Insights · Strategy · Activation
We close the gap between vision and the people who have to deliver it — leaving teams aligned, capable, and in motion.
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Build Authenticity in the Age of AI
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"Strategy fails at the moment of activation. Enterprise leaders are drowning in data and high-level insights — but starving for the specificity that creates cross-functional momentum."
Who we are
Former VP- and Director-level brand and CX leaders — we don't observe your problems from the outside. We've lived them.
Shannon McGarity
Co-founder · LinkedIn ↗
Former Senior Director, CX Strategy & Research. A rare talent for transforming complex data and research into emotionally resonant stories — ensuring those stories become clear, actionable strategies that business teams can actually use.
— Former Colleague & Client, Strategy & Design Industry
Elizabeth Zietlow "EZ"
Co-founder · LinkedIn ↗
Former VP of Experience Insights, Research & Strategy. A systems thinker who sees customer experience not as a department but as the connective tissue of a brand. She uses data to ground groups and move them forward through complex, matrixed enterprise organizations.
— Senior Leader, Retail & Jewelry Industry
Why Hover
We deliver what others promise.
Here's what makes us genuinely different.
Strategy that doesn't reach the people who have to live it isn't strategy — it's decoration. Our work doesn't stop at the C-suite. We close the gap all the way to the frontline.
We may be an outside partner, but integrating & upskilling your people is core to every project — so your team ends up more capable, not dependent on us for the next phase.
We dynamically resource from a curated network of practitioners we trust. No bloated agency overhead. No junior bench. Exactly the talent your specific challenge needs.
It's not soft — it's a working philosophy that produces better outcomes. Engaged, empowered teams deliver better results. We build it in from day one.
Services
Two ways we close the gap between strategy and the people who deliver it.
Tightly scoped engagements designed to drive real business value. We create the plan and mobilize the right talent — from our network and yours — to deliver high-priority brand experiences that build awareness, win hearts, and build loyalty.
Case Studies
Case study · Rocksbox
Reinvigorated Rocksbox’ brand strategy for new store launches and the peak holiday season, then activated it across marketing, operations and merchandising.
Case study · Client confidential
Grounded a new offer in customer insight, then sharpened its positioning and launch priorities so the whole team could take it to market with one story.
Case study · Ideal Bookshelf
Used AI assistants as a mirror for an artist-led brand and found it known by name but invisible to gift shoppers, a strategy gap rather than a content gap.
We've spent our careers shoring up the gaps between strategy and the people asked to deliver it. We give leaders and teams the context, skills and shared language to act — through workshops, bespoke learning and activation programs like Flourish.
AI Operating Agreements
Sometimes we use AI to do it… you'll always know how.
AI accelerates our work. It doesn't originate the work. Every output needs a human brain — ours — before it reaches a client.
Assume personal responsibility. The buck stops with us. Our expertise & POV drive exploration and research. It's on us to check the work & not to pass on hallucinations.
We disclose AI usage & attribute preemptively. We don't risk the chance our work will be called into question. When AI materially shapes a deliverable, we say so.
Our clients trust us with things they've never shared publicly. We don't feed PII into a model. We take efforts to understand our client's comfort zone around AI usage.
We don't let new tools drive our effort. We stay current on and do low-stakes experiments to be familiar enough to know when to invest in a tool that solves a real problem.
We honor unique perspectives and have an ethical responsibility to care for creators - artists, writers and designers. We don't emulate another maker's style or IP.
Bonus: Acknowledge mistakes to grow.We embrace the pain and learn from it. Anyone who doesn't admit error is hiding something.
Let's create
Strategy in motion starts with a conversation.
We'd love to hear what you're up against.
The hummingbird has long been the logo for Hover Media. When we re-launched the brand in 2025, we had a thought: can we bring our mascot to life in a way we'd always envisioned? Could we take advantage of AI to amplify our expertise? The result: her iridescent plumage broadens our palette. Her way of hovering, precise and in motion, communicates everything we do.
All ideas, branding and voice represented here come from US. We guided Adobe Firefly to generate the illustrative imagery and Veo to bring the hero bird to life. We designed and built the site with Claude Design, providing copy and art-directing every pass -- always making sure it was authentically us. We also built the site to be easy for AI agents & LLMs to surface us more strategically. We make changes that follow solid brand guidelines built with Claude Design.
— Shannon & EZ, 2026
