Boulder-based marketer teams with Vermont-based agency

BOULDER — We Ride at Dawn, a Boulder-based creative-content company specializing in outdoor, active lifestyles, has entered into a partnership with KSV, a marketing and advertising agency headquartered in Burlington, Vermont.

We Ride at Dawn’s client roster has included project-based work for brands such as Puma, Schwinn, Mongoose bikes, Espro, American Kitchen, Whoop, and Cervelo. 

“If you love something, you stand up for it. You guard it. You keep it from harm. People protect what they love. If you love the Earth, you will do right by it,” said Nick Bruskewitz, who founded We Ride at Dawn in 1977. “So, let’s help more people fall in love with the outside world.”

KSV, established in 1977, is a women-owned, certified B corporation directed by partner and chief executive Erin Fagnant. It has worked with entities such as the American Forest Foundation and Hunger Free VT. 

Fagnant described the relationship with We Ride at Dawn as a “joint venture.”

“It’s not an acquisition,” she said. “We’ll still operate independently, but KSV will have management oversight.”

“Our working relationship has been unique from the beginning because I’ve continued to work at my studio and also working with KSV,” Bruskewitz said. “We just decided it was a natural fit to combine our efforts and narrow kSV’s focus and help grow the We Ride at Dawn side of things.”

Bruskewitz had worked with Kevin Willard years ago at the FCB agency in Chicago. “We reconnected after he made the move to KSV and took over as part ownership with Erin,” Bruskewitz said. 

“So when we were looking for partners,” Fagnant added, “Nick’s name popped up. I met Nick and we collaborated on a project for the American Forest Foundation. We really hit it off on that project, and saw the opportunity to bring our worlds together.”

“KSV started to focus more and more on sustainability in recent years,” she said. “Sustainability is mainstream now, no longer a product in a specific aisle in a grocery store.”

In a media release, Fagnant said, “Our sustainability expertise will bring added strength to WRAD clients who are expanding into this space including e-bikes. We are also hoping this partnership is going to help us get back to our roots a bit. We have deep experience in the ski industry. … The ski industry is one that is, of course, under threat of climate change, so it’s about bringing all of our worlds together.”

According to the release, the partnership will “create more opportunity for outdoor and purpose-driven brands looking to make an immediate and positive impact on the world around them.”

This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2022 BizWest Media LLC.

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