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Picture this: You've hired an expensive agency—the kind with big creative departments and a roster of high-paying clients. They promise a brand "refresh," a "new look and feel," maybe a website, logo, tagline, or campaign that will bring awareness and drive impact.
The process starts with discovery. For weeks or months, they disappear into their creative cave. Then comes the big reveal—the "aha moment" presentation with all the bells and whistles.
And that's when it happens. The looks around the table. Some grimaces. Some confusion. The polite nods during the presentation, followed by hushed conversations after the agency leaves: "That doesn't really look or sound like us."
The presentation falls short. Sometimes it falls flat. The money is spent, and buyers' remorse sets in.
I know this happens because I've been part of it—on the client side, not the agency side—more times than I can count. And I got tired of watching good organizations waste precious resources on brand agencies that missed the mark, time after time.
My own ‘Aha’
After working with many pioneering social impact brands, one thing I learned is that no one can know your business better than the people who run it every day.
No outside agency can understand the challenges, struggles, confusion, or elation you've been through with your product, service, or offering while trying to have an impact in the world. They can study your materials, interview your stakeholders, and immerse themselves in your sector, but they'll never have the lived experience of being inside your mission day after day.
Your team has been through the late-night strategy sessions when everything felt impossible. They've celebrated the small wins that outsiders might not even notice. They've felt the frustration of trying to explain your work to people who just don't get it. They've experienced the magic moments when everything clicks.
That's not just institutional knowledge—that's emotional intelligence about your brand.
Why We Start with Your Team
As a partner offering to help you get back to clarity and the business of catalyzing change, we view ourselves as helpers, tools, and supporters in your journey. We're not the experts coming in to fix you. We're the facilitators helping you uncover what you already know.
We start with your team. We bring your team through an interactive and engaging process. We work with your team to get from start to finish. Getting across that line helps your team grow and learn, and helps us find the gems deep down to bring to your brand's surface.
The best brand insights don't come from focus groups or market research. They come from the people who live and breathe your mission every single day.
Your team already knows what makes you different. They already understand your impact. They already feel the passion that drives your work. Our job isn't to create something new—it's to help you articulate what's already there.
When your team is part of the process, the result doesn't just look like you. It feels like you, because it comes from you.
It’s amazing when the team leadership from all departments comes together - accounting, finance, and sales - beyond just marketing, to have input. They become protective stewards of not only your brand’s history, but they can also see the potential.