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By Rebecca Stewart

After a tough 2023 for Bud Light, Benoit Garbe, the U.S. chief marketing officer of parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev, will resign at the end of the year.

Garbe’s marketing role will not be directly replaced, the company confirmed. Instead, U.S. chief commercial officer Kyle Norrington will oversee marketing for the country moving forward.

His departure follows the exit of Bud Light marketing vp Alissa Heinerscheid earlier this year. He will see out 2023 before “embarking on a new chapter in his career,” the business said.

In a statement, AB InBev CEO Brendan Whitworth said the latest executive shakeup would “reduce layers within our organization and better enable our top commercial leaders to drive our business and legacy forward.”

__Backlash and the bottom line__
The shift to focus on profit follows six months of turmoil for America’s once bestselling beer, which in a short space of time has fallen rapidly from grace following a backlash from conservatives over a social media promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Bud’s issues started in April, when TikTok star Mulvaney promoted Bud Light on her social media platforms as part of a planned partnership. The post received transphobic backlash, with conservatives calling for a boycott.

On the other side, members of LGBTQ+ communities and their allies also rejected the brand, after the business failed to quickly speak out and stand by Mulvaney.

By June, sales had fallen and Modelo Especial had displaced Bud Light as America’s favorite beer. In October, Bud continued to strain AB InBev’s bottom line in the market, with the company reporting a 13.5% decline in third-quarter U.S. revenue per 100 liters.

Since then the brand has invested in a series of marketing campaigns to return Bud Light to its place in pop culture as the easygoing beer of choice. These have included a huge summer push from Anomaly, NFL activations and a new sponsorship deal with UFC reported to be worth $100 million.

__As the company puts its marketing budget in the hands of the CCO, Leila Fataar, founder of cultural and marketing strategy firm Platform 13, said Bud Light’s debacle holds lessons for brand leaders everywhere around the importance of connecting with culture.__

__“In today’s world, one social post can travel faster and further than anything else as we have seen with the [Mulvaney] situation,” she noted.__

__She suggested putting a marketer in a more senior role would help a brand like Bud drive relevance and competitive advantage.__

__“We see a shift where CMOs are becoming CEOs. To be culturally relevant, this may be the better approach for a modern business model because a deep strategic understanding of the consumer and how the ever-changing shifts impact them has never been more important for brands and business in the new world we live in.”__

Alicia Iveson, co-founder and chief of creative shop Hijinks Collective, said though Garbe has walked, apparently taking the heat for the conservative Mulvaney backlash, Bud Light should have been prepared for the boycott instead of ambushed by it.

“The lesson for marketers is, yes, support diverse communities and influencers, but don’t go into battle unarmed. Have a powerful response lined up in the event of repercussions, such as backing from other celebrities, words from a president or a broader marketing campaign,” she said. “Scenario planning and crisis management are vital for all ad campaigns. Interrogate, stress test, road test. Never be caught off guard.”

__Is a brand turnaround possible?__
Recent analysis from consumer insights company HundredX suggests Bud is in the early stages of a rebound, with drinkers slowly warming up to the brand’s values and trustworthiness.

After falling more than 30% from March through June, data gleaned in October found that customer perception of Bud’s brand values grew between 1% and 2% since June.

Customer perception towards sister brand Budweiser’s ads—which recently saw the return of its iconic Clydesdales—also clawed back 11% since falling more than 50% from March to June.

In its most recent October earnings update, global CEO Michel Doukeris said AB InBev would continue to invest in Bud Light marketing, with internal polling showing 40% of lapsed Bud Light drinkers would consider putting the brand back on their shopping list.

He cited research the business had conducted with 260,000 people: “The common points of feedback remain consistent,” he revealed. “One, consumers continue to want the Bud Light brand to concentrate on the platforms that all consumers love,” pointing to more “traditional channels” including NFL broadcasts.

