Brand strategy that gets lived, not shelved.
Brand strategy for nonprofits, ministries, and mission-driven businesses: your values, promises, culture, and personality, plus the system that keeps every touchpoint true to them. Based in downtown Colorado Springs.
Real strategy, then a system to keep it true. Never just a document.
The Brand Dilemma
The pressure
Your organization has grown past what any one person carries in their head. New staff, new programs, new channels, and everyone has a slightly different idea of who you are.
The confusion
Everybody talks about brand and almost nobody explains it. Is it the logo? The colors? The website? Agencies hand over a handsome style guide, and no one can tell you whether it's strategy or decoration.
The risk
A rebrand that looks new and changes nothing. A beautiful PDF that no one opens after launch. Five versions of your logo, three different voices, and values that read one way on the website and feel another way to a volunteer, a donor, or a new hire. And paying twice to fix it.
The solution
You don't need a prettier logo. You need to know who you are, say it the same way everywhere, and have a system that keeps it true.
Brand is either decoration or an engine.
Most people approach brand the way they'd approach landscaping by hiring the neighbor kid to plant some flowers. It might look fine for a season. We approach it like hiring a certified landscape architect to design your whole outdoor living experience, where the plan, the materials, and the upkeep all work together.
Brand can be a logo, some colors, and a typeface that anyone could swap out tomorrow. Or it can be a powerful engine of business value: it shapes how your people work, how donors and customers feel, and what you say yes and no to. The difference is substance, and substance takes real work.
Yes, we do the logo, colors, and typeface. But the real work is meaning-making: your values, promises, culture, and personality. We work across strategy, design direction, web, email, and analytics, so what we define shows up consistently everywhere it touches. And we're not afraid to bring aesthetics and ethics into the conversation, with care and with frankness.
How we work: Discover, Define, Align
Discover
1-2 weeks
We audit your brand as it actually exists: every logo version, voice, message, and legacy document in circulation, plus how your staff, volunteers, customers, and partners perceive you. You get a plain-English report on the gap between who you say you are and what people experience.
Define
2-4 weeks
We bring your team together, in person or over Zoom, and do the meaning-making: values, promises, culture, and personality. It takes longer than most people expect, so we make it good, with good food, good spaces, and real breaks. You leave with a brand strategy your team recognizes as its own.
Align
Monthly
We build the plan to assess every brand touchpoint with every stakeholder, then run a rolling audit that finds where reality has drifted from the aspiration and closes the gap. Once the substance is settled, we find the right artist for your visual identity.
How we can help.
Brand Audit
For organizations that suspect their brand has drifted, or that are about to rebrand and want to know what they're actually starting with.
• An inventory of your brand touchpoints: every version of your logo, voice, message, and legacy material in circulation
• A review of your internal brand documentation, and where reality contradicts it
• A perception check across staff, volunteers, customers, and partners
• A written report on the gaps between aspiration and reality, and a walkthrough call
Nonprofit pricing available.
Brand Strategy Workshop
For organizations ready to say who they are, and mean it. Price scales with team size and how much brand debt we're working with.
• A minimum of two 3-hour sessions, at your location, in a Colorado Springs space of ours, at a venue we find, or distributed over Zoom (in person is better)
• Brand Core and Brand Identity. Values, promises, culture, and personality, and much more worked out together
• A written brand strategy in plain language your whole team can use
• A plan to assess every brand touchpoint with every stakeholder: staff, vendors, contractors, affiliates, customers, volunteers, and audience
• Available for travel for onsite workshops. Travel is built into your project quote.
Nonprofit pricing available.
Brand Alignment
For: organizations that want to build brand growth into their ongoing operations. Works best after a Brand Audit or Workshop.
• A rolling audit of your brand touchpoints across all stakeholders
• A ranked list of the gaps between aspiration and reality
• Prioritized fixes, and help closing them
• A monthly review with us
• Brand governance: how your brand stays consistent as people, channels, and programs change
Nonprofit pricing available.
Visual Identity
For: organizations whose brand strategy is settled and who need a look that fits it.
• Logo, color palette, and typeface
• An artist matched to your organization once the substance is clear, never a house style applied to everyone
• Additonal assets as needed: illustrations, mascots, product, etc.
• Usage guidelines and 3 revision rounds
Nonprofit pricing available.
Not sure which fits? Book a free discovery call. Have a more specific project in mind? Let us know and we'll craft the right package.
“Mast's expertise and attention to detail brought my website and branding to the next level. Anthony is that rare consultant who is able to see a project through from its highest-level strategy all the way down to the nuts and bolts of smaller tasks. He has a great eye for UX, and you can tell he brings years of experience and insight to his solutions. A true craftsman.”
joshuaskaggs.com
“I can’t recommend Anthony highly enough. He’s professional, extremely knowledgeable, and thorough, and he brings real care and integrity to his work. He did an excellent job improving our business website and took the time to explain what he changed and why. I had complete confidence in him throughout the process. He’s someone you can trust to give honest advice, pay attention to the details, and take your business seriously.”
Hopkins Pro Services
We don't hand you a document and walk away.
