Founder & CD at White Bear 🐻‍❄️ | Top 22 Female Founder 2022 ⚡️| Small Agency of the year 2022 🥇| CP Top 5 Agencies in UK ✏️ | Speaker and Host 🎤 | 16x Award winner 2022 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

Kelly Mackenzie is a two-time founder, creative director, and unapologetic brand obsessive. She leads White Bear, the award-winning creative agency with studios in London, Dublin, and South America, recognised as Agency of the Year 2022 and winner of multiple DBA, Transform, Pent, Mobius, IDI, Creativepool, and Red Dot awards for work with brands like Red Bull, Netflix, Bold Bean, Tom Parker Creamery, and The Kerry Group.

She’s also the founder of People Like Me – a growing community for women in marketing to make real, meaningful connections in person, cutting through the algorithm and digital noise to create friendships, share challenges, and help each other shine.

Named one of Startup Magazine’s Top 22 Women of 2022 and a Creativepool Leader of 2023, Kelly is passionate about design thinking, education, and championing women in leadership. She has lectured at IADT and NUA, served on the board of The Big Idea, and mentored start-ups with Bethnal Green Ventures, Enterprise Nation, and SeedLegals.

Her philosophy? Build unforgettable brands, disrupt industries, and make people feel something – and have the craic while doing it.

Learn more at 
http://www.whitebearstudio.com
http://www.peoplelikeme.io


Subscribe to our newsletter at: https://mailchi.mp/whitebearstudio/newsletter
Or contact me directly at kelly@whitebearstudio.com

Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️

Your brand problem is not the same as your branding problem. 

They might sound similar, but they're not. 

Shout out to Jo Bird ✨ for this carousel, it breaks this idea down perfectly!

I spend a lot of my time speaking to founders who are looking for a full rebrand.

But once we sit and look at where the faults are,
it's immediately clear their branding isn't the issue.

While brand and branding get bundled together all the time.
They're not the same thing.

And it's often where founders spend hundreds on solving the wrong problem. 

This is what you need to know about the two: 

Brand is who you are.
Branding is how you express it.

Brand is your positioning.
Branding is your identity system.

Brand lives in people’s minds.
Branding lives in your assets.

Brand is the decisions you make.
Branding is how those decisions show up visually and verbally.

If you're still not sure exactly which you're struggling with,
here's what to look out for ↴

You probably have a brand problem if:

1. Your sales and leadership team can’t describe the business the same way.
2. Your proposition keeps expanding to please everyone.
3. You’re attracting the wrong type of client.
4. Internal debates keep circling back to “what are we actually trying to be?”

You probably have a branding problem if:

1. Your visuals don’t reflect your level of ambition.
2. Your tone feels inconsistent across channels.
3. Your website feels disconnected from your pitch.
4. You’ve evolved, but your identity hasn’t.

While it might all sound simple, you need to be 100% clear on which problem you're looking to solve before you put the time and money behind it. 

Because they require very different work and efforts. 

And you don't want to polish surfaces of shaky grounds. 

♻️ Repost to help support your network
➕ Follow me, Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️ for more

Kelly ‍️

Brand vs Branding

The fastest way to lose someone's respect isn't being wrong.

It's wasting their time and acting like it doesn't matter.

I've sat through countless meetings where people were there physically but clearly somewhere else mentally.

It's saying: "This dinner with friends matters less to me than whatever's in my inbox."

When someone gives you their time, they're making a choice.

They chose you instead of being with their family or finishing another project.

How you honour that choice shapes everything that comes next.

These are 5 ways to show someone their time actually mattered:

1. Put your phone face down before they arrive
→ This shows them that you care about the conversation.

2. Ask what would make this time useful for them
→ Show them you care enough to let them shape the agenda.

3. Remember what they have told you in the past
→ Nothing says "you matter" like proof you were listening.

4. Wrap early if the conversation's done
→ Stretching a 20-minute chat to fill an hour just wastes their time.

5. Do what you said you'd do
→ Follow through without reminders to help build the trust.

I'm not alwasy great at this myself, I find it so hard to focus...

In the past I've treated meetings like transactions.

I didn't realise the impact until I saw someone else do it to me and felt how it landed.

Now I'm more careful because people who make time when they're stretched are worth keeping.

♻️ Repost to help support your network
➕ Follow me, Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️ for more

I studied 4 of the worst rebrands:

These are all the bad practices that I noticed ↴

Every brand change gets backlash.

That's just part of the journey.