Consumers also asked “Bud Light to focus on beer,” said Doukeris, and “third, they want that beer without a debate.”

“We are taking the feedback and working hard towards our consumers’ business every day across the world,” he finished.

adweek, Nov 2023

Label Sessions POD, Nov 2023

__The discussion:__ The maturity of social media within marketing means it is one of the most important components of a company’s ongoing external communications - so in the age of creators, where are we now? Can and how can brands be built using social media as the main channel to drive awareness and tap the creator economy in the process?

__Leila Fataar's key take-away:__ A cultural first approach to brand building means the right social strategy is integrated and not a performance-only bolt on. 

She also shared what it took internally to do culturally relevant work with topline case studies from her time brand side: adidas - the re-release of Stan Smith and Diageo ‘Only one Captain Morgan’ with Captain Morgan and how we [work with brands like Dr. Martens](https://www.platform13.net/p13insidetrack) through Platform13 to explain what that meant.

__Photo:__ Alexandra Khan 

SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK, OCT 2023

Cultural relevance cannot be achieved with major rebranding efforts and media and PR blitzes. It needs to be organically grown and fostered throughout the organization.

The question is, how?

I have worked in cultural branding for more than two decades. Through my experience, I believe marketers must understand four interrelated concepts especially well in order to rewrite their marketing playbook for greater cultural relevance.

__Cultural relevance__
Let’s start with the objective itself. Cultural relevance refers to a brand state when people feel compelled to talk positively about that brand and advocate for it, at any time (not only during the campaign cycle) because it deeply connects with them within the context of what is happening in the world. This connection is established when a brand makes a positive impact (that doesn’t always have to be “worthy”) on and with their communities and engages with them credibly, meeting them how and where they are. 

__Cultural marketing__
For me, culture marketing is marketing. Even before 2020, global cultural shifts, such as the climate emergency, technological advancements and political influences started changing audience behaviours and mindsets and called for big brands to embrace "cultural relevance" as an opportunity. 

Understandably, the past few years have forced businesses into survival mode, leading to a surge in traditional lower-funnel marketing strategies. The prevailing belief is that the bigger the brand, the larger the media spend, and the more eyeballs reached, the more successful the brand becomes. 

However, in a post-2020 world characterised by uncertainty, complexity, and a new financially empowered generation that values privacy (impacting 3rd party data) and seeks meaningful relationships and shared values with brands, the traditional funnel is no longer sufficient for reaching and engaging audiences. 

Knowing how to read and analyse cultural shifts specific to our clients, then flex brand plans accordingly, is how we drive reach & relevance, hype & depth, numbers & nuance. 

This is modern marketing.

__Cultural positioning__
To be truly culturally relevant, you must rethink your entire approach to product, culture, consumer and commerce. You must realign your brand, to discover your brand’s special role and place in the world for your audience, and community—a role only your brand can fulfil, addressing or navigating the global shifts affecting the target audience and positively impacting that much desired brand differentiation score. 

If executed correctly, this can put companies on the path to sustainable, equitable, and meaningful business success.  

__Latent audiences__
One important byproduct of the cultural positioning work is the identification of “latent audiences”— communities and consumers who already engage with, purchase products and services from, and even possibly love a brand—but who are currently not part of the brand’s traditional target audience. 

In many cases, the brand may not even be aware of these audiences. Think Timberland with Hip-Hop culture in the 1990s. Or sportswear brands and/or music artists in gaming culture today. 

Cultural relevance does not happen in a single moment. It is earned through positive contributions to communities and genuine connections with consumers over time. 

It comes not from new mission statements or isolated social initiatives but through a continuum of strategic, creative, and operational decisions to address the global shifts affecting a target audience.

Tapping into and resonating with latent audiences creates previously additional and unconsidered business growth opportunities and can facilitate curiosity and an innovation mindset internally. Respectful acknowledgement and support can give a brand true credibility in that culture or with those communities. 

