WHAT WE
UNDERSTAND

Marketing and Branding can be YOUR competitive advantage if you have the right people on your team.

Let’s face it, the only thing more overwhelming than branding and marketing itself is choosing a partner to work with. That’s why we started an On-Demand Branding + Marketing Agency focused on helping businesses of all sizes quickly capture the hearts of their customers without breaking the bank. And by “all sizes” we mean from an individuals’ Personal Brand to multi-million dollar corporations. We do this by meeting businesses where they are through our model of “Coach - Train - Do”. This “On-Demand” nature lets businesses control their investment in time, money and deliverables while maintaining agility in this dynamic world.

And this enables quality work that has immediate business impact while at the same time building capability in the people who are leading and delivering the work. Our commitment is to leverage our 35+ years of experience to always be of service in enabling businesses to become savvier brand builders and marketers while building the teams and infrastructure to support them.

ON-DEMAND BRANDING + MARKETING
for ANY BUSINESS

WHO WE
ARE

WE ARE PROBLEM SOLVERS. We are a bit like a business therapist. We listen - really listen - for what you need. Then we jump into planning for just the right solution for you right now. On-demand.

WE ARE THINKERS. We have the solution. Now it’s time for the plan. We got that too. Strategic marketing, coming your way, today.

WE ARE DOERS. We mobilize our teams. We brief them and we get them started. We review the work and get it to you. All managed behind the scenes by us and in your hands before you know it. And because we leverage a team of seasoned freelancers and boutique agencies, we can give you the talent you deserve without the overhead and hidden mark-ups you don’t.

WE ARE LEADERS AND COLLABORATORS. We teach and train. We maximize our combined expertise - yours on your business and ours in marketing and branding - to set you up to execute with success.

WE ARE YOUR REINFORCEMENT. We empower you and make you the hero! And we know sometimes you will want us front and center and at times behind the scenes. Your call. And we won’t love you and leave you. We are here for those tune-ups whenever you need them.

HOW WE

DO IT

COACH - 1:1 to small groups. Sometimes you just need an unbiased perspective with nothing at stake but your success to get you on track. Our coaching style is forthright but respectful.

Popular topics include:
- Career: Being the navigator of your own career is the only way to ensure you end up where you want to.
- Business: With our corporate, agency and now entrepreneurial experience, we have seen just about everything.
- Personal Brand: Cultivating your Personal Brand is the key to professional and personal success.
- Marketing + Branding: Pick our brain and take advantage of our expertise to help you brainstorm, develop or review.
- Team Dynamics: Whether it is internal, external or mixed, a highly-functioning team is essential for delivering good work consistently.
- Vigilant Leadership: The art of leading from afar. Scary for many but liberating in its ability to free up capacity and unleash potential.

TRAIN - Coaching at scale. From the topics above to any we podcast or blog about, we can provide interactive virtual or live trainings.

These can be 60 min keynotes to half/full-day sessions depending on the topic and depth of coverage.

DO - Full-service development and execution. We believe in “real-time brand-building”, which means all of our execution is brand-led.

If yours isn’t strong enough to set you up for success, we will tell you this and build it in. We refuse to take your money if your brand

isn’t solid. It is an integrity thing. And since we personally orchestrate the execution within our extended network of ultra-seasoned freelancers and boutique agencies, we do not require hefty retainers and contracts to do the work.

A few of our most popular offerings:
- Brand Toolkit (visual and verbal): includes mood board, logo, colors, typography, photography treatment, iconography, tone-of-voice and Brand Story
- Brand-led website development and refresh
- Social Strategy development
- Integrated Marketing Campaigns
- Marketing and Communications Strategy

OUR

STORY

We are an unlikely pair, but that is what makes us the best choice for you. We come from opposite sides of the proverbial Marketing and Branding tracks – Anne from the Corporate world and April from the Agency world. This means with our combined 35 years of experience, we have seen just about every situation business can throw at you, from all sides, with a wide cast of characters, through the ever-changing world. How’s that for a mouth full? And even though Corporate-Agency relationships are notoriously contentious, ours is not. Why? Our name gives it away – ”Forthright” communication with each other and with you. So, you get the benefit of the 360-degree purview with none of the drama. Definitely a win-win.

APRIL

April spent the first 15 years of her career exploring all of the ins and outs of agency life. A believer that learning never stops, and the more experiences we amass, the better we are able to solve life’s many challenges, April has made conscious moves throughout her career to do just that. With a design and MBA business foundation, plus years spent in agencies from branding to design to CPG to advertising to production, April spent her days doing much more than the work. What she knows is how to deal with tension, manage people and personalities, and how to identify and sell the right work to the right clients, which is what really matters in business. She brings her expertise to help others do it even better, especially when it comes to building new capabilities and the teams to support them. April firmly believes that fundamental to success in business is the ability to network, and that as a result, strong, authentic relationships open doors and move businesses forward.

ANNE

Anne grew up at P&G - but don’t let that fool you - her path was anything but traditional. She spent her first decade in R&D and Product Development and her second in Brand Marketing and Communications, Through this, Anne learned (sometimes the hard way) the imperative role brand building plays to cultivate successful individuals and businesses. Until the world is run by robots, there will always be a person on the other side of the sale. Which means a brand’s ability to transform life in order to create an authentic relationship that they alone own will continue to be paramount for growth. That’s Brand-Love. Her mission is to help ALL businesses and the individuals within them realize their Brand-Love potential. Because it doesn’t matter the size of your business, how long you have been around, the number of people you have or the amount of money you make, forming Brand-Love connections is possible and should be a focus at EVERY STEP on the business journey. It is how commodities become brands and brands become franchises. Ready to make some love?

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