THE OPPORTUNITY

Workplace culture is having a moment. Organizations everywhere are waking up to the cost of toxic environments, poor leadership, and chronic incivility. For Civility Partners, that is not a trend. It has always been their mission.

Founded by Catherine Mattice, Civility Partners is a consulting and training firm that helps organizations build respectful, civil workplaces. Catherine is a four-time author, TEDx speaker, LinkedIn Top Voice, and one of the most recognized voices in organizational culture work.

THE GOAL

The original Civility Partners brand had served its purpose. But as Catherine’s platform grew and the firm took on larger, more sophisticated clients, the visual identity and website were no longer keeping pace with the credibility she had worked hard to build.

The immediate goal was clear: close that gap. Build a brand and a digital presence that matched the quality of the work, communicated authority without losing warmth, and gave the right audiences a clear reason to reach out.

They also needed a partner who could adapt as the business evolved, stepping in more fully when needed and pulling back when the time came — with the strategic depth of an agency, without the overhead that typically comes with one.

THE RESULTS

We started with the foundation: the Civility Partners brand.

Before any campaign runs or any content goes out, the business needs to look and sound like what it actually is. For Civility Partners, that meant building an identity worthy of the work they were already doing.

Brand Identity

In 2019, we rebuilt the Civility Partners brand from the ground up. The original identity centered on a handshake logo with a muted, safe palette that communicated goodwill, but not expertise.

The refreshed brand took a different position, leading with bold, saturated color and a mark built on braided geometric forms that speak to the firm’s core belief: that culture is the fabric of an organization. The result signals confidence and authority while staying human and approachable, which matters in a space where clients are often navigating real organizational pain.

Website Design & Development

That same year, we built civilitypartners.com. Every design and messaging decision was made with their target audience in mind: HR professionals and organizational leaders evaluating whether Civility Partners was the right firm to help them solve a very real problem.

The site was structured to answer that question quickly and move the right visitors toward a conversation.

Fractional Marketing Leadership

From 2020 to 2023, we served as their outsourced marketing department. We served as their fractional marketing team while they built one of their own. Strategic leadership and execution support stayed in place until they were ready to take it in house, and when that time came, we made sure the transition was a smooth one.

Speaker Website

When Catherine’s speaking work grew into a platform that deserved its own presence, we built catherinemattice.com. The site positioned her as the voice she had already become, with a design that matched her contagious energy and a structure built for the people hiring keynote speakers: clear, fast, and easy to act on.

Ongoing Support

As Civility Partners grew, they built out their internal team and took more of the marketing work in house. This meant our role shifted. Since 2023, we have maintained both websites, staying close enough to respond quickly without overreaching into work they no longer needed us to carry.

The numbers speak to what Civility Partners has built: nearly 300 clients served, a 96% workforce net promoter score, and a LinkedIn Learning catalog reaching more than three million learners globally. The brand and digital infrastructure we built together are part of that story.

What this partnership demonstrates most clearly is something many businesses wonder about when they consider working with us: whether the support can grow when they need more and scale back when they need less, and whether a marketing partner can stay calibrated to where a business actually is at every stage of its evolution.

Civility Partners went through multiple iterations over the course of this relationship. At every stage, the support Wayward Kind provided matched exactly what was needed. That kind of long-term partnership is what we are built for, and we are proud to have been part of every iteration of theirs.

“We’ve partnered with Jules and the Wayward Kind team for several years on our website and marketing strategy, and they’ve been exceptional. They took the time to truly understand our brand before creating a new logo and updating our website. The logo they produced was spot on! They’ve consistently delivered thoughtful, strategic, and creative work that reflects our identity. Their team is responsive, collaborative, organized, and incredibly talented. They communicate clearly, solve problems quickly, and are always mindful of our goals and budget. More than anything, Wayward Kind genuinely gets us, and that makes all the difference. Thank you to Jules and the entire team!”