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Strategic Communications Consultant — Madison, WI

Making your
brand impossible
to ignore.

20+ years of strategic counsel, brand development, and digital leadership — helping organizations cut through the noise and own their market position.

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20+
Years in practice
100+
Brands advised
Full
Service capability

Built from the ground up — literally.

I'm Allen Veak — founder of Makin' Hey! Communications and a serial entrepreneur who has been building, launching, and growing brands since before the internet had a rulebook.

I started my first company at 18 — a screen printing operation that grew to one of the Midwest's largest licensed collegiate apparel printers before I sold it a decade later. Since then, I've worked at the executive level across outdoor consumer goods, textile manufacturing, and digital communications.

I founded Makin' Hey! in 2005. Today we work as strategic partners — not vendors — to clients who need clear thinking, honest counsel, and work that actually moves the needle.

  • SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year — State of Iowa
  • Founded & sold a Midwest collegiate apparel firm with 30 employees
  • Native Origins — organic sportswear in LL Bean & national specialty catalogs
  • VP Marketing & Merchandising — K2 Outdoor Product Group
  • Sales & Marketing Leadership — Monterey Mills (clients: Woolrich, Eddie Bauer, Nautica, Donna Karan)
  • Founded Makin' Hey! Communications, 2005

End-to-end brand counsel.

01
Strategic Planning

Market positioning, competitive analysis, communications strategy, and long-range brand roadmaps — grounded in real-world business experience, not theory.

02
Brand Identity

Identity systems that hold up across every touchpoint — from naming and visual identity to brand voice and messaging architecture.

03
Web Design & Development

WordPress-based digital presence built to perform and convert — strategy first, design second, code to match. No fluff, no bloat.

04
Digital & Social Strategy

Social media strategy, content planning, and digital outreach that connects with the right audiences — and actually gets remembered.

No bull. Hard work. Then maybe a beer.

"Quality service. Proven results. Not rocket science."

I work with a small, senior team — not a big agency with layers of account managers between you and the people doing the work. When you hire Makin' Hey!, you get direct access to experienced professionals who treat your brand like their own.

We're backed by an exclusive partnership with Hostwinds for cloud hosting — which means the infrastructure behind your digital presence is handled by specialists, not afterthoughts.

Senior-level access

You talk to the people doing the work — always.

Proven process

20+ years refining what works across categories.

Full-service capability

Strategy through execution under one roof.

Honest counsel

We tell you what you need to hear, not what sounds good.

Ready to make some noise?

Serious about your brand? Let's have a straight conversation about where you are and where you want to be.