But to be successful, the right people need to be managing and handling this type of marketing to ensure the nuances and expectations are respected. This may be outside of rostered agencies and the current internal talent pool.

__How Guinness Found its Flava—and a Latent Audience__
One notable brand that tapped into a latent audience is Guinness UK. In 2020, the 250+-year-old beer maker sought Platform13’s help to become more culturally relevant and meaningful to consumers outside the brand’s traditional target audience of older white males.

During my time in-house at Diageo, I discovered that Guinness had been exported to Africa and the Caribbean since the 1800s. In the UK, the movement of people from the colonies (West Indies, Africa, and Southeast Asia) in the 20th century shaped the multicultural demographic that exists today. 

These latent communities brought with them their cultural expressions, including food, art, music, and fashion—alongside their beloved Guinness.

Among the insights we gathered, one statement from a Jamaican record label owner stood out: “I thought Guinness was Jamaican. I had no idea they were Irish.” 

Culturally, Jamaican culture has a massive influence on the world and on Black British culture, particularly in music and food. Given Guinness’s history in the Caribbean and West Africa, we had a unique opportunity to celebrate the stories and heritage of the elders in a way that resonated with the current generation—a reflection of the ongoing cultural and global shifts.

We launched the series by telling the story of Original Flava—a pair of brothers born in a London suburb, Croydon, who transformed their passion for flavoursome Caribbean cooking into a unifying platform that blended British and Caribbean culture through food and flavour, with many recipes taught to them by their incredible grandmother, including the iconic Jamaican Guinness Punch.

The Guinness campaign we launched targeting the Caribbean community took place on the last long weekend of August 2021, coinciding with the end of summer and Notting Hill Carnival—an annual celebration of Caribbean culture (which had been postponed to Covid that year) which attracts over a million attendees.

A citywide OOH campaign featuring Nanny and the Original Flava brothers, along with social content on how to make Nanny's Guinness Punch and Original Flava’s Guinness Jerk chicken, received an overwhelmingly positive response from the Caribbean community. 

The comments we received from these long-term latent audiences were truly goosebump-inducing, as for the first time, this community felt seen, heard and celebrated by a brand that was already deeply embedded in their culture. Added to that was how the project surpassed the traditional metrics and benchmarks, achieving 59% over planned reach, which was the main brand-set KPI for the campaign. 

The results are clear, a brand can have both reach and relevance - this is where culture marketing wins.

__Cultural relevance as a growth driver__
Now imagine if this approach moved from marketing activity to business strategy. 

Your employees are also part of cultures and communities. We know the new generation of incoming intersectional talent want to work for brands and companies who have a point of view on the world…and stand up for what they believe.

Done right, cultural relevance will foster curiosity (of what is happening in the world and the credible role that brand has to play in it), encourage creative new ways of working and drive innovative ideas (updating processes and systems to make it fit for purpose for the 21st century) to build resilience (can help in decision paralysis and concern around call-out culture) and achieve resonance by credibly engaging with existing, latent, and employee communities and consumers. 

Such an approach could ultimately future-proof the business and the brand. 

But it’s not enough to simply add the word cultural to your title. It can only work if you can, know how to or bring the right people in to help evolve the traditional marketing and business playbook to make it fit for purpose today. 

It’s time to embrace cultural relevance as a powerful force that can shape the trajectory of brands in the 21st century.


adWeek VOICES, August 2023

adweek PODCAST, July 2023

Marketing gone awry recently cost Bud Light its long-held crown as America’s bestselling beer.

But the brand’s owner, Anheuser-Busch InBev, was here at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity—a lavish annual gathering in the south of France, often called the Oscars of the ad industry—collecting one of the event’s highest honors: Creative Marketer of the Year.

