Hi all,
We’re back. And, as promised, I’m going to unpack everything from Paradigms. It’s very rare that I leave events impressed by the branding, and rarer still that every talk gave me something lasting. But this one delivered.
Because I found myself compelled to add photos and quotes, this letter will get cut off. View it in the browser or the app, or you might miss gems like everyone’s favorite TikTok strategist’s hot takes on why you need to be less precious about your brand, and give employees more agency.
As always, this pod dives into what’s happening in brands and culture. This week is no different there.
THIS WEEK’S EPISODE:
Beaded bracelets are the new lanyard. And hospitality is in the details.
Brands are the entertainment arm of the business. And all branding is retrofitting.
What’s a ‘Living Wall’ and how it helps fix global brand chaos.
Brands need more discipline to be uncopyable. And why agencies need optimists.
Reframing heritage as something that’s living and evolving. Not holding you down.
Respecting your audience is the step many forget.
How blending cultures requires nuance and creativity (and one of my fave talks)
Why you need to acknowledge people’s innate fear of change when rebranding.
Why one of the world’s largest brands needs a typographer on staff.
Eugene Healey reminds us that your best content creators already work for you.
Why brand clarity helps you move at the speed of culture.
AI isn’t the end of your job. But nor should it be the beginning of your idea.
Brands today need soul. That doesn’t come from guidelines. It comes from stewards.
Nu Goteh captured everyone’s heart with a lot of wisdom on who gets to be a ‘designer.’
Nike Journal’s 400 stories cost less than most campaigns. And did more than many.
Four pools, three outfit changes, one candle mishap in the Moroccan desert.
And an extra day in Marrakech = more thoughts on hospitality.
Enjoy!
Skip to the bits you fancy.
PARADIGMS
00:01 — DETAILS MATTER // This event is held in a different city EVERY year. And yet it felt like a well-oiled machine. Everyone running a conference needs a Rebecca Harmer in their lives. Hey Studio did the identity this year (the motion was great) and brought a level of brand detail that left a very tough crowd very impressed. Frontify, the brand behind the conference’s tagline is ‘Where Brands Live’. Well, it lived up to it. Everything was considered, down to the bracelets with activity charms and tent number, to the environmental signage on urns, to incredibly useful swag you were happy to keep, to systems like Slido for Q&A, to ensure you felt not just impressed, but cared for—absurdly rare for an industry conference.
TOM BECKMAN
18:01 — POSITIONING IN 2025 // Branding is all about context. And all branding is retrofitting. Today, the brand is the entertainment arm of the business. And entertain is changing. “Italian brain rot is bigger than Marvel.” So what are you building, and what risks are you taking to ensure you’re meeting the moment? For more, follow Tom Beckman, Global CCO @ Weber Shandwick, here.
“Branding is retrofitting.
It’s about defining what you do in the time that you are living in…
Today, the brand is the entertainment arm of the business”
HSBC’S LIVING WALL
23:31 — A LIVING BRAND // HSBC’s rebrand has been rolling out over years. And now, they want to elevate their positioning by investing in brand—amen. One tool they’ve built that’s been incredibly helpful merging dozens of global teams: a living wall. Follow Tom Gilbert @ Design Bridge & Jamie Lillywhite @HSBC for more.
“The ‘Living Wall’ allows us see all the creative happening globally at any time.”
JAMES GREENFIELD
26:55 — SO YOU WANT TO BE UNCOPIABLE? // To be uncopyable, you need discipline. Discipline leads to distinctiveness. And if you’re running an agency today. One hack to getting work for the likes of Amazon, Lyft, Bold and more, out the door? Optimists. More wisdom from James Greenfield, CEO @ Koto over here.
“We also hire optimists because brand projects are very difficult. They require optimism.”
RUBY BODDINGTON
32:24 — BRANDING BEYOND BORDERS // Without a doubt, one of the best segments of the conference was curated by Ruby Boddington from It’s Nice That. Being in Marrakech, it was so lovely to have African and Arabic speakers share a much need global perspective.
BLACKPEPPER STUDIOS
32:27 — HERITAGE ISN’T A COSTUME // Asmah Mansur-Williams and Nkenna Amadi from The Blackpepper (the team behind Joshua Kissi’s site) reminded us that heritage isn’t an anchor, it’s alive.
“We don’t treat heritage as a costume.”
MARWAN KAABOUR
36:17 — BOOKS ARE BRANDS // Book designer and author, Marwan Kaabour’s veered, in a great way, into borderline poetry. He talked about how books can be brands, his work for huge publishers, and why audiences need to be respected, and their worlds given a universe they can live in. Marwan’s hit book, The Queer Arab Glossary, is on Amazon (but I recc supporting your local bookstore.)
“Books are like songs. They are capable of entire universes.”
MINA MAURICE
41:12 — PLAYFUL IN TWO SCRIPTS // Mina Maurice of 40 Mustaqel’s talk was one of my faves. He shared his approach to designing in Arabic, a language with countless variations. And how to merge two words, Latin script and Arabic without flattening either. Check out his SOLE DXB festival project for a taste.
“Many clients said they wanted the brand to be more modern, which was code for ‘look less Arab’.”
PAYPAL
46:06 — TURN THE DIP INTO A BUMP // You can’t just drop the rebrand and expect applause. Iskra Velichkova from PayPal Germany shared her GTM playbook for avoiding the rebranding ‘dip’. And why you have to acknowledge ‘the fear of change’ head on. Her agency partner Burkhard Müller, CDO @ Mutador was on stage, too. But he stood back and let Iskra lead—one of my fave plays of the day.
”Frequency still matters.”
