Strategic brand leadership meets insightful, inciteful creative.
Get the vision to know where your brand should go and the creative chops to get it there.
Trusted by
Great work requires a specific type of leader.
One who understands brand deeply enough to protect it —
and has the creative pedigree to push it somewhere worth going.
The best creative I’ve ever seen wasn’t a creative idea. It was a brand truth, told beautifully — by someone who understood both well enough to protect each one.
A unicorn? Not at all. I’ve spent my career being exactly that person.
What I can do for you:
Narrative Alignment
When your messaging has drifted, your team is telling three different stories, or your brand has outgrown its positioning — this is where we start.
Brand & Campaign Architecture
Strategy that doesn't just sit in a deck. Cohesive campaigns and brand systems built to perform across every channel and audience.
Creative Development
Big ideas executed all the way through. From concept to campaign, with the kind of creative that moves people — and the metrics that prove it.
Full-time or Fractional Strategic Brand Leadership
For organizations ready to think bigger and move faster.
I’m open to the right full-time position, embedded as a senior brand and creative lead or your go-to in helping your brand achieve a critical transformation.
Clear brand strategy. Powerful narratives. Full-funnel creative impact.
Brand strategy and creative development across national B2B companies, nonprofits and consumer brands.
Explore all case studies →
When brand momentum stalls,
it usually looks like this:
Messaging has become fragmented across teams or channels
A strong product isn’t translating into market momentum
Marketing feels busy but not effective
The brand story has outgrown the positioning
New products or audiences require a clearer narrative
Creative looks great, but it’s not performing
Meet Kat, AKA Katalyst.
I'm Kat Downend — strategic brand leader and creative director. I work with organizations that need both: the vision to know where a brand should go and the creative chops to get it there.
My work spans global blue-chip brands — Pepsi, Home Depot, Clorox, SMART Technology — built inside national ad agencies alongside executive teams navigating real growth and transformation.
When I'm not building brands and campaigns, I'm usually chasing the next big idea or a tiny, furry tornado named Jazz.
-
Kat got us up to speed quickly with branding and positioning strategy. We're now distributing and growing, and a lot of that success comes down to her setting us on the right track from day one."
Charles Eazer, Tturnaround Consultant Specializing in Small Business
-
Katalyst has been instrumental in developing our new brand positioning. The work takes our brand to the next level.
Sherry Thermon, Account Manager
-
There's simply no better storyteller.
James Wall, Nonprofit Marketing Communications Leader
View case studies and the work: B2C, B2B, nonprofits and beyond
Prepare for impact.
Email kat@adkatalyst.com or call 770-887-5504.