Around 18 months ago, I fell out of love. Or at least I thought I had.
No, not with my husband of (almost) 25 years. But with my other life partner of 22 years… my copywriting agency, Refresh Marketing (RM).
Now you might think this feeling is entirely understandable after doing the same schtick for over two decades. Things start to get stale for anyone after that length of time, whatever their job.
But my work life had been especially tough in the months leading up to that point. Things had been turbulent on the staffing front. The economy had taken a nosedive. And the big one – ChatGPT (and its counterparts) had burst onto the scene.
Back then, I did not believe AI was a genuine threat to quality copywriters like us. But admittedly, we did lose a handful of clients to the bot. Were they our favourite, most valued clients? Absolutely not. But at the same time, new clients weren’t exactly beating down our door like they used to. So, yeah. AI definitely had an impact.
Thankfully though, given that we shrunk our team size, RM stayed afloat easily. More than that, things felt stable. And, for a nice change, blissfully uneventful.
But still, RM and I had lost the passion in our relationship. Perhaps I was still recovering from all the turbulence of the previous year. But there was something else going on behind the scenes:
I kinda… met someone else.
I admit it, okay? I was swept up in a steamy affair with our newly launched sister business, Communication Skills Academy (CSA). But, after working on the same brand for 20+ years, can you really blame me? Starting afresh with CSA was intoxicating and exciting. Especially with how quickly and favourably the market responded.
So, have I been neglecting RM for the last 18 months? Admittedly, yes.
(That said, I do have a highly capable team helping me run the show now, so I was comforted in the knowledge that the agency was in very safe hands day-to-day.)
Deep down though, I still knew that to be successful, a business needs a strong and visionary leader. Not a distracted, ambivalent one. And so around five months ago, I came to a juncture I could no longer avoid: Do I let RM run its course and watch it die a slow death? Or do I find a way to fall back in love with it and become that visionary leader again?
So I called a snap meeting with the RM leadership team, with just one item on the agenda: If RM wants to survive – and thrive – in a world that looks and feels so different, what needs to change?
And the answer hit us like a ton of bricks.
We suddenly saw that we had already changed, but had been keeping it a secret.
You see, we’d become so much more than wordsmiths for our clients over recent years. We’re their trusted advisers. The team they call when they want to elevate and polish how they show up in the world. The ones who protect their brand voice and champion consistency across every touchpoint.
What’s more, we concluded that AI was still not a threat to our business.
Quite the opposite, in fact. Its rise is now the very reason our expertise and oversight have become so critical. Sure, the bots can write. But they can’t guarantee quality and precision. And they definitely can’t stop your brand from blending into a sea of generic AI slop. They just can’t.
So, although we’d already been playing the role of brand message and voice guardian for our clients for several years, it was time to tell the world
It was clear: our market positioning had to change. Our messaging had to change. And, unavoidably, our branding had to change. So that’s exactly what we’ve been busy doing for the last few months. And in the process, I began to rediscover the energy and excitement for RM that I thought I’d lost.
Today, as we relaunch our agency to the world, we’re crystal clear on who we’re here for and what we do best.
No more five-page websites. And no more one-off blog posts here and 2-page flyers there. Instead, we partner primarily with CMOs and their marketing and comms teams over the long term, across four key service streams:
- Website content strategy + copywriting: Large-scale web projects (30+ pages, multiple stakeholders)
- Publication copywriting + design: Annual reports, flagship magazines, impact statements and course guides
- Content marketing strategy + execution: Deep partnerships that elevate authority, backed by strategy
- Brand voice development + articulation: Defining and documenting a distinct voice so teams, agencies and AI all speak in sync
So, what do these service streams have in common?
They’re all high-value, high-stakes projects that shape how brands are seen. And critically, they all need so much more than good writing. They demand strategy, critical oversight and a deep, respectful partnership.
This isn’t a new business. It’s RM, reignited. And I friggin love it.
Take a tour of our new website – or if you want your brand message and voice to rise above the AI noise, get in touch.