A brand strategy that lives in a PDF changes nothing. So the meaning-making is followed by three things:
1. A plan to assess every brand touchpoint.
Every place your brand shows up, with every stakeholder who experiences it: staff, vendors, contractors, affiliates, customers, volunteers, and your wider audience.
2. A system to close the gap.
We help you make a repeatable, reliable system whereby you can take that rolling audit, find where the aspiration and the reality differ, and narrow the distance, again and again.
3. Support in cultivating the brand.
You don't need more to-dos. We help you with every aspect of assessing, repairing, and growing the brand. The workshop hands you the plan and the system. Brand Alignment is us running it with you, month after month.
What clients find.
Most clients are shocked by the audit. They had no idea how many versions of their logo exist, how many voices, conflicting values, and bits of legacy material are still out there, or how differently people inside the organization see the same brand. Internal documents often disagree with each other.
Then they're delighted by the workshop. It takes longer than expected and it's real work, so we make it good, with good food and drinks, good locations, and real breaks. Teams come away with discovery and coherence. In our experience they feel less stress, confusion, and resentment about their work, because problems that look technical often turn out to be relational or communication problems.
The right artist for your organization.
We don't have one house style that we apply to every client. Organizations are too different for one artist to be right for all of them. Once the real substance of your brand is clear, we find the artist whose work fits it. Artist and design costs are included in our proposals.
What you can count on.
- We'll do what's best for your business. If your logo is fine, we'll say so. We won't sell you work you don't need, or work that raises our profit without raising yours.
- You'll actually enjoy the process. The work is rigorous, and it doesn't have to be onerous.
- Plain-English reporting. Every report says what we found, what it means, and what to do next.
- You own what we make.
What we won't do.
- We won't hand you a document and disappear. The strategy always comes with a plan to assess your touchpoints and a system to close the gaps.
- We won't apply one house style to every client.
- We won't recommend a rebrand you don't need.
- We don't promise that a new brand will lift revenue on its own. We promise to do the work that gives it the best chance, and to show our reasoning.
For good people doing good work.
Nonprofits doing more with less
Many people carry your mission: staff, volunteers, donors, partners, and often years of inherited materials. Nonprofit branding works when all of them tell the same true story. We help you say who you are in one voice, and keep it that way.
Colorado Springs businesses that want a real partner
You want local, boutique help from someone who will sit across the table from you. Your brand is the story your customers repeat. We help you decide what it is and make sure it shows up the same way everywhere.
Values-driven businesses, anywhere in the U.S.
If you care how you treat your customers and your staff, your brand should prove it. We help you define your values and promises, then live up to them.
Want to know how your brand is actually seen?
If your organization is large enough or has an adequate footprint, we can add market research on brand recognition and brand sentiment. We assess whether it's viable for you first and give you honest guidance either way. It's an add-on, quoted separately.
Everything you need to know before starting
What is brand strategy, and how is it different from a logo?
A logo is how your brand looks. Brand strategy is what it means: your values, promises, culture, and personality, and how they show up in every interaction. We do the logo, colors, and typeface too, but only after the meaning is settled.
Do we need a brand strategy if we already have a logo?
Often yes, and often without a new logo. Many organizations have a logo and no shared answer to what the brand stands for. If your logo is working, we'll say so and leave it alone.
What is a brand audit, and what will it find?
We inventory the places your brand shows up, every version of your logo, voice, and message in circulation, and compare your internal documents with how people actually perceive you. Clients are usually surprised by how many versions of their brand exist and how differently people inside the organization describe it. You get a written report and a walkthrough call.
How does the workshop work?
It runs a minimum of two 3-hour sessions with the people who shape and carry your brand. We can come to your location, use one of our spaces in Colorado Springs, find a venue, or run it over Zoom. In person is better, and we're glad to travel.
How long does a brand strategy project take?
The workshop is a minimum of two 3-hour sessions. Total timelines depend on your team size and how much brand debt the audit turns up, so we give you a realistic estimate after the audit.
How much does brand strategy cost?
Starting prices: Brand Audit $2,900, Brand Strategy Workshop $5,300, Brand Alignment $900 a month, and Visual Identity $4,800. Final cost depends on team size and how much brand debt we find. Nonprofit pricing is available.
What is brand governance, and what does Brand Alignment do?
Brand governance is how an organization keeps its brand consistent as people, channels, and programs change. Brand Alignment is our version: a rolling audit of your touchpoints, a ranked list of the gaps between aspiration and reality, and steady work to close them.
Who designs our logo and visual identity?
An artist chosen for you, after the substance of your brand is settled. We don't apply one house style to every client. Artist and design costs are included in our proposals.
Can you research brand recognition and sentiment?
Sometimes. If your organization is large enough or has an adequate footprint, we can add market research on recognition and sentiment. We assess viability case by case and give you honest guidance either way. It's an add-on, quoted separately.
Do you offer nonprofit pricing?
Yes. Nonprofit pricing is available; ask when you book.
Do you work with organizations outside Colorado Springs?
Yes. We work with mission-driven organizations nationwide, and we're glad to travel for workshops or run them remotely.
Find out what your brand really looks like.
Book a Brand Audit and get a plain-English report on the gaps between who you say you are and what people experience, plus a walkthrough call. Not sure where to start? Book a free 30-minute discovery call instead.