People don't like change. 

But I've watched and delivered enough rebrands over the years to know that not all backlash is the same.

Sometimes people resist change because it's new and uncomfortable and they need time to adjust.

Other times, people reject what's happened because something they cared about has actually disappeared.

That's one of the hardest pieces of feedback a brand needs to deal with.

Here's what I've noticed after watching the 4 worst rebrands unfold:

1️⃣ HBO Max → Max

HBO has always wanted to appeal to a broarder audience. 

But when they dropped the one word that signalled premium, they lost of customers.

Nobody was willing to pay more for a service they didn't associate with exclusivity.

Your strongest asset is having a name that people recognise.

Don't throw away your equity. 

2️⃣ Twitter → X

Elon Musk deleted the vocabulary people had built around the product for nearly two decades.

The brand that was related to the word "Tweet" disappeared overnight.

There was no longer a term to solidify X's position as a leader in the market. 

Always think about how your audience talks about your brand and use it to your advantage.

3️⃣ Jaguar (2024/25)

I firstly want to say I absolutely loved their original leaping cat logo...

It was instantly recognised across 60 years of automotive history.

They have now stripped the one thing making their brand unique by jumping on the minimalistic logos trend. 

I get that they wanted a new audience but they went to far. 

Don't distroy your legacy.


4️⃣ Cracker Barrel

"Uncle Herschel" had been on the logo since the opening of the store. 

Honestly, most customers didn't consciously notice him until he vanished from the branding.

Always test core design changes before applying them to your brand.

The pattern across all four brands: deletion > replacement.

They removed the distinctiveness of their brand before creating a new lasting connection with their audience.

That's asking your audience to forget everything and start over.

And most people won't just continue trusting your brand the same way immediately.

With over a decade building brands at White Bear, 
and a decade before that some of the biggest agencies in the world,
I've learned that evolution works when it understands what people value.

Change feels like growth when it builds on what came before.

♻️ Repost to help support your network
➕ Follow me, Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️ for more

World's Worst Rebrands

Doing everything yourself doesn't prove you're committed.

It proves you haven't learned to trust anyone yet.

I've noticed a pattern with every project I've ever done:

When I'm working solo everything takes 2x as long as it should.

I'm carrying everything myself and it's exhausting.

But the second I bring someone else in (that I trust) things start happening.

Once you trust each other that movement becomes real progress. 

There's a clear difference between working alone, working together, and actually trusting the people around you.

And each of the 6 levels unlocks something different:

1️⃣ Alone means full control but half the speed
→ You make every call but you're also the bottleneck for every decision.

2️⃣ Together means ground gets covered faster
→ Two people can spot what the other misses.

3️⃣ Trust means you stop second-guessing every step
→ When you trust someone their judgement becomes as good as yours.

4️⃣ Trust lets you divide the work and multiply the output
→ You're not managing them you're building alongside them.

5️⃣ Speed comes from working together and results come from trusting your team
→ One gets you going the other gets you there.

6️⃣ The more you trust the faster things work
→ Waiting to see if someone proves themselves just delays everything.

I spent the first five years of White Bear building it completely on my own,
because I thought that's what serious founders did.

It worked, to an extent, but everything moved at half the pace it could have.

When I brought my husband, David Endersen in as MD and as a partner the real shift happened and I stopped over thinking.

That's when I realised I was the one holding everything back by refusing to let go.

AND THEN, I saw proof of this once again bringing in Steven Mzar and Ben Parish as ACD's. 
(insert the magic sprinkles).

Trust changes what you perceive as actually possible.

♻️ Repost to help support your network
➕ Follow me, Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️ for more

Leadership is a superpower.

Learn it and you can achieve just about anything.

Since starting White Bear, I've put a lot of thought into my leadership style. 

And I've got it wrong A LOT! But I've learnt and every day I'm learning more. 

And something I learned almost immediately was there was 2 paths I could take:

1/ Become a leader because I have the right title.

Or 

2/ Become a leader a team would actually choose to follow.

The difference between these two is found in how you show up,
AND how people feel when they're working with you.

These are the 5 levels of becoming a more impactful leader:

1️⃣ Role
↳ People follow you because it’s their job to. 
↳ You have authority on paper, but very little trust yet.

2️⃣ Safety
↳ Once your team feels safe (respected, heard, human), 
they follow you more closely. 

3️⃣ Impact
↳ This is where your team sees and feels your impact. 
↳ Works moving forward, better decisions are made, there's real momentum. 
↳ Now people want to follow you because you make things better. 

