RevenueRelevance
Two things every organization needs. We drive both, because they are one system — and deliver the insights, strategy and execution to move markets and mindsets.
Toronto · Montreal · New York
The thesisThe thesis
Relevance
drives
revenue.
Revenue is a lagging indicator.
Relevance is a position — the degree to which an organization matters to the people whose decisions determine its future. It is visible in where they give their time, and confirmed in where they commit their money. Both are matters of record.
In a business the return is revenue. In an institution it is mandate, membership and the permission to act.
Converting one into the other is our discipline.
Engagements arrive as one or the other. They rarely stay in one lane, so neither do we.
Who we work with
Where standing is the asset.
Our clients hold a position that took time to build. A brand people trust, a mandate people recognise, an audience that grants attention on reputation alone. That position is an asset, and like any asset it can appreciate, sit idle, or quietly lose ground.
We are engaged when it needs to be defended, advanced, or made to work harder — by chief executives and boards, by cultural and civic leadership, by institutions and foundations, and by those holding public mandates and the stakeholder relationships that carry them.
The common condition is not size or sector. It is an organization with genuine standing that needs that standing to convert.
Breadth of delivery
StrategyExecution
We work with chief executives, boards and executive teams on questions that sit above any single function. From that vantage we set the strategy, design the architecture, build the internal capability to sustain it, and deliver the work — under a single hand.
Diagnose the root cause
We begin with the condition beneath the recognized issue.
A softening quarter, a programme not reaching the room it was built for, a membership whose next generation has yet to be brought in — each is the visible edge of a position that has moved. The issue you have identified is real; what produced it usually sits somewhere else. We move to the core of it quickly, then build — for the problem you brought us, and for the ones about to surface.
Locate the opportunity and define the architecture
Where the opening is, and what structure reaches it.
This decision governs everything downstream — whether the route runs through a partnership programme, a repositioning, a stakeholder campaign, a new commercial model, or a combination of them. We define it precisely enough to be taken into a boardroom and carried.
Reverse-engineer the strategy
We work backwards from the outcome rather than forwards from current activity.
The route is assembled from revenue strategy, marketing, communications, partnerships, stakeholder engagement and programming, in the order and proportion the problem requires.
Build the capability and deliver the work
We write the plan, then we deliver it.
Scope, timelines, deliverables, accountabilities and measures — and we build the internal capability to hold it once we step back.
Capabilities
Five disciplines, held under one hand.
An engagement draws on whichever the route requires, aligned to one outcome.
01
Growth & Commercial Strategy
- Sales and revenue strategy
- Partnerships and strategic alliances
- Sponsorship and activation strategy
- Contract negotiations
- Audience development
02
Brand, Marketing & Content
- Brand strategy and management
- Marketing and communications
- Content strategy
- Paid media strategy
- Influencer marketing
- Customer experience
03
Communications & Reputation
- Media relations
- Digital communications and social media
- Crisis and issues management
- Presentation and media training
- Corporate social responsibility
04
Stakeholder & Public Affairs
- Government relations and public affairs
- Stakeholder engagement
- Community relations
- Advocacy
05
Research, Insight & Planning
- Research and monitoring
- Advanced analytics
- Prospect intelligence
- Strategic planning and implementation
Selected work
A sense of the range.
Client names are withheld by default. We are happy to speak to specifics directly.
Prospect intelligence
An overlooked source of public record, turned into a pipeline
An institution with a strong platform and a thinning pipeline. We identified a high-value body of public information that had gone unused as a prospecting source, then built the instrument to work it — a ranked opportunity map scoring strategic value and revenue potential on separate axes, with outreach briefs naming the point of entry and the argument to lead with.
The return
Built in three days. A two-person function reaching at the pace of a multinational development team.
Sponsorship architecture
A season programme rebuilt end to end
Partnership revenue was being sold without a structure to hold it. We redesigned the programme — package tiers, price bands, benefit schedules — and built the contracting workflow that runs from qualification through signature, onboarding, fulfillment tracking and renewal.
The return
From no multi-year agreements to six contracted seasons and $13M in signed value — a third of annual revenue — within a single season.
Brand partnership
Two global brands, brought together and delivered in fourteen days
A hospitality brand wanted to extend its relationship with VIP guests past checkout. We identified the opportunity, designed the programme, secured a luxury global skincare house as founding partner and ran the relationship directly, developed every piece of guest and partner communication, coordinated fulfillment, then surveyed recipients and reported the result.
The return
Conceived, designed, partnered and delivered in fourteen days.
We move markets and mindsets.
Elisabeth D. Burks
Founder & CEO
Elisabeth Burks is engaged by chief executives, boards and institutional leadership at the point where growth and disruption meet and where relevance and revenue are required. She has held that brief for twenty-five years, on both sides of the table.
She was at Sony Music as the recorded music economy was restructured, and has since held executive roles in marketing, communications, revenue strategy and partnerships at Samsung Electronics America, McCarthy Tétrault, and the Toronto International Film Festival. She has been engaged by Fortune 100 companies, national institutions, and global cultural figures.
She holds an Executive MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and the Schulich School of Business, and a B.A. in Media and Cultural Studies from The New School. She leads a multidisciplinary team across North America. She is an author and a speaker, and, before either, a devoted mother.
Together, we are known.
If you are weighing a question of revenue or relevance — a challenge, an opportunity, or a matter that sits above any single function — start here.
Enquiries
Offices
Toronto, Ontario
Montreal, Quebec
New York, New York