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Prairie AgPrairie Ag
A new name for a 30-year dealer, without losing a customer’s trust.
Brand / Agricultural equipment dealer / Western Canada / 2022
Branding agency in Toronto
Culture Cartel is a Toronto branding agency that builds positioning, names, identities and brand systems for startups through to multinationals. Founder Jarryd McDonald leads the strategy himself, and the same senior team designs the identity and rolls it out across every sign, site and sales tool.
Brands we have worked with
- Prairie Ag
- Smith Power Equipment
- Argo
- Potenza
- Kubota
- Polaris
- Club Car
- The Toro Company
- CLAAS
- JCB
- BOMAG
- Monster Energy
- CMO Council
A brand is a decision, then a design
A logo cannot fix a business that has not decided who it is for. So we do the hard part first. Positioning comes before typefaces, and it gets signed off in plain words before a single mark is drawn. Then the identity has a job to do, and everyone can judge it against that job instead of personal taste.
The work, in order
Strategy. Market, competitors, buyers, and the gap you can credibly own. For Argo, a fintech backed by the Sprott Family and Peter Grosskopf, the brand had to signal institutional trust without looking like a bank.
Naming. Sometimes the name is the problem. Prairie Ag replaced Tingley’s Harvest Centre, a name with 30 years of equity in Alberta and Saskatchewan. We ran naming, trademarks and registration, then rolled the new identity across signage, vehicles, digital and merch in one synchronised switch, so farmers never lost track of who they were dealing with.
Identity and system. Mark, colour, type, voice and the rules that hold them together. For Potenza, a cycling brand that did not exist before we built it, one design language had to work on a carbon frame, a kit, a store and a phone screen.
Portfolio architecture. Bigger businesses need brands that work together. At Smith Power Equipment we built marketing roadmaps for 19 brands across six countries, held together by one set of standards.
Why founder-led matters here
Branding goes wrong in translation. A strategist hands to a designer, who hands to a studio, and the idea thins out at every step. At Culture Cartel the person who leads the positioning workshop is the person who reviews the final files. Fewer handoffs, fewer diluted ideas.
In the words of Arjan Mulder, Managing Director of Smith Power Equipment: “They brought clarity, structure, and momentum at a level that genuinely changed the trajectory of the company.”
What happens after launch
An identity only earns its keep in use. We plan the rollout as carefully as the design, and we stay close for the first months to catch drift. When the new brand needs a home online, the Website Sprint picks it up. When it needs a campaign, creative direction takes over. And when the bigger question is who runs marketing, see fractional CMO.
Not sure where to start? Book a Brand Audit.
How it runs
The process.
- 01
Brand Audit
2 weeks
A senior read on where the brand stands, what it is costing you, and the three moves that matter most. Presented live.
- 02
Positioning
2 to 3 weeks
Who you are for, what you stand for, and why a buyer should choose you over the obvious alternative. Agreed in writing before any design begins.
- 03
Identity
3 to 5 weeks
Name if needed, mark, type, colour, voice and the system that ties them together, tested on real applications.
- 04
Rollout
4 to 8 weeks
Guidelines, templates, signage, website and sales tools, sequenced so the switch lands everywhere at once.
Questions
Asked and
answered.
Do we need a full rebrand or a refresh?
Often a refresh. If the name and core equity still work, we sharpen the positioning and tighten the system rather than start again. The Brand Audit exists to answer exactly this question before you spend money.
How long does a rebrand take?
Positioning and identity usually take eight to ten weeks. Rollout depends on how many touchpoints you have. A dealer with signage across two provinces takes longer than a startup with a website.
What does branding cost in Toronto?
Scoped to the size of the job. The Brand Audit is fixed in scope and the clearest way to start. Everything after it is quoted against an agreed brief, with pricing on inquiry.
Can you handle naming and trademarks?
Yes. For Prairie Ag we led naming strategy, copyright and trademark registrations and business registration as part of the rebrand from Tingley’s Harvest Centre.
Will we be able to run the brand ourselves afterwards?
That is the point. You get guidelines, templates and a rollout plan your team can use. Some clients keep us on to run brand marketing, but nobody is locked in.