LOS ANGELES — September 3, 2026 — Upscale Productions and their team, brings the long established LM × ML Brand Agency, a 100% woman-owned, Los Angeles company specializing in brand integration and product placement across film, television, verticals, streaming and other entertainment platforms.
Setting the agency apart is its strategic alignment with Upscale Productions, where Mendoza heads the Latino division. LM × ML brand agency has access to an expanding network of entertainment relationships and now content that Upscale Productions supplies in its direct partnership with Hartbeat, the global entertainment company founded by Kevin Hart and Jeff Clanagan.
LM × ML will tailor brand integration strategies for Upscale Productions and identify opportunities for companies whose products, audiences and business objectives are appropriate for specific projects.
“This is about understanding the production before determining where a brand belongs,” Mendoza said. “As an overall creative at heart, I look at the story, the characters and the audience first. The right brand should add value without compromising the creative work.”
Mendoza is an Indigenous Afro-Mexican actress, producer and writer whose leadership of Upscale’s Latino division places her at the forefront of the company’s growing multicultural entertainment strategy for brand integration and placement with a sneak peak of what’s being developed next.
Upscale recently expanded that strategy with the launch of its Latino division, part of the company’s larger success to develop culturally relevant intellectual property and reach audiences worldwide.
For LM × ML, those relationships create a pipeline for connecting qualified brands with projects where their presence can feel credible rather than manufactured.
“We look beyond simply placing a logo in front of an audience,” Dr. Lemelle said. “We identify opportunities for brands to become relevant participants in the story. A placement has greater value when there is a clear connection among the brand, the production, the actors interacting with the product and the people watching.”
[Photo of Dr. Marie Lemelle, Co-Founder of LMXML Branding Agency]
LM x ML has been an established professional, collaborative relationship between Mendoza and Lemelle that developed through over 15 years of brand integration in Los Angeles entertainment. “We’ve been doing this for well over a decade. Now it’s time to level up.”, says Mendoza.
Their backgrounds give the brand agency two distinct perspectives. Mendoza brings experience as a creative writer, producer, brand specialist and ambassador of endorsements, while Dr. Lemelle brings experience as a business strategist, producer, and media executive.
The agency will concentrate on selected brand categories while remaining open to industries where the production, consumer and commercial opportunity are a natural fit.
The founders are also making cultural awareness and sensitivity a defining part of LM × ML’s work; Cultural awareness is part of the business model.
For Mendoza, an Indigenous Afro-Mexican filmmaker and performer, that responsibility begins with understanding the people represented on screen and those watching.
“Culture is not something you add after the creative decisions have been made,” Mendoza said. “When brands enter a story, they need to understand the audience and respect the world that production is creating.”
Dr. Lemelle sees that awareness as equally important to the business decision.
“Consumers know when a company understands them and when it is simply trying to sell to them,” Dr. Lemelle said. “Our responsibility is to help create opportunities that make sense for the production and the brand while respecting the audience.”
For Mendoza, the standard is straightforward.
“The best integration does not interrupt the story,” Mendoza said. “It elevates it.”
About LM × ML Brand Agency
LM × ML Brand Agency is a 100% woman-owned Los Angeles brand integration agency founded by Liana Mendoza, MFA and Dr. Marie Y. Lemelle, MBA, PhD. The agency connects brands with selected entertainment opportunities through product placement, strategic integration, publicity, positioning and partnership development.
LM × ML Brand Agency
For branding inquiries:
Media Contact: Kelly K PR
Los Angeles, California
Upscale Productions Legal Offices:
Omara S. Harris, Esq.
