Let’s be honest: Most media agencies maintain their existence by creating desires you didn’t have to make you buy products you don’t need with money you haven’t earned to impress people you can’t stand. And hey, somebody’s got to do it. It just doesn’t have to be us.

Cleave is the counter agency: Counter structural, counter intuitive, counter cultural. Cleave is a word that describes an idea that refers to a reality that is itself contradictory. Cleave is a self-contained paradox, the only English word that means itself and its opposite. Our noun is a verb. Our name is our mission. We are what we do: We take things apart. We put things together. Cleave is a content development company and communications think tank. We make meaning full . . .

Cleave is ophthalmology for your mind’s eye. Cleave is a perspective. Cleave is a soft revolution. Cleave is the feeling of disappointment at your last big promotion. Cleave is the terror of walking down the wedding aisle. Cleave is the strange freedom you feel when you lose a loved one, or your house burns down, or you get fired from a great job.

Cleave deconstructs the world and reconstructs the word. Cleave is the suggestion that you really can live well by one hard truth. Cleave is about living in the same world but a different universe. Our clients serve the same customers we do. Our clients sometimes forget why they are in business. Cleave sometimes reminds them.

Cleave is a family trying to live sanely in an insane world. Cleave is the sneaking suspicion that maybe you really are wasting your life. Cleave is a definition of wealth that you’ve never experienced but always wondered about. In an economy that simply asks how, Cleave is asking why. Cleave is the splinter in your mind, the itch you can’t scratch, the incessant little buzz reminding you that this, even this, is not salvation.

Cleave is full of contradictions, all of which are true. Cleave is not about demographics, psychographics, or infographics. Cleave is not a brand, a logo, or a tagline. Cleave is a word that describes an idea that refers to a reality. The reality is this: You should not live your life in vain.