4️⃣ Care
↳ This shows up a few ways, when you invest in your team, you back them, you challenge them. 
↳ This is where they follow you because they believe you will make them better. 

5️⃣ Trust
↳ Now your team knows you, and sees your consistency. 
↳ Now they follow you because of who you are and what you represent.

Most leaders get stuck at Level 1 or 2, and let their ego get in the way. 

But if you're leading a team right now, ask yourself: 
↳ Which level do I want to be at?

The gap between 1 and 5 is where the real work lives.

Leadership isn't about just a position or performance.

It's about how you treat people when things go wrong, and when no one else is in the room.

By building this trust, more people will follow you, because they actually want to.

♻️ Repost to help support your network
➕ Follow me, Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️ for more

If you want better conversations, change the environment.

People respond to context, not instruction.

Last night People Like Me hosted 24 women for a cook-along with a Michelin-starred chef!

But it wasn’t positioned as just another “networking” event...

There were no job titles on our name badges, no panels, or awkward circling of the room.

Just a small group of women who are into brand and marketing cooking together.

And almost immediately, the tone changed!

No one was leading with their job role.
Or subtly scanning for who might be “useful.”
Or trying to sell a polished elevator pitch.

Because when your hands are busy and you’re working on something together, you stop that usual networking performance.

That's where the conversations move naturally from surface to substance.

From “What do you do?”
To “What are you figuring out at the moment? I’ve been navigating that too.”

I started People Like Me because I was tired of rooms that reward polish over honesty.

Because behaviour follows design:

If you want depth
↳ Design for shared experience.

If you want honesty
↳ Remove the stage.

If you want connection
↳ Give people something real to do together.

Cook, build, walk, create.

Because activities build the kind of relationships introductions rarely can.

So a massive thank you to every woman who came and made the room what it was.

To Chef Hazel for setting the tone so beautifully!

To Clarisse Fraisse Fraise and Ellie Harrop, who, without their amazing support there would be no community. 

AND, finally to Mission Kitchen who provided a beautiful place for us all to get messy.

These events are exactly what I hope networking can become. 

Next up: breakfast at Ozone Coffee on 27th March...

If you’re ready for conversations that actually go somewhere and you want to chat to women obsessed with brand and marketing, you’ll want to be there.

Details in the comments 👇

♻️ Repost to help someone find their people
➕ Follow Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️ for more on building brands, communities, and spaces where people don’t have to perform to belong

Calling all foodies in California next week!

We are officially on our way to Anaheim 🙌

Natural Products Expo West, we're coming for you...

For anyone who doesn't know it, this is the world's BIGGEST natural and conscious products event. 

Where thousands of the most interesting food and drink brands will all be under one roof.

So, for someone who obsesses over brand and packaging in this space, it's honestly some of the best few days of the year.

Because there is nothing like being surrounded by people who actually care about what they're building, and seeing how this space is continuing to evolve every year.

Now, me being me, I've already got a very serious list going for the trip beyond the expo floor.

(Let me tell you that WholeFoods and Erewhon are non-negotiable 😂)

But I'd also love to be pointed in the direction of any other recommendations you might have?!

And if you're heading to the event, old friends or new ones, DROP ME A MESSAGE!! 

Would love to grab a coffee and talk ☕️

Who's going to be there? 

➕ Follow me, Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️ for more

PreAction Limited

At PreAction, we understand the unique challenges energy brokers face. Lost revenue from failed contracts, frequent regulatory changes, customer complaints and supplier relations are just some of the hurdles that can significantly impact your bottom line.

Whether you’re a new broker looking to establish a solid foundation or an established broker aiming to optimise and grow, PreAction is your trusted partner. 

With a proven track record of supporting over 160 brokers, we’re here when needed to help you collect, protect, and thrive.

✅Lead multi-channel marketing strategies, integrating SEO, social media, email, and digital campaigns to drive visibility and high-quality leads.

✅Oversee brand positioning and content strategy, ensuring consistent messaging across internal teams and external communications.

✅Conduct market research and competitor analysis to inform targeted strategies for audience growth and market differentiation.

✅Manage and mentor cross-functional teams, aligning marketing efforts with business development and revenue objectives.

✅Craft persuasive content for digital platforms, blogs, email campaigns, and marketing materials, addressing key industry challenges.

✅Plan and execute corporate events, webinars, and partner collaborations, enhancing stakeholder engagement and new business opportunities.

