The pattern I keep seeing
Four problems, one root cause
01.
02.
03.
04.
Stuck Projects
Stagnant Strategy
Unprepared for AI
Outdated Digital
There’s a project that needs to move forward — but no one on the team has the bandwidth or experience to take it on.
Next year’s marketing plan looks a lot like this year’s: a list of familiar to-do’s instead of a real, outside-in strategy with aligned investment.
AI is changing marketing faster than the team can adapt, and what’s needed is an operations model — not another tool.
The MarTech stack and digital capabilities are behind, and leadership is asking why marketing isn’t moving faster.
Marketing has the ideas. It doesn’t always have the bandwidth, the outside view, or the operating model to move at the speed of business needs.
How I help
Four ways in, one way of working
Each engagement is scoped to the problem in front of you — a fixed project, an ongoing retainer, or something in between.
Un-stick the Stuck Project
You know the project. It’s been sitting on someone’s to-do list for months, everyone agrees it matters, and no one has the bandwidth or skill set to move it forward. I step in, take ownership, and drive it from start to finish — so it finally gets DONE.
Typically scoped as a fixed-fee engagement.
Strategic Facilitation
Take your team past a repeat of last year’s marketing plan, as I facilitate your leadership team through a structured planning methodology that results in high-impact marketing plans, ready for executive presentations.
Typically scoped as a fixed-fee engagement.
AI Operating Models & Workflows
AI is everywhere, and yet it’s not embedded into workflows as often as it should be. I don‘t just hand over a framework and walk away — I roll up my sleeves, build the workflows with your team, and teach as we go, so adoption actually happens.
Retainer preferred for ongoing support relationship.
Digital Transformation
This is enterprise-scale work, requiring a longer engagement to fix the data integrity underneath your MarTech stack, build the change management plan your organization actually needs, and lead the full transformation. I’ve done this from the inside, at scale, at a multi-billion dollar organization, and I will bring that same rigor to yours.
Engagements are scoped to fit the need — whether that’s a fixed fee project or an ongoing retainer.
Getting Started
How it works
No black box. You’ll know the scope and plan before we start.
01
Intro Call
A conversation to diagnose the problem and the solution that would best fit the need.
02
Proposal
Clear scope, timeline, and structure — fixed fee, or retainer — whichever fits.
03
Engagement
Regular check-ins to ensure your value is real, or pivot as necessary.
Why it Works
A different kind of rigor
25 years of marketing leadership and transformation, paired with training most consultants don’t bring into the room.
01. DESIGN THINKING
Stanford-trained design thinking starts by reframing the problem — then solves it through fast, iterative, test-and-learn — instead of betting everything on one plan.
02. An artist’s eye + an engineer’s mindset
A working artist's instinct for structure and story, an engineer’s discipline with data — resulting in business storytelling that actually lands.
03. Facilitation that moves teams
An engaging approach to facilitation — teamwork, sketching, role play, mindfulness-based activities, and hands-on activities help a room stay engaged and active — not watching a slide deck.
04. The full marketer’s toolkit
Two decades overseeing every corner of the marketing function means knowing where the landmines are before anyone steps on them — and knowing the rulebook well enough to know exactly when it’s worth breaking.
About Kate
“CEOs call me to take on the growth problems that keep them up at night.”
25 years of marketing transformation.
Kate Paine sits at the intersection of marketing and business, turning marketing from a cost center into a measurable growth engine. Over twenty-five years, she’s led marketing transformation at organizations spanning Unilever / Ben & Jerry’s, The Hershey Company, Saint-Gobain, and Land O’Lakes.
She’s earned a reputation as a disruptor — someone who builds what doesn’t exist yet and fixes what’s broken, then leaves the work with strong, competent teams and moves on to the next challenge. Now she is bringing this energy to organizations as an independent partner, rather than just one company at a time.
She brings a rare combination to the table: trained in design thinking at Stanford, a background as a working artist, and a mindfulness-based approach that gets leadership teams unstuck faster than the usual consultant playbook. Add executive leadership across Fortune 500 enterprises, public sector, mid-market, and start-up environments, and you get someone who can walk into almost any room and quickly diagnose what’s actually stuck.
Beyond the work
“I bring the same energy to organizations as I do to rewiring a house or climbing a mountain. It’s about knowing where you’re headed, building the plan, and the tenacity to get there step-by-step.”
Builder
Rewired her own house top to bottom — which takes the same engineering mindset as building a complex digital ecosystem or marketing operation.
Trail Runner
Logs the miles, rain or shine, running up mountains with the same tenacity it takes to push a project across the finish line.
Gardener
Nurturing teams, talent — and tomatoes — creating the conditions for long-term, sustainable growth.
Artist
Illustrator and painter who believes working with our hands is an antidote to the online life. See work at painedesign.com