How We Work

A deliberate process.
No wasted motion.

There is no shortcut version of this work. Brand revival is a structured return to clarity — built in phases, grounded in an honest diagnosis, and designed to compound as the business scales rather than unravel under it.

See the Phases

Before We Begin

This is a partnership,
not a vendor relationship.

Pothos works closely with founders, executives, and internal teams. That means we need access — to the people who built the brand, to the data that reflects its current state, and to the decision-making authority that can act on what we find.

We don't operate at arm's length. The brands that get the most from this work are the ones willing to be honest about what's broken and committed enough to fix it.

If you're looking for a firm to hand things off to and check in with monthly, we're not the right fit. If you want a strategic partner embedded in the work — that's where we operate.

The Engagement

Four phases. No shortcuts.

01

Phase One

The Brand Neglect Audit

Weeks 1–3

Every engagement begins here. Before we prescribe anything, we diagnose everything. The audit is a structured clinical examination of where the brand has drifted — in strategy, in expression, and in the channels where customers encounter it. It produces two documents that govern everything that follows.

What we examine

  • Brand positioning & messaging
  • DTC & subscription performance
  • Retail presence & partner materials
  • Visual & asset consistency
  • Customer retention signals

What you receive

  • The Leakage Report (the diagnosis)
  • The Revival Roadmap (the treatment plan)
  • Quick-win priority matrix
  • Live executive readout session

The Revival Roadmap is the governing document for the 12–18 months that follow.

It is not a list of suggestions. It is a phased treatment plan — Triage & Stabilization, Narrative & Exclusivity, Retention Engine — with defined specialist deployments, measurable milestones, and resource requirements at each phase. Every subsequent engagement decision is made inside the framework the Roadmap establishes.

The audit can also stand alone for brands not yet ready for a full engagement. The Roadmap is always included.

02

Phase Two

Strategic Architecture

Weeks 4–8

With the audit complete, we rebuild from the foundation. This phase is about restoring the brand's core — its positioning, its voice, its reason for existing — so that every downstream decision has something solid to stand on.

Work product

  • Brand positioning statement
  • Voice & tone framework
  • Audience architecture
  • Competitive repositioning

Who's involved

  • Founder / CEO
  • Marketing leadership
  • Sales / retail team
  • Key creative partners
03

Phase Three

Channel & Subscription Alignment

Weeks 8–14

Strategy on paper doesn't move revenue. This phase translates the brand architecture into the two places it matters most: the customer retention engine and the channel ecosystem where the brand lives in the real world.

Subscription health

  • Churn diagnosis & intervention
  • LTV improvement priorities
  • Onboarding & lifecycle audit
  • Retention playbook

Channel balance

  • DTC brand expression audit
  • Retail partner standards
  • Channel narrative alignment
  • Asset governance framework
04

Phase Four

Ongoing Stewardship

Monthly / Ongoing

Brand clarity isn't a project with an end date — it's a practice. After the core engagement, Pothos can remain embedded as a fractional brand voice: reviewing decisions, pressure-testing new initiatives, and ensuring the brand doesn't drift again as the business grows.

Ongoing involvement

  • Monthly brand health reviews
  • New initiative brand review
  • Retailer expansion guidance
  • Leadership team alignment

Engagement model

  • Monthly retainer
  • Defined touchpoint cadence
  • Async availability for decisions
  • Quarterly strategic review

Mutual Expectations

What this work requires.

Access

We need access to your real numbers, your internal team, and the people who built this brand. Not the polished version — the honest one. Surface-level access produces surface-level results.

Decisiveness

Brand revival stalls when decisions get deferred. The companies we work with have leadership willing to hear hard things and act on them — not sit on a roadmap for six months.

Commitment

This is not a plug-and-play engagement. Getting a brand back to clarity takes time and organizational will. We bring the expertise — you bring the resolve to see it through.

At a Glance

Phase 01

Audit

Weeks 1–3

Phase 02

Architecture

Weeks 4–8

Phase 03

Alignment

Weeks 8–14

Phase 04

Stewardship

Ongoing

Timelines vary based on engagement scope and organizational readiness.

Ready to start

Every engagement
begins with the audit.

The Brand Neglect Audit is both a standalone deliverable and the first phase of every Pothos partnership. It's the fastest way to get a clear picture of where your brand stands — and what it will take to restore it.