Rebrands can often appear like just surface work, new colours, new logo, new vibe. Dulcedo’s transformation was never simply skin-deep. It was a two-year push, defined by passion, rigor, and a whole lot of human coordination, to turn a sharp intuition into a living system. That coordination spanned Dulcedo leadership and the full Locomotive team — design, development, QA, and strategy — each bringing their craft to the table.
This rebrand truly began with CEO Karim S. Leduc, who invested two years architecting the vision, building the brief, reviewing every detail, and, when it came down to it, hand-selecting the team. This wasn’t a solo act, but it was about finding the right partner. Karim built a close relationship with Locomotive’s Sébastien “Dust” Leblanc, along with Léa Démarest (Project Manager) and Simon Regniault (Director, Accounts & Business Strategy), to bring the vision to life through collaboration. While Dust is comfortable leading from the front, he’s adamant about the truth behind any project of this scale:
Web design at this level is an orchestrated effort. I have a part to play, but it only works when many specialists move in concert.
Human and thoughtful: what gives a rebrand its weight
Dust doesn’t talk about logos or typography first. He talks about authenticity.
Authenticity is the most important thing. A brand isn’t just a logo; it’s a complete universe. If the universe doesn’t speak to your core values, the visuals won’t save it.
For Dulcedo, that meant cutting through a fragmented mix of well-intentioned ideas and returning to the essence. The result is a toned-down black-and-white system with gold as a signature accent: calm, editorial, and confident, built to let talent and clients take the spotlight. It feels contemporary without chasing trends; it feels like Dulcedo.
Portfolio to product: “Build Your Cast”
One of the most distinctive features of Dulcedo’s new site reimagines how people interact with it. Instead of passively browsing talent profiles, Build Your Cast gives producers, brands, and creatives the ability to assemble a shortlist, much like a cart, and send it directly to a rep.
It’s elegantly simple and quietly radical for the category, shifting Dulcedo’s site from presentation to white-glove workflow. “We approached it like e-commerce,” Dust says. “You’re composing a project. We wanted to make that process intuitive and fast.”
Trust, Tempo, and the People Behind the Work
Successful projects rely on people who can keep it moving. On this one, Léa Démarest kept the multi-disciplinary teams aligned across dozens of moving parts and personalities; Simon Regniault ensured decisions tracked to strategy and business reality. And behind them, an extended and dedicated team of Locomotive designers, developers, and QA specialists, eager to turn ideas into working realities. Both were at the table for the interview, and even when the spotlight naturally gravitated toward Dust, he redirected it:
Léa managed the people side beautifully—when you have that many specialists, keeping tempo is everything. And Simon is the steady hand who makes sure momentum always serves the mandate.
For Dust, momentum became an important sentiment. Large-scale builds can often lose energy when timelines shift, ideas multiply, or priorities change. What preserves velocity is trust and the right team dynamic.
Velocity is not about rushing... it is about protecting momentum. You build it inside your team through trust, and you strengthen it with your client once they know you are carrying their vision.
Our founder’s vision, finally realized
It’s impossible to talk about this rebrand without acknowledging Karim S. Leduc’s role. His creativity and persistence shaped the mandate from the very beginning. With the vision set and the brief aligned, Locomotive had the space to do what they do best: translate ambition into design, strategy, and execution.
What the new Dulcedo signals about the future of agencies
For Dust, what sets Dulcedo’s rebrand apart is that it works as more than a showcase. The site is not just a portfolio of faces but a platform that lets users move from inspiration to action with tools like Build Your Cast. That kind of functionality, Dust believes, points to where the industry is moving.
His outlook on the future of agencies is pragmatic: move fast, protect momentum, and expand the craft beyond the screen.
Locomotive, for one, is leaning deeper into brand, strategy, and content, moving from one-off website launches to long-term relationships where the brand and product evolve in the market. That resonates with Dulcedo’s own trajectory, multi-vertical, media-minded, and creator-forward.
Advice for teams considering a rebrand
Dust’s counsel is refreshingly humble:
If you’re rebranding, bring in an outside perspective you respect. When it’s your own brand, you can sometimes get stuck in a loop of perfection and doubt. We know, because we’ve rebranded ourselves and quickly found that out. The right partner gives you the distance to finish.
The reveal
At the launch, the reaction said it all. The brand felt elevated, sleek, and most importantly, it felt true. To the work. To the people behind it. To where Dulcedo is going.
This wasn’t a reinvention; it was a sharpening. A decision to express who we are with discipline, warmth, and room to scale.
For the full story on our launch event, read Marking a New Era: Dulcedo’s Rebrand & Website Launch Event.
