The 4 Phases of Culture Brands

In 2024, it’s easy to forget that iconic brands—those that win by riding cultural waves and becoming deeply associated with new cultural aspirations—must look to cultural idea markets first. A cultural idea market comes from the collective consciousness; it’s an aspiration or belief that a culture can unite around and become excited about.

The best... See more

To systematically build iconic brands, companies must reinvent their marketing function. They must assemble cultural knowledge, rather than knowledge about individual consumers. They must strategize according to cultural branding principles, rather than apply the abstracted and present-tense mind-share model. And they must hire and train cultural a... See more

That's right. I keep going. Something in what you were just talking about reminded me of, you talked about how you're about cultural futurism now. Is that a recent shift or how did you find that place? And what does that mean in how you work?

It is and it isn't. We've always been doing our work like this, where it's always predictive. The whole ide... See more