They hit it off quickly on a variety of fronts: both were working moms with young kids. Both had spent their spent their careers in marketing and branding, Katz largely in retail with companies like Banana Republic, GAP, and Juicy Couture, and Swenson primarily in tech. Both were very involved in their local communities – Mill Valley and Novato, respectively. And both had been energized by a recent realization that came with being a working mom: make it matter.
“If we’re going to be away from our kids, we want it to be meaningful,” says Katz, who was doing some marketing work for 10,000 Degrees at the same time that Swenson’s Kreativz, which she launched a decade ago, was the nonprofit’s agency of record. They agreed to team up, with Katz joining Kreativz as senior marketing strategist.
That work for 10,000 Degrees became a blueprint of sorts for Kreativz’s work ever since.
“We like working with social impact clients,” Katz says. “Companies and organizations that are doing some good for the world. It doesn’t have to be a nonprofit, but many of our clients are.”
Both women have deep experience in marketing, brand strategy, all aspects of nonprofit management, branding, communications, design and fundraising. They’ve recently worked with United Religions Initiative, a grassroots, interfaith, peace-building organization based in the Presidio in San Francisco.
The launching pad for Katz’s attraction to social impact marketing was her work for the GAP Foundation, where she drove the marketing efforts around the company’s support for women and underprivileged children.
“I really just enjoyed it so much that cause marketing became the draw for me,” she says. “I just couldn’t go back to straight retail marketing after that.”
With Kreativz, she’s found the perfect fit.
The 411: Kreativz is a brand strategy firm designing solutions for brand development and marketing, media communications. MORE INFO.