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When Your Brand Connects, Your Business Grows.

We turn who your company is into the reason the right people choose you, inside and out.

Brand strategy · Change communications · Fractional marketing leadership

Summer Hagens, founder of Authentically 23, smiling in a plum blazer
Summer Hagens, Founder

Most Businesses Feel It Before They Can Name It.

Your team describes the business five different ways.

Your website could belong to any of your competitors.

You're about to rebrand, merge or grow, and the foundation feels shaky.

The right customers aren't finding you, or aren't staying long.

higher profit in businesses whose teams are highly engaged. Each of these problems traces back to the same gap between who you are and how you show up. That's where we do our best work.

Not sure which one is yours? Take the 3-minute scorecard →
Summer Hagens, founder of Authentically 23, in a berry top against a lavender background
Meet Summer

Strategy with heart, from someone who's been there.

Summer Hagens has spent 20 years leading brand, communications and marketing for everyone from start-ups to multi-site companies. She has rebuilt brands, built marketing teams from scratch and guided companies through major change. Now she works alongside you to turn who you are into why people choose you, starting with your team.

Most rebrands are built behind closed doors and launched to employees. Summer builds yours with them, because the people who deliver your brand every day should help shape it.

16 acquisitions: Guided brand and culture integration from start to finish, keeping 90% of employees and 100% of clients.

750% more inbound leads: Led a B2B rebrand that grew inbound to 60% of new business.

Built from the ground up: Created marketing functions twice, including one that scaled across 20+ locations.

Read Summer's Story

No Competitor Can Copy Your DNA.

 

Just as 23 pairs of chromosomes make every person one of a kind, your business has a combination of purpose, values and lived experience that's yours alone. We don't hand you a new identity. We help you decode the one you already have, and build everything on it.

 

When you sound like everyone else, you end up competing on price.

What Changes When Everything Aligns.

You know exactly why you do what you do. You just haven't found the words to share it yet. Here's what happens when you do.

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For your customers

They Choose You for Who You Are.

750% more inbound leads.

After a rebrand that started with its own team, a B2B professional services firm grew inbound to 60% of its new business.

Read the story
For your team

The Right People Show Up, and Stay.

90% employee retention.

A growing healthcare services company brought 16 acquisitions together under one brand. Its people stayed, every client renewed, and some markets beat their sales targets by 50%.

Read the story
For you

Decisions Get Clearer.

Acquired. Relocated. Renamed.

A B2B safety labeling manufacturer changed owners, states and names all at once. We built its purpose, mission and values with the team, so everyone went to market telling the same story.

Read the story

From Unclear to Unmistakable.

Most clients start with Decode or Define. Begin with the step that fits, and build from there.

See All Services
DecodeBrand Diagnostic3 to 4 weeks

Know exactly where your brand stands, and what will make the biggest difference first.

DefineBrand Foundation6 to 10 weeks

Agree on who you are and who you're for, so every decision starts from the same place.

ExpressIdentity & LaunchAbout one quarter

Look, sound and feel like the brand your people are proud to recommend.

ActivateGo-to-Market Kit4 to 8 weeks

Step into the market with a brand that makes people feel something, and do something.

EvolveFractional Head of Brand & MarketingMonthly, 3-month start

Have a senior marketing leader in your corner, without the cost of a full-time hire.

When Your Business Changes · Change & Transition Communications

Change Is Personal. Keep Your People With You.

When you merge, acquire, bring in new leadership or go through a big transition, we help your team and your customers understand what's changing, why it matters, and where they belong in what comes next, so you keep the people who make your business work.

Summer has guided companies through 16 acquisitions, and she's been the employee on the other side of the announcement, twice.

Learn About Change Support
Before the announcementEveryone hears the news the right way, from the right people.
The first 100 daysQuestions get answered before rumors fill the gaps.
Bringing it togetherTwo cultures become one team with one story.
Brand Alignment Scorecard

Find Out Where Your Brand Is Losing Connection.

Fifteen questions, about three minutes. You'll see where your brand stands today and what to fix first.

Take the Scorecard
For Agencies

When a pitch, an RFP or a new client needs deeper strategy than your team has time for, we plug in as your strategy partner. You keep the client relationship.

Let's Partner

When You Touch the Heart, You Move the Mind.

You've put real heart into this business. Let's talk about where you are, what you're building and how to make sure people can feel it.

No pressure, no pitch. In 30 minutes, you'll leave with a clearer sense of what's holding your brand back and where to start, whether or not we work together.