For years we were known as Holdsworth Communications, previously offering communications, marketing, branding, and PR services for clients primarily in the education, healthcare, and public sectors.

However, we often found there were underlying challenges impacting an institution’s or organization’s brand that a slick marketing or PR campaign could not fix. From concerns about HR to a lack of metrics tracking to issues with budgeting and forecasting to insufficient enrollment management processes, our contracts were often extended to investigate, diagnose, and develop solutions for these challenges.

Based on the groundbreaking research of founder Dr. Amanda Holdsworth in the areas of organizational culture, employee engagement, onboarding, and strategy, we rebranded in late 2023 to Cultivate & Engage, recognizing that success is based on cultivating relationships and engaging stakeholders. Hence, Cultivate & Engage.

With the rebrand, we expanded and refined our services to provide what is needed by purpose-driven organizations. Although we still offer our signature strategic communications package, our work also dives deeper into uncovering issues, addressing challenges, solving problems, and creating programs, processes, and changes that positively impact organizational and financial goals.

The Process

As we’ve told clients about branding: it’s much more than a logo. We started the rebranding process in May 2023 and wrapped it up in December 2023. We had to give ourselves space to think, reflect, and dream, which meant slowing down on client work – it is very difficult to plan when you’re busy “doing.”

Working with our in-house team and contractors, we workshopped who we wanted to partner with, the types of projects we wanted to work on, and what we really valued. Simultaneously, we had Advocation Agency come in and audit our processes and operations, looking at our current offerings and potential opportunities.

From there, we hired Nadia Butterworth of after 8 Design Studio in South Africa. Although we focus much of our own work on brand storytelling, we needed to go to an outside design partner who could view things from a fresh perspective. Nadia also works with purpose-driven and ethical companies so she understands our brand ethos, and although we waited a few months to begin work with her (she is in high demand), it was well worth the wait. Over the course of two months, she dug deeper than we even expected, knocking it out of the park with our new design brand design and brand guide. Everything she does is purposeful – from customizing shapes of fonts to selecting hex codes, we have never known anyone to put so much thought and effort into every single aspect of a visual brand.

We wrapped everything up by working through Melissa Bolton’s Brand Strategy Course. Melissa, known as the Brand Therapist, has been on our radar since the early summer, and we’ve devoured everything she has put out. In June, our team members each completed Melissa’s free Brand Archetype quiz and then we took turns with the quiz for our Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA). We had our core brand values in place, but as we began to envision the types of clients we will continue to work with and those we’d love to work with, our goals shifted slightly. Going through Melissa’s course blew our minds, and we further refined our mission, vision, and brand purpose.

Patience Wins

We pride ourselves on getting up to speed on client accounts and working quickly. That being said, we know that to truly do branding the right way takes time, so we “packed our patience” and trusted our partners to do what they do best. In the end, everything about our brand is perfectly clear, making tactics such as designing social media posts, crafting emails, and updating pitch decks, much easier.

So, our advice: if you want to do a full rebrand the right way, know that it can’t be done in a month or even two months unless you have nothing else on your plate and you can get full stakeholder involvement immediately. We can promise that it’s worth the wait!