Brand strategy for good

What a fucking shit show.
We’ve all been feed-beaten with the horror, the hubris, the hypocrisy, the bullshit.

So yes, take a beat to feel overwhelmed.
Take a beat to freak out.
Take a beat to mourn.

And then, let’s get to work.

Because brand strategy skills are skills that the world needs right now. And I know that might sound like biased bullshit, but having brought brand strategy into political, non-profit, movement and activist spaces for the past 15 years, I can say with absolute confidence that our skills are additive and needed.

Let’s talk about why…

At our best, brand strategists are trained to understand people and culture and turn that into action. This training doesn’t happen in those other spaces - some people intuitively get it, but it’s not a discipline in the way it is in brand strategy.

Here’s why that training is so important: politics, movements, change, action all are deeply intertwined with people and culture. Our skills of understanding, of motivating, of driving action in people and through culture are invaluable to these spaces.

And right now, they’re critical, because populist and fascist regimes are really fucking good at this stuff. And seeing that they seem to be everywhere these days, counter-strategies are critical.

Let’s go to the obvious example: Hitler. Hitler didn’t just give really good speeches or pass really intense laws or make some audacious military moves; he masterfully controlled culture.

His regime exploited new media (the 1933 “people’s receiver” program to get a radio in every home), told soaring stories (Triumph of the Will), created spectacle (Nuremberg rallies), defined community (compulsory Hitler Youth attendance for all young men), built temples of power (Berlin Olympics Stadium) and turned themselves into dashing characters right out of the comics (Hugo Boss-designed uniforms).

It was a vibe.
It was their story.
It gave the regime power.
And modern regimes pull many of the same levers.

Narrative, new media, experiential, community, architecture and merch… hell, this is what we do.

So get in there.
Get into politics, get into non-profits, get into the activist spaces.
Use your (extremely valuable) craft for something you believe in.

As you embark, I wanted to share some advice as someone who has made mistakes, had some successes and has learned a lot in bringing brand strategy into other spaces. Our skills and our processes are valuable, but they don’t just transfer one to one. It takes collaboration, listening, morphing to truly deploy what we do in these spaces powerfully.

Here are eight lessons that I hope are helpful to you:

Don’t assume your private sector cred means shit
Seriously. I could walk into the office of my governor, Josh Shapiro, today and say hey, I know you’re looking to run in 2028, I’m a fan, I’ve done all these amazing things in the world of brand… and my guess is that he’d be polite, but he’d show me to the door.

Successful political folks don’t tend to be impressed with brand world cred. It’s not disrespect, they just have their systems and ways of running campaigns that are different from ours and that have worked for them. Do I think we could add value? Absolutely. But it’s a difficult door to get through.

Non-profits tend to be more open to what we do and our experience. So if you’re looking to expand where your skills get applied, I’d say that’s an easier place to get involved.

Or…

Go find your Mamdani
If I were going to go the campaign/politician route, I would go find a relatively unknown local candidate that I believe in and try to orchestrate a Mamdani versus banging my head against the Shapiro door.

Because as a politician gets more seasoned and successful, camps build up around them via their senior staff and there isn’t usually room for anyone new, especially those of us not from the world of politics.

But less seasoned politicians? They don’t have a solidified staff, they don’t have tons of money, they haven’t anchored in their approach and they are overwhelmed with the narrative and media environment… all things that tend to make them more open to help.

You’re probably not going to do classic brand strategy - that’s okay
That whole 4C’s into an inspiring brand strategy that culminates into a core architecture that then serves as the north star for all the work?

Yeah, political campaigns don’t do that. They tend to lean into policy positions and polls and focus groups in guiding a candidate in a more reactive way.

Non-profits and activists have a version of our brand work that called a theory of change process so they’ll get it a little more, but it’s different than brand strategy work. Also, activists can be hella suspicious of anything corporate, so just tread respectfully.

Instead, get ready to flex
You cannot tromp in with classic private-sector approaches and be successful in the political, non-profit or activist spaces. First of all, because our cred doesn’t mean much, we don’t have the permission or trust to blast in like we would with a client that needs to get answers to their boss now. And progress moves at the pace of trust.

Also, our work is built to sell stuff on a quarterly cadence - selling, quarterly… that’s the atmosphere that pervades what we do. So when you go into other contexts that have different atmospheres and drivers, it can feel jarring - our tools, language and processes don’t 100% jive with their goals and their cadences.

It’s okay, you can adjust, but it’s different.

To be successful, it takes work beyond a normal assignment. You need to really listen to how they do things, what their key steps are, how they pace and their jargon. And then, get creative - you’ll need to hack our approaches apart and reconfiguring them into a different form that respects the context that you’re in.

Here’s an important, relatively simple tip: dump some of your own words so they don’t reject things outright:

• At the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, “brand” was a dirty word so I became the VP of “Engagement” and we brought “narrative” tools to the table.

• In Indigenous spaces, as a white person I do not set up a “war room” or “call in the cavalry.”

Get ready to teach
Most people that work in change are awesome and want to understand best practices. So get ready to teach. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made has been trying to just run people through workshops or frameworks that lean into our ways without taking the step back to explain the language, the purpose, what the outcomes are that I’m aiming for and why those outcomes will help them.

A little teaching (it takes 15 minutes) goes a long way.

Get ready to get scrappy
Non-profits, lower race candidates and activists usually don’t have money. That either makes them risk averse or willing to fucking go for it. Hoping you have the latter - the work can be really fun.

Also, you’re not going to get paid for this like you’re used to or at all. So pick a cause or a candidate that you’re into, because you’ll need that soul fuel to keep going.

If you’re white and heading into spaces led by people of color, recognize what you represent
I spend a decent amount of time in Indigenous spaces. No matter how much time I spent there, I always have to remember, especially with new people, that I represent colonization, genocide and the pain of that community.

It’s not a normal working relationship - I’m working with people who were forced into boarding schools to “kill the Indian, save the man”, whose mothers were unknowingly sterilized by government doctors as part of their birth experience and others whose parents were in shoot-outs with the FBI… and many more atrocities, too many to list. It means that I tread extra carefully and extra respectfully, even in a social space like a powwow.

The things that make me successful in client rooms - strong opinions, making my presence known, being provocative or forceful in the recommendations - would be an absolute disaster in those spaces. My job is to listen, to work with the community, to flow along with their needs and culture and approaches and accelerate it.

Keep it local
I really think it’s local work that creates true change in the world. So do your badass brand strategy stuff wherever you can, but remember to go to your community potluck and local fundraisers. Organize the spring plant swap. Coach the kids’ team. I think that stuff matters more than anything.

The most important thing, do something. Anything.
And remember, the small stuff matters.

____________

If you have any follow-up questions let me know - this is important work and I’m here to support the community however I can as we go out and try to make a positive dent in the world.