✅Monitor and optimise campaign performance, using KPIs and analytics to ensure continuous improvement and ROI.

✅Collaborate with external vendors and agencies to deliver high-impact projects within timelines and budgets.

Head of Brand Development

Nami Creative

Nami Creative is a freelance marketing and creative consultancy offering tailored solutions in brand development, content strategy, graphic design, and copywriting. Originally born from a vibrant community-driven social media initiative "NAMI up North", Nami Creative now serves businesses and brands seeking strategic, impactful marketing services.

✅ Provide end-to-end marketing solutions, including content strategy, social media campaigns, and targeted digital marketing efforts tailored to meet clients' business objectives.

✅ Offer bespoke copywriting services across various mediums, crafting compelling website content, blogs, email marketing, and sales materials that drive engagement and conversion.

✅ Deliver professional graphic design projects, including visual assets for digital and print media, ensuring cohesive brand representation through Adobe Creative Suite and Canva.

✅ Consult on brand identity development, helping businesses uncover their unique voice and visual identity to stand out in competitive markets.

✅ Collaborate with businesses of all sizes, from startups to established brands, creating tailored strategies that elevate their presence and resonate with target audiences.

✅ Manage multiple client projects simultaneously, ensuring deadlines, budgets, and quality standards are consistently met.

✅ Leverage data-driven insights to refine marketing campaigns, continuously improving performance and client satisfaction.

✅ Facilitate creative workshops with clients, offering guidance on brand positioning, marketing innovation, and audience engagement strategies.

Founder

Energy Consultants Association

The Energy Consultants Association (ECA) was formed as a not for profit organisation to address the growing challenges and pressures faced by energy brokers across the UK. 

Established with the support of PreAction and now over 60 members, the ECA has become a driving force in the energy consultancy sector, providing a united voice and a clear pathway for brokers to thrive in a rapidly changing market. 

As the Marketing and Communications lead at the Energy Consultants Association (ECA) since its inception in January 2023, I have been instrumental in conceptualising and developing the brand from the ground up. 

✅Manage a membership of over 60 external stakeholders, including C-suite executives, fostering long-term relationships and driving member engagement and retention.

✅Lead strategic PR efforts, enhancing the association’s reputation and visibility through targeted external communications, press releases, and industry events.

✅Plan and facilitate webinars, conferences, and networking events to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing among members and industry leaders.

✅Drive new membership acquisition by developing targeted outreach strategies, custom proposals, and tailored engagement campaigns.

✅Oversee marketing initiatives, creating content for social media, blogs, and newsletters to communicate the association’s mission and amplify its reach.

✅Collaborate with internal teams and external partners to execute high-impact campaigns that support member businesses and advance organisational objectives.

✅Monitor and optimise marketing performance using data-driven insights, ensuring continuous improvement and measurable results.

Head of Marketing Communications

National World Plc

✅Built and managed strong relationships with business owners and corporate clients, offering tailored marketing consultations to drive growth and ROI.

✅Developed and sold bespoke marketing plans and campaigns, aligning strategies with client objectives and delivering measurable results.

✅Led new business development efforts, from initial client outreach and proposal creation to securing contracts and managing ongoing campaigns.

✅Planned and executed multi-channel marketing campaigns, including digital advertising, social media, and content marketing, customised for B2B audiences.

✅Provided data-driven insights through campaign performance analysis and reporting, ensuring continuous optimisation and client satisfaction.

✅Delivered workshops and one-on-one consultations, equipping clients with practical tools to improve their marketing strategies and enhance visibility.

Digital Consultant

The Electric Board

✅Developed and executed multi-channel marketing strategies, including digital campaigns, email marketing, and SEO-focused content, to drive lead generation and brand growth.

✅Created valuable content such as blogs, newsletters, and event materials aimed at UK businesses, helping them make informed decisions about commercial energy contracts.

✅Led content planning, ensuring messaging aligned with brand objectives and effectively communicated the benefits of energy savings to B2B audiences.

✅Managed external stakeholder relationships and collaborated with internal teams to deliver high-impact campaigns within deadlines and budgets.

✅Organised and promoted business-focused events and webinars, increasing client engagement and providing educational resources tailored to their needs.

✅Monitored campaign performance and provided actionable insights to optimise ongoing marketing efforts and improve ROI.

✅Enhanced brand visibility and trust through targeted PR efforts and consistent, data-driven messaging across digital platforms.

