We’re out to prove that Substance has style.

Who We Are

We are Substance Strategy & Creative – a marketing agency built to service the financial services sector and beyond.

What makes us different

Our financial roots are to your financial benefit.

We’ve spent decades helping the financial services sector connect with its audience on a deeper, more human level. Our understanding of the category means better strategy, faster processes, and creative that actually says something.

Creating meaningful digital experiences.

Our brand, content, and digital roots help us think beyond digital executions to create substantive interactive experiences that matter.

We've never missed a deadline.

We believe that creative is nothing without execution. We pride ourselves on getting things done cleanly, efficiently, and on time – every time.

Our Services

Strategy is at the core of everything we do.

Brand

Positioning
Market Research
Visual Identity
Value Proposition
Content Strategy
Messaging Development
Marketing Planning

Creative

Creative Strategy
Art Direction
Design
Copywriting
Content
Video
Creative Testing

Digital

Digital Strategy
UX Strategy
UI Design
User Research & Testing
Front-end Development
Analytics & Tracking

Content

Content Strategy & Planning
Research
Marketing Collateral
White Papers
Website Writing
Sales Enablement
Thought Leadership
Video

Our Clients

Brands of Substance

Our People

Leadership Team of Substance

Phil Edelstein Founder

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Andrea MacCullough Partner, Head of Operations

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Catie Borzillo Head of Digital Strategy

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Kelly Erb Partner, Head of Content

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Jody Pritchard Creative Director

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Rooted in audience insight

A value-add service offering that delivers direct access to insights from hard-to-reach audiences that helps drive smarter marketing.

Advisor Roundtables

Every other month, our advisor panel tackles your toughest marketing questions, providing you with authentic feedback and insights.

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Investor Roundtables

Our panel of investors gather every other month to share candid feedback on campaigns and messaging, providing you with actionable insight.

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Get in touch

Looking to add Substance to your marketing?
Let’s talk.

Phil Edelstein Founder

Phil is the Founder of Substance Strategy & Creative. He is an expert in building strategic brand alignment across highly complex organizations. He has brought his expertise in market research, brand strategy and marketing planning to bear for the likes of IKEA, Microsoft, Comcast, AmerisourceBergen, Beneficial Bank, Cozen O’Connor and many others.

Phil brings a unique perspective to the agency world, having spent a number of years in his career as the Head of Advertising, Public Relations and Internal Communications at Hartford Funds, the $100 billion mutual fund division of The Hartford Insurance Company. At Hartford Funds, Phil helped shepherd the origination and launch of the mutual fund division’s human-centric investing brand platform, and then led all advertising, public relations, content marketing and internal communications in service of the brand. During his tenure, Phil oversaw a large lift in digital brand engagement metrics along with increases in key brand metrics.

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Andrea MacCullough Partner, Head of Operations

Andrea brings over 15 years in the advertising/marketing industry to her project management role, with experience across all established and emerging channels, and with clients in the pharma/healthcare, higher ed, retail, entertainment, financial, non-profit, and government worlds. Well-versed in many types of management styles and methodologies, Andrea is passionately detail-oriented, diligent, and focused on bringing great work to life—of course while staying on time and within scope and budget.

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Catie Borzillo Head of Digital Strategy

Catie’s curiosity and empathy makes her a self-proclaimed people person. Her passion for content and the end user makes user experience and strategy a natural fit for her career. Catie has worked with a wide range of clients across retail, food and beverage, higher education, architecture and non-profit sectors. She’s spent the majority of her career creating and shaping digital strategies at various Philadelphia-based advertising agencies and worked with clients such as Under Armour, Planet Fitness, Community College of Philadelphia, and Dietz & Watson. She uses her experience to create purposeful, meaningful digital content that helps the brand shine and provides users with the best possible digital experience.

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Kelly Erb Partner, Head of Content

Kelly is the Head of Content at Substance Strategy & Creative. She brings a wealth of experience to our team with over 30 years of developing strategic content and marketing for financial services organizations.

Her career spans the industry, beginning at The Hartford (Planco) and later with SEI and Lincoln Financial Group. She served as Vice President, Content Marketing at Brinker Capital (now Orion Advisor Services) where she successfully marketed the launch of a proprietary mutual fund family and developed a multi-tiered communication framework for the reallocation of $10B in assets.

With specialized expertise in the areas of investment management, wealth planning, fintech and the high net worth landscape, Kelly is passionate about creating impactful content that distills complex topics into approachable language without fluff or jargon.

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Jody Pritchard Creative Director

Jody Pritchard is a strategic, multi-disciplinary creative with over 15 years of experience in brand development, marketing, and design. As a former in-house Creative Director for a banking and mortgage brand, she brings empathy and understanding of the unique needs of financial industry clients.

Her expertise spans financial services, live events, culture-building initiatives, direct-to-consumer, B2B, and non-profit sectors. Jody is known for crafting compelling brand identities through thoughtful visuals, clear messaging, and data-driven strategies. Her collaborative approach ensures that every client feels heard and supported throughout the creative process, delivering impactful and measurable results.

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