paid ads or just create the creative?

Creative production only. The brand's ad buyer keeps account access. Miru Studio delivers the variants; the buyer decides what to ship.

What is the contract and cancellation policy?

Month-to-month. No minimum commitment. Cancel any time via email before the next renewal date.

Miru Studio · Performance creative for DTC brands

Problem-first, performance and brand at the same time. Fifteen years across product, web, video, photo, and brand. The last seven in performance creative for DTC.

See the work →

[ 01 ]

If the brand wouldn't put it in a portfolio, it shouldn't be in the feed.

Approach

[ 02 ] · The studio

I started in software engineering, then switched to design, and that stuck. I'm problem-first. I don't start a concept until I know the problem, and I judge the work by whether it solved it. Fifteen years shaped that: product design, web, video, photography, brand, and the last seven or eight in performance creative for DTC brands. I've built a number-one App Store app, run paid media, owned P&Ls, shot and edited campaigns. I've run teams too, from eight filmmakers at a travel publication to freelance pools and growth and production teams at a supplement brand. I build the studio, not just the work.

I'm always looking for the line between performance and brand: work that looks good and moves the number. My testing is simple. Start small, read the data, double down. I want to talk to the buyers, find where the money is, spot the winning patterns, and make the next brief sharper. I'm not just here to talk ideas. I know how to get it done: design, social specs, media-buy logic, shoot logistics, post. If I'm in, I'm in on every level.

I've gone deep on AI, mostly to remove the grunt work so the team can focus on real decisions. I've built workflows for product photography, for ad-variant testing, for pulling hooks out of long-form footage. I'm transparent about it with every brand, and careful about where it fits. Brands need to feel human. AI is for efficiency, not replacement.

Roster of five, capped on purpose. Two slots open.

Mike Dewey Founder · Creative Director Read the manifesto → LinkedIn ↗

Clients.

Selected · 2024 – 2026

1,500+ Paid variants shipped,
every one by hand
5 DTC retainers run since 2024,
roster cap of 5
15 Years across design,
film, photo, and ads
40+ Global brand campaigns
directed at Matador

Three DTC retainers since 2024: Aera, Momentous, and SEEQ. Project work for Fanatics in the same window. Earlier work in agency creative direction. Refreshed quarterly.

Field notes.

Selected · 2024 – 2026

Field note · 01

What happened when we put real customers on camera instead of actors.

Two months. Six hooks. The good ones beat scripted variants. The bad ones taught us why.

Read the field note

Field note · 02

One shoot day. Twenty assets. How a single interview turned into a quarter of content at Momentous.

One customer interview ran as a static, a hero video, two email hooks, a blog post, and a podcast cut. The shoot paid for itself before the ad ever went live.

Read the field note

Field note · 03

How an agent reads a hard drive before we do.

A production company drops a 200GB drive. The agent watches every clip, marks the hook moments, and serves the cuts the data is already asking for.

Read the field note

Not the right fit if.

You want "performance creative" to mean cheap, fast, and disposable. The whole point here is that it doesn't. Volume without taste is noise.
You want a freelance editor or a pure design-execution shop. There's a creative director on every account. That's not optional, it's the product.
You want a fractional CD inside your Slack. This is a vendor engagement with weekly deliverables, not a headcount role. If you need a CD on payroll, hire one.

Pricing.

[ 03 ] · One audit, three retainers

One audit, three retainers, no minimums. Engine is where most brands land. Mike Dewey leads every account, carrying five seats: designer, filmmaker, photographer, analyst, and the production system that ties them together. Every ad made by hand. AI reads the data and fills production gaps, not the creative.

Creative Audit · $1,000 one-time

Before you commit to a retainer. A scored read of your last 60 days of Meta creative, run against the same rubric the Studio tier uses internally. Lower-risk way to see how I think.

Up to 30 recent variants reviewed
Scored on hook, framing, brand-safety, format
5 to 10 specific fixes with examples
One library-mining pass on supplied footage

Written deck plus a 45-minute walkthrough call
5 to 7 business days
One-time, no commitment
Credited in full toward month one if you sign a retainer within 30 days

Pilot · $4k/mo

30-day proof of model. Hand-crafted from your existing footage. Roughly what a mid-level video editor costs, with a senior creative director attached.

3 to 5 concepts × 3 to 4 hooks
15 to 20 finished cuts / month
Library mining and search
Hand-crafted assets only
Two revisions per variant

9:16, 1:1, 4:5 delivery
Standard MP4
1 week per batch
Available for a weekly call

Engine · $6k/mo

Full production loop. The volume of a four-person agency pod at a third the cost.

