For brands ready to reach what’s next.

Your brand doesn’t need to act younger.It needs to connect better.

Senior creative direction meets Gen Z creator perspective. We create UGC, social content and campaigns that help brands reach younger audiences without feeling forced, dated or out of touch.

Start a NEXT GEN project Got a product, launch or idea? Give us the brief. We’ll find the angle.

The problem

Younger audiences know when a brand is trying too hard.

Your content can be beautifully produced and still miss the people you’re trying to reach. Relevance isn’t about slang, trends or pretending to be younger. It’s about understanding how the audience sees the world.

01 / NATIVE

Polished.
But not native.

The content looks like an ad before it feels like something worth watching.

02 / LANGUAGE

Talking at them.
Not with them.

The message may be technically right, but the tone, rhythm or point of view feels off.

03 / SPEED

Too many layers.
Too slow for culture.

Your team needs creator-ready ideas and production without building an entire influencer department.

Be honest.

You want younger customers to notice your brand without looking like you’re trying too hard.

Maybe you need UGC. Maybe the product is stronger than the content. Maybe you just need a fresh way in.

Good. Bring us the product, offer or launch. We’ll find the angle.

Let’s try something

Want to test it first? Start with one idea.

So…why NEXT GEN?

Good creative starts with understanding who you’re talking to—not guessing from across the room.

I bring 15+ years of creative direction. My daughters bring lived Gen Z perspective. NEXT GEN puts both at the table before the work ever gets made.

I know brand. They know their world.

Your Brand. Their World. Let’s introduce them properly.

Maria Lören's three daughters — The next generation the studio is named for.

The creative bridge

Experience on one side.
Lived perspective
on the other.

NEXT GEN combines senior-level creative direction with the people who actually live inside the culture you’re trying to reach.

Strategy that protects the brand.

Clear positioning, creative direction and concepts rooted in the business goal—not random trends.

Creator perspective that keeps it current.

Gen Z insight, on-camera talent and platform-native instincts built into the process from the start.

Production that gets it out the door.

Concepting, filming, hooks, edits, stills and variations—without six layers of translation.

“A Gen X creative director building with Gen Z daughters to help brands speak to the next generation.”

The NEXT GEN advantage

Ways to work with us

Start small. Prove it. Scale what works.

You don’t need a giant campaign to find out whether the idea connects. We can begin with a focused pilot or build the larger system from day one.

Fastest entry point

Creative-Directed UGC Campaign

UGC with an actual creative director behind it — not just a creator holding a product in front of a phone.

Creative concept + direction
Finished vertical UGC videos
On-camera creator talent
Supporting stills + b-roll

Most requested

The Content Sprint

Turn one offer or product into enough polished short-form creative to carry several weeks of marketing.

Strategy session + content concept
Batched short-form video edits
Supporting lifestyle images
Hooks, captions + cover designs

For bigger launches

The AI Creative Campaign

Elevated visual content for a launch or campaign moment, without the cost of a full-scale production.

Creative concept + visual direction
AI-assisted campaign imagery
Motion + video assets
Human retouching + quality control

Backed by Maria Lören

15+ years of senior creative direction with real brand-world experience. Maria Lören is the founder of Maria Lören Designs and House of Lören, co-founder of Melanin & Muscles, and formerly Senior Art Director at Publishers Clearing House. Her creative direction has shaped work for Disney, Hershey, Martha Stewart, Shark, Dole, Del Monte, Brookstone and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital — including the record-label logo for Grammy-winning artist Ashanti.

Selected work

Creative direction, in practice.

A few recent examples of the same standard NEXT GEN brings to every production — some real client work, some concept campaigns built for portfolio proof.

Behind the Stripes

Adidas Originals — concept campaign

Hempstead Lake Pickleball

Brand identity, concept

Mike & Ike

National campaign, package design

Retinol Refined

Product line, photography & design

Beauty product photography

Client work

Beauty campaign photography

Client work

Simple on purpose

Four steps. No agency maze.

Tell us what you’re trying to sell, launch or change. We’ll tell you the clearest next move.

Tell us who you need to reach.

Audience, product, campaign goal and what feels stuck right now.

We shape the angle.

We identify the content opportunity, creative direction and right-sized scope.

We create.

Concept, creator, production, editing and the variations you actually need.

You launch. We learn.

Use the work, watch the response and scale the ideas that earn attention.

You’re early. We like that.

We’re building the kind of creative studio we wish brands already had access to — one project, one experiment and probably several family debates at a time.

NEXT GEN is being built from the ground up by Maria Lören and her daughters. Follow the shoots, the ideas, the client work, the wins, the mistakes, and the things we were positive were going to work…until they didn’t.

Two generations. Four very different personalities. A whole lot of creativity. And absolutely no pretending we have it all figured out yet.

Come for the creative. Stay for the personalities.

The personalities alone might be worth the follow. 😉

Follow @nextgenbymarialoren

Ready?

Stop guessing what the next generation wants.

Tell us what you’re working on. We’ll reply with the clearest way NEXT GEN can help—whether that’s a small test or a larger campaign.