SPOTIFY
50:36 — DESIGN FOR ALL // a) did you know that Spotify has a typographer on staff. They do. And her name is Bianca Berning b) have you ever asked ‘what does this font sound like’ c) designing type thoughtfully allows us to enjoy things for as long as we live. Custom line heights. Built-in contrast. Fonts that flex to vision changes. It’s invisible work that matters.
“Does this font sound good?”
EUGENE HEALEY
53:37 — PERSONAL BRANDS // Just about everyone in our industry know @eubrandstrat (Eugene Healey) for his unique ability to constantly drop clarity on the ‘thing you’ve been thinking but didn’t have the words' for’. He chatted about his personal journey with becoming a brand (fun and fascinating!) but then turned his attention to how brands can and should be harnessing personal brand—via their employees (more on that in this Sunday’s letter). Brands need to become much less precious with their brand, and forgo the delusion of control. It’s time to lean into the chaos. Those that do, will win.
“Letting go is scary..until you realize you already have.”
“Employers should harness the libidinal energy of employees.”
SKYSCANNER
55:50 — DALLAS TO CANCUN // Brand simplicity = speed. After a rebrand that left them with guidelines that looked nice but the team couldn’t use, Skyscanner simplified. Hard. That simplicity enabled them to move at speed when a culture moment felt right. The result? Virality. And a Lion. For more, follow Carla Sandhu and Ross Mawdsley.
“We couldn’t have done it if the brand hadn’t been so simple.”
BUILDERS CLUB
57:36 — AI IS SOUP // Tools don't matter without ideas. And AI is just a tool. Just like every tool, it all flattens out unless you have a point of view. Now to save your job? Have a perspective. And use all the tools in the arsenal—creatively. Builders Club, Jonas Hegi, walked us through all their ‘thinking.’ behind their works with everyone from Nike to OpenAI. Many of the spots have been referenced in this letter. The common thread: the originality cuts through.
“Imagination requires tools.”
“AI has democratized production and ‘weird’. So ideas are more important than ever.”
CONDÉ NAST
01:00:31 — SCALE SOUL, NOT SAMENESS // You don’t build award-winning brands through guidelines. Those are the foundation, and on top of them, you must add ‘soul’. And that requires stewards. Nicola Ryan is the VP at Condé Nast, and she shared why you need to break some of your own rules.
“You don’t scale brand through documentation. You need people…
You need stewards.”
NU GOTEH
01:01:35 — NU WISDOM // Solve, don’t sell. Design is plumbing. We need to broaden who we think ‘designers’ are. Branding isn’t always visual, it’s structural. It’s hard to summarize all the gems Nu Goteh dropped. All I can say, is the name on everyone’s after party’s lips was his. If you’re looking for keynote speakers, he’s your philosophically-minded diamond.
“Move from selling to solving.”
NIKE (BUT NOT NIKE)
01:04:00 — NIKE LESSONS // One thing about Nike is you can’t speak about the work while you’re there. But, having left, Meirion Pritchard and Dan Rookwood, shared their journey of navigating the complexity of one of the world’s biggest brands, and how Nike Journal’s 400+ stories cost less than a single campaign, but had massive ROI.
PS. Nike bashing was ABUNDANT at the conference. Their recent fall from grace became the favorite parable for ‘why investing in brand matters.’ If all ‘press is good press’ Nike might have been the winner without having to even speak.
THE AFTERPARTIES (PLURAL)
01:05:57 — HEINEKEN COMMERCIAL VIBES // On the first night we had dinner in a super stunning set-up. The last night we moved to a Bedouin camp with four pools and 3 after parties—fun times were had.
MOROCCAN HOSPITALITY
Before I left Marrakech, I couldn’t not explore. I stayed at the Maison Brummell Majorelle (a masterclass in good staff and luxury-less-is-more spa experiences) near the Yves Saint Laurent museum, wandered into the medina, dined on rooftops, and heard the calls to prayer. What a magical place. I’ll add my faves to my Amigo over the next few weeks (the catch up is real!). Use code GOODTHINKING if you want to bypass the waitlist.
WHAT WOULD I CHANGE ABOUT PARADIGM?
Not much. Honestly, it exceeded my expectations. But not one to hold back:
Vastly better caffeine with much shorter lines.
Greater gender parity in the speaker list.
Even greater diversity / speakers from the country you were in.
Fractionally more sleep!
A list of people that attended (I met cool people I can’t find!)
FUN FOR THE WEEK
I met so many lovely people. And this is by no means a comprehensive list of attendees, but thoughts I’d get some good-to-knows on your radar.
After Hours is a very fun, very sought-after agency run by two very cool people.
Hyperfocus based in Hamburg, amazing worldwide.
Studio Drama for excellent typographic needs.
OK Social. Jack and Jimmy are the reason I know about Paradigms. London but global.
Craft are creative recruiters to know.
Women in Brand is ensuring we get more women in leadership. Amen. Follow co-founder Victoria Montgomery here. (Victoria is part of the team behind the Word of the Year. ‘Brain Rot’ thanks her.
Spanner, aka the “design speakeasy” from Andy Bullock based in PDX.
Design Week, a UK brand and design pub with tons of industry news.
Massive thanks to
for inviting me. I don’t know where the next year’s Paradigms will be, but I’ll see you there. And don’t forget to tell them I sent you.That’s all folx.
-Chris
If you read this and liked it, that little heart is there for that. The algo and I appreciate it.
PS. If you prefer Apple, Spotify, or YouTube you can listen there too.
PPS. Frontify paid for my flights and accommodations but put no ask on the ‘coverage.’ All these thoughts are my own.
