About

These are the moments when brand becomes a strategic lever.

We work with organizations at pivotal moments, when stakes are higher, decisions matter more, and the path forward is not always clear.

What We Do

4040 is a design-led brand consultancy that helps organizations navigate these moments by turning brand into clarity, alignment, and advantage.

We partner with leaders across sports, culture, financial services, technology, and consumer brands to define positioning, build brand systems, and create experiences that connect.

Moments We Work In

Growth - Entering a new phase or scaling the business

Reinvention - Repositioning for a changing market

Fundraising / Exit - Clarifying story and value

Mergers & Transitions - Aligning brands and organizations

Expansion - Reaching new audiences or categories

Cultural Reset - Reconnecting with relevance

What Makes Us Different

Owner-led.

Senior-led.

Selective by design.

We work directly with CEOs, founders, and executive teams.

We stay deeply involved.

We focus on outcomes, not volume.

The Result: Brand that aligns. Brand that connects. Brand that creates advantage.

Leadership

Michelle Bowler - CEO & Chief Strategy Officer

Michelle Bowler leads 4040 with a rare combination of operational rigor and strategic clarity. She partners directly with CEOs and executive teams to align brand with how a business actually works, ensuring it drives decisions, not just expression.

Her perspective is shaped by nearly three decades inside complex organizations, including leadership roles at Williams-Sonoma, Walmart, and Wayfair, where she built and scaled businesses, not just brands. She understands firsthand how strategy must translate across teams, systems, and outcomes.

At 4040, Michelle is known for bringing focus to pivotal moments, helping organizations articulate what matters, align around it, and move forward with conviction. Her work sits at the intersection of brand, business, and leadership, where clarity creates advantage.

John Trotter - Founder & Chief Creative Officer

John Trotter founded 4040 with a clear point of view: the most enduring brands are built at the intersection of culture, design, and belief.

With roots at Nike and Landor, John brings a level of creative leadership grounded in both craft and strategic intent. For more than two decades, he has shaped brands across sport, entertainment, consumer, and technology, creating systems and experiences that resonate deeply and stand the test of time.

His work is defined by restraint, precision, and meaning. Not decoration, but design that carries weight. At 4040, John ensures every expression of the brand reflects something real, building identities that not only connect in the moment, but endure over time.

Our Story

4040 was built on a belief: brand has the power to shape how a business grows, operates, and endures. We came up inside some of the world’s most influential companies, where brand was not theoretical. It was tied to performance, to teams, to outcomes.

We saw what happens when it is done well. Alignment. Clarity. Momentum. And we saw what happens when it is not. Too often, brand is separated from the business. Treated as a final step rather than a foundational one. Designed to signal something, rather than to drive it. Over time, that separation becomes visible. Internally and externally. Inconsistency. Missed opportunity. A loss of trust.

4040 was created to work differently.From the beginning, we have taken a design-led approach grounded in strategy and shaped by real-world experience. We connect brand to the decisions that define a company, ensuring it is not just expressed, but embedded.

Our work started in sport and culture, where credibility is earned and quickly lost. That environment shaped how we think. It taught us that brand must hold up under pressure, not just presentation.

Today, we partner with global brands, institutions, and founders at moments when the stakes are higher and the path forward matters more. Growth. Reinvention. Change.
We remain owner-led and deeply involved, working directly with leadership teams to bring clarity, alignment, and direction when it is needed most.

We are also a Black and woman-owned agency, bringing perspective that expands how brands see and who they reach.What continues to guide the work is simple: Brand is not an output. It is how a company shows up, how it is experienced, and how it creates advantage over time.

We work at the moments that matter most.Growth. Reinvention. Change.