Digital Marketing & Communications Manager

Master Debonair

Master Debonair is an award-winning independent menswear retailer, recognised for our commitment to effortlessly stylish clothing and accessories for the modern British gentleman. We have been honoured with prestigious awards, including the "Menswear Independent Retailer of the Year 2019" by Drapers, a renowned international fashion institute.

✅Managed end-to-end content production, including organising product shoots, coordinating with models, and creating behind-the-scenes (BTS) video and short-form media.

✅Produced high-quality visual assets through photography, videography, and graphic design, enhancing product appeal and driving customer engagement.

✅Developed and executed multi-platform social media campaigns, boosting brand visibility and contributing to a 20% increase in sales.

✅Created compelling copy for product descriptions, blogs, and marketing collateral, ensuring consistent brand voice across channels.

✅Analysed audience behaviour and campaign performance to refine content strategies, maximising reach and conversion.

✅Collaborated closely with creative teams to deliver impactful campaigns on tight deadlines, balancing creativity with commercial goals._

Content Marketing Manager

Newcastle Building Society

Newcastle Building Society, the largest building society in the North East with the highest number of branches in the region, focused on our members' needs. We provided a wide range of mortgage, savings, and insurance products, accompanied by exceptional customer service. Additionally, through our division, Newcastle Financial Services Limited, we offered trusted financial advice to our valued clients.

✅Managed and nurtured long-term relationships with clients, offering tailored financial solutions across mortgages, savings, and insurance products to meet individual goals.

✅Spearheaded business development initiatives, identifying new client opportunities and delivering personalised consultations that drove customer acquisition and retention.

✅Led and trained junior advisors, providing mentorship and support to enhance team performance and service delivery.

✅Organised and facilitated customer-focused events, workshops, and consultations to strengthen engagement and promote product offerings.

✅Collaborated with internal teams to design and implement product strategies, ensuring alignment with customer needs and business objectives.

✅Partnered with the marketing team to produce engaging digital content for “Newtube,” boosting brand visibility and customer interaction.

Senior Customer Advisor

THE PRINT PROJECT (NORTH EAST) LIMITED

GNVQ 3 in Digital artwork for print, Pre-press and Digital Printing;
GNVQ 3 in printing and graphic communications - Desktop Publishing;
GNVQ 3 in printing and graphic communications - Problem Solving

✅Gained hands-on experience in a fast-paced print factory, mastering the end-to-end design and print production process.

✅Created high-quality marketing materials, including brochures, posters, and flyers, for a diverse range of clients.

✅Completed a GNVQ Level 5 in Graphic Communications, developing expertise in pre-press, desktop publishing, and digital printing.

✅Built a deep understanding of colour theory, typography, and layout design, applying this knowledge to meet client briefs.

✅Worked closely with clients to translate their visions into visually compelling designs, ensuring satisfaction with final outputs.

✅Managed multiple projects under tight deadlines, demonstrating strong time management and problem-solving skills.


www.printne.co.uk

Junior Graphic Designer

Helping People & Brands Make Waves Of Creative Impact | Founder of NAMI Creative | Head of Brand Development at PreAction | Proud Father

I'm good with ideas 💡

And I use them to help people and businesses make creative waves of impact in their industry. 

I dive deep into your brand's essence, uncovering its unique story and translate it into unforgettable content with a strategy to match.

Leveraging expertise in:

🔮 Brand Development
📸 Content Creation
🎨 Graphic Design
✍️ Copywriting
👤 Personal Branding

I help brands become more than just a drop in the ocean 🌊

Lessons I’ve learned along the way: 

- Be unapologetically you, always 
- Show gratitude daily to compound your success
- Don’t compare your journey to others

I ride the wave of life, building on successes and learning from failures. 

I’m a proud father of Roman & Eden.

My true driving force 💜

- I’m easy to get along with (Born and bred Geordie)
- I’m super open to new ideas and inspiration
- I’m a true campaigner for success

Ultimately, I just want to see everyone win 🏆 
 
I'm grateful for every plot twist and appreciate the people I meet along the way.

Always up for meeting new people for a chat, so let's connect and explore how we can make waves together! 

#GraphicDesign #ContentCreation #BrandDevelopment #DigitalMarketing #Copywriting #PersonalBranding #SocialMedia #midjourney

taplio

The Battle

Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️

Joe Wilson🏄‍♂️

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreKelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️'s LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️

Joe Wilson🏄‍♂️

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Kelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️'s LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreKelly Mackenzie 🐻‍❄️'s LinkedIn Performance