Brand enthusiasts aren’t just customers. They’re discerning buyers who feel compelled to express their values, look for substance, and do their homework on purchases and relationships. And once they find brands they love, they become loyalists—and ambassadors.
Saltworks is a branding and experience design firm where enthusiast brands find their following.
Since 1995, Saltworks has provided brand positioning, growth marketing, and experience design solutions that target high consideration and high emotion customers. We’ve helped brands acquire and retain market share in industries ranging from—aviation and boating to outdoor, music, consumer electronics, adventure + educational travel, sporting goods, medical products + services, private + higher education, pharma and financial services.
Featured Work
Services
Saltworks helps you build relationships with enthusiast customers, by connecting your brand to their personal sense of self, leading to increased customer acquisition and lifetime value, to drive sustainable growth.
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CUSTOMER EMPATHY
Enthusiast customers are searching for brands they can believe in.
- Ethnographic Research
- Segmentation
- Personas
- Journey Mapping
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BRAND STRATEGY
Your brand must reveal and articulate the spine of your enthusiast story.
- Brand Positioning
- Messaging
- Visual Expression
- Identity Design
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OFFER DEVELOPMENT
Enthusiast customers have deeper emotional needs and more complicated rational needs that you need to meet.
- Value Proposition
- Product Development
- Service Design
- Go-to-Market Strategy
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EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Enthusiast customers are looking for an experience that makes a strong first impression and rewards lifelong loyalty.
- Website Design
- App Design
- Marketing Communications
- Customer Experiences
Leadership Team
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Paul CalderaBrand Integration; Cofounder
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Doreen CalderaBrand Design; Cofounder
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Christine BaileyBrand Build
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Carlos AlcalaBrand Interactive
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Drake PuseyBrand Ecosystems
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Katie KaratzasBrand Experience
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Paul Caldera
For the past two decades, Paul has helped leading companies in a wide range of enthusiast industries develop strategic design and integrated brand communication programs. In all cases, his work has had a positive and measurable impact on his clients’ business performance. Tennis, running, Red Sox enthusiast [email protected]
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Doreen Caldera
As creative director and enthusiast-branding expert, Doreen works in close collaboration with brand partners to develop targeted branding and identity solutions that motivate enthusiasts to take action. Her work has been consistently recognized in national and international design publications including Graphis, Communication Arts, Print and HOW. Dark Chocolate, urban dwelling + dog enthusiast [email protected]
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Christine Bailey
Christine brings a unique blend of design, production and client service skills and expertise to her role at Saltworks. Her brand-building portfolio spans a broad range of enthusiast organizations that include the Phoenix Coyotes Hockey Club, Backroads Active Travel, Boyd Gaming and Ballet Arizona. Running, yoga, Charity Miles enthusiast [email protected]
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Carlos Alcala
Carlos has more than 25 years of experience developing integrated branding, interactive, and social programs for enthusiast audiences. He works closely with project teams throughout the different phases of each engagement to ensure that design, content and technical development align with both client and user goals. Wine, music, travel enthusiast [email protected]
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Drake Pusey
Drake enables brands to achieve sustainable differentiation by proactively empowering customers. By developing strategic alignment between brand, customer experience, and product development, he can turn what is often a zero-sum game (A or B) into a win-win situation (A and B). Bushido, exploration, and wildlife enthusiast [email protected]
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Katie Karatzas
Katie has a strong foundation anchored in ethnographic research and product innovation. Her superpowers include the ability to translate data from qualitative research into effective tools for design and sift through complex information to quickly present a clear and concise point of view. Gardening, cooking and painting enthusiast [email protected]