Kara Redman in chair black and white photo

Brand strategy for the decisions you can't afford to get wrong.

Founder of Backroom-a brand strategy consultancy for leaders who can feel the problem.

KARA REDMAN

Award-winning brand strategist and founder of marketing agency, Backroom.

If a brand decision

is expensive, political, or hard to reverse, that's my game.

5.0 / 5

Working with Kara has allowed me to grow as a consultant and has given me insights into how to deliver excellent results.

Christine Osazuwa, Founder of Measure of Music

5.0 / 5

Our brand process was truly collaborative, and resulted in multiple design awards.

Jennifer Jericho, Director of Brand Marketing & Design at Barcoding, Inc.

Black and white photo of man posing on camera

As seen in…

What I Believe

Brands are racing to a homogenous middle.

The rise of AI, over-optimization, and obsession with competitors has created a sea of sameness that has stripped away the humanity that gives our businesses real market value. We’ve learned to build for algorithms instead of people and have lost touch with the heart and gut that makes a brand truly exceptional.

The answer doesn’t live in a better website, or new marketing collateral. It’s in the unglamorous work of understanding where you’re building something substantial, and where you’re reacting (just like everyone else). It’s in knowing your customer better than they know themselves, and making their lives better. It’s in knowing what you stand for, how that’s translated through your operations, and how to protect it.

Brand and performance are not mutually exclusive; brand drives performance, and is the single differentiating factor between category domination and chasing marketing metrics.

The future of our economy is human led brands. If you’re ready to build something that thrives under pressure, let’s do it.

Work With Me

Brand Strategy Engagements

For the full build: positioning, brand architecture, identity systems, M&A integration, go-to-market resets. This is the work my agency Backroom does. Engagements start with a Brand Pressure Index™ score and end with a strategy your team can actually execute.

Build the brand of your [customers'] dreams.

Brand Workshops

A focused, time-bound engagement designed to resolve critical brand decisions across your leadership team. A condensed version of our BPI™ offering in a single or multi-day format, in-person or virtual.

Speaking Engagements

Keynotes and executive talks on brand as a leadership lever, decision-making under pressure, and what breaks when companies scale faster than their story.

Brand Coaching

Ongoing, senior-level partnership for founders, CEOs, and CMOs navigating high-stakes brand decisions. This is for moments where judgment, clarity, and alignment matter more than deliverables.

I fix brand strategy when the stakes are high: product launch, M&A, growth, investor pressure, go-to-market strategy resets, fundraising, and leadership change.

Some of my clients you've probably never heard of, and others you keep in your pantry.

The common thread = brands led by visionary people who are hyper focused on customer value.

I fix brand strategy when the stakes are high: product launch, M&A, growth, investor pressure, go-to-market strategy resets, fundraising, and leadership change.

Some of my clients a probably never heard of, and others you keep in your pantry.

The common thread = brands led by visionary people who are hyper focused on customer value.

Press Mentions

Kara has grown her creative agency on the guiding principle of "don’t work with assholes."

Margaret Roth for Technical.ly

Kara has grown her creative agency on the guiding principle of "don’t work with assholes."

Margaret Roth for Technical.ly

Kara has grown her creative agency on the guiding principle of "don’t work with assholes."

Margaret Roth for Technical.ly

Elf woman in white dress raising hands by the river

My clients get acquired and build empires.

Get to know me