5 to 7 concepts × 4 to 5 hooks
25 to 35 finished cuts / month
Library mining and pattern surfacing
Generative fill where it sharpens the work
Variant prep and hook expansion
Hooks rewritten into 5+ angles

9:16, 1:1, 4:5, 16:9 delivery
MP4 + working files on request
Two revisions per variant
3 to 5 business days per batch
Available for a weekly call

Studio · from $8k/mo

Creative director running the function. Full production pipeline plus the proprietary scoring system. About half what a fractional CD with production support costs.

8 to 10 concepts × 4 to 5 hooks
40 to 55 finished cuts / month
Full pipeline: library mining, generative fill, variant prep, scoring
Proprietary scoring system access
Vendor engagement, not fractional CD

Any format
Working files + source masters
Two revisions per variant
Priority queue, 2 to 3 business days
Available for a weekly call

Above $8k reflects multi-brand work, additional formats, custom pipeline integration, or shoot integration. Quoted on call.

Add-ons

Brand shoot + edit: $5,000. One shoot day for real footage when generated assets aren't the right fit. Product shoot, founder interview, or customer-story shoot. Edited and packaged into the variant pipeline. LA-local pricing. Travel quoted separately.

Week one and beyond

What happens after you sign.

Day 0Contract signed.
Days 1 to 5Kickoff. Brand book, ad-account read access, footage library, and transcripts in.
End of week 2First batch of variants delivered.
Week 3 onwardWeekly cycle in flow against the ad account.

Creative production only. Your ad buyer keeps account access. No paid-media management, no brand identity rebuilds. Month-to-month, no minimum, cancel any time. See variants in Clients →

Questions.

[ 04 ] · FAQ

Is this you doing the work, or a team?: Mike Dewey does the creative work on every account. He's supported by a tight bench of producers and editors when a project needs them, and an AI workflow layer that handles the operational work a junior team used to: indexing the library, surfacing patterns in what's winning, prepping variants for him to approve or scrap. AI reads the data and fills production gaps, not the creative. Nothing ships without him.
How do you use AI in the work?: AI sits underneath the work, not on top of it. It indexes the footage library, surfaces patterns in what's winning, preps variants for review. It does not write the ad, pick the hook, or get a vote on taste. Every ad gets made by hand. Generative assets fill gaps that can't be shot, and only with the brand's sign-off. The category of tool that takes one photo and spits out a thousand variants is not what this is.
How many clients do you take at once?: Five at a time, on purpose. Selectivity is part of what the retainer pays for. The cap is the product.
How is Studio different from a fractional creative director?: A fractional CD lives in your Slack and gets pulled into day-to-day politics. Studio is a vendor engagement with defined deliverables. One weekly call with the buyer or founder, no daily access, the same five-seats-from-one-chair creative leadership. The output of senior creative direction without the embedded-headcount problem.
What does one variant mean in your tier counts?: One variant equals one testable creative unit: a unique hook, body, and CTA combination. Each variant is delivered in all standard aspect ratios as one variant, not three. Aspect ratios are delivery, not separate variants.
Do you work with brands focused on organic content, not just paid Meta?: Paid creative is the spine. Library mining and the asset pipeline carry over cleanly to organic Reels, Shorts, and TikTok when the same brand wants both, which most do. Organic-only without a paid program is not the right fit.
Can I use AI to mine my existing footage library?: Yes. Library mining is included on all three tiers. The system indexes existing footage by topic, speaker, moment, and emotion, then surfaces clips that match the brief. Run and Lead add generative fill on top of retrieval when the work calls for it.
Who owns the deliverables?: The brand owns all deliverables, generated and hand-crafted. Worldwide, perpetual, no royalties. The studio's tooling stays with Miru Studio; output rights are the brand's.
What if I don't like the variants?: Two revisions per variant are included on all tiers. Edge cases negotiated up front in the kickoff call.
How fast can you start?: Five business days from signing to kickoff. The first batch of variants ships at the end of week two.
Do you manage paid ads or just create the creative?: Creative production only. Your ad buyer keeps account access. Miru Studio delivers the variants, the buyer decides what to ship.
What is the contract and cancellation policy?: Month-to-month. No minimum commitment. Cancel any time via email before the next renewal date.

[ 05 ] Contact

Let's talk.

hello@mirustud.io

Send me an email. One intro call, a look at your account, and we're running within the week.

Not ready for a retainer? Start with a $1,000 Creative Audit. Scored read of your last 60 days of Meta variants, written up in a deck with specific fixes. Credited back in full if you sign within 30 days.

Mike Dewey. Performance creative for Aera and Momentous.

Clients.

Field notes.

What happened when we put real customers on camera instead of actors.

One shoot day. Twenty assets. How a single interview turned into a quarter of content at Momentous.

How an agent reads a hard drive before we do.

Not the right fit if.

Pricing.

Questions.

Let's talk.