The Challenge
KLH Capital was built by its founders, but the founders were no longer running the business. A new leadership team had taken the reins with a clear point of view on the firm’s strategy, focus, and approach. The existing brand reflected where KLH had been. It didn’t reflect where James and Will, the incoming Managing Partners, intended to take it.
The brand challenge was also a communications challenge. A PE firm speaks to three audiences that require very different things: LPs evaluating where to allocate capital, acquisition targets considering whether to partner with a sponsor, and potential employees deciding where to build a career. Each audience needed to hear a coherent story, and the existing identity wasn’t telling it.
The Solution
CSBG worked closely with James and Will to understand their vision for the firm: how they thought about value creation, what kind of partner they wanted to be to the businesses they backed, and how KLH differentiated itself in a crowded lower middle market.
From that foundation, we built the full brand platform: a new visual identity, messaging framework, website, pitch materials, and marketing tools, all calibrated to work across the three distinct audiences KLH needed to reach. The LP pitch materials made the investment thesis clear and credible. The acquisition-facing materials positioned KLH as the kind of partner a founder or operator would want beside them. The overall identity gave the firm the presence to compete for the talent and deals it was targeting.
What We Delivered
Foundation
Stakeholder interviews
Leadership alignment sessions
Identity
Visual identity
Logo development
Messaging platform
Launch
Website
Branded collateral
LP pitch materials
Acquisition marketing materials
Brand intro deck
Result
KLH Capital launched with a brand that reflected the leadership team now running the firm and positioned them credibly to each of the audiences that matter most in private equity. The new identity gave James and Will the tools to tell their story consistently across LP meetings, deal conversations, and recruiting, from a single, coherent platform.
“The team at CS Brand Group really stepped up to be the partner we needed to update our brand. It is exciting to see our vision come to life.”
James Darnell
Managing Partner, KLH Capital