A collision this spring between Bud Light’s marketing hub in Manhattan and many of its loyal drinkers across middle America resulted in a case study in how not to market through the culture wars. A consumer and celebrity backlash against a Bud Light social-media promotion with the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney snowballed into a boycott and plummeting sales. The uproar prompted AB InBev to put on leave two marketing executives who oversaw the promotion, leading to more criticism.

In the wake of that controversy, across the Atlantic on Monday, AB InBev’s global chief marketing officer, Marcel Marcondes, took to the Cannes Lions’ main stage to give the event’s opening seminar. The session was described in programming notes as a talk in part about AB InBev’s “relentless focus on connecting with consumers in meaningful ways.” Marcondes also touched briefly on the Bud Light situation stateside.

“In times like this, when things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers, for us to be very humble,” Marcondes said.

AB InBev is “really reminding ourselves of what we should do best every day, which is to really understand our customers, which is to really celebrate and appreciate every customer that loves our brands, but in a way that can make them be together, not apart,” he said. The words echoed comments by Brendan Whitworth, chief executive of AB InBev’s North American business, made immediately following the backlash in April.

Cannes Lions made its debut in 1954 as an advertising film festival, but over the years has evolved into one of the industry’s most important annual conferences.

Technology companies, consulting firms and legacy Madison Avenue agencies alike hold meetings and pursue deals in Belle Époque hotel suites. Chief marketing officers from around the world helicopter in to speak on panels. And rosé-soaked parties, soundtracked by top DJs, continue on until the small hours of the morning. 

But in offices back home, Cannes delegates are facing slowing advertising markets, widespread layoffs and questions around artificial intelligence’s ability to replace a variety of roles across the marketing industry—sure to be another big topic at this year’s ad festival.

Marketers are also dealing with a split in consumer attitudes toward using social causes such as LGBTQ rights as a basis for advertising. Cannes Lions judging panels have in the past been criticized for favoring such campaigns above less socially-minded equivalents that shifted more product for advertisers.

AB InBev has had other marketing successes this year. Budweiser’s quick reaction to a last-minute alcohol ban at the World Cup in Qatar has been shortlisted for a Titanium Lions, one of the event’s most prestigious. And campaigns from its brands including Michelob Ultra and Corona have been shortlisted for a raft of other categories in the 2023 awards.

Cannes Lions honored AB InBev as Creative Marketer of the Year during the 2022 festival as well, making this summer’s repeat honor the first consecutive such win by any company, organizers said. 

The awards body, which is owned by London-based Ascential Events, announced AB InBev’s back-to-back win in March, months ahead of the Cannes Lions festival itself and just before attention around Bud Light’s work with Mulvaney began to swirl.

“The award recognises AB InBev’s sustained creative excellence that has driven sustainable business growth—as well as their body of Lion-winning work amassed over a sustained period of time, and reputation for producing brave creative and innovative marketing solutions,” Cannes Lions said in a statement released in March. 

Some marketers on the ground on Monday said Bud Light’s difficulties in the U.S. should not negate the achievements of the company’s creative success across the world.

Other delegates said they were skeptical about the company’s acceptance of the creative marketer title in light of the Bud Light fiasco. 

One social-media post can now travel faster and further than an advertising campaign, said Leila Fataar, founder of cultural and marketing strategy firm Platform13. “In the spirit of fairness and credibility, I think it would be a big and the right gesture for AB InBev to give the 2023 award back, make the changes necessary and come back even stronger.” 

Organizers of the festival and AB InBev weren’t available Monday to comment

wall street journal, june 2023

Sharing our expertise on GenZ with Voxburner for YMS in multiple ways: Leila writing the foreword for both their UK / US Youth Marketing Report 2023, hosting the whole of day 1 at the London event and curating/moderating a panel with a series of GenZ whisperers (and friends of P13) from Pinterest, Depop and Woo.


YMS, June 2023

Love, Hate, Create POD, May 2023

"In a time of radical transformation, being culture-first is your superpower,” says Leila Fataar, Founder of the multidisciplinary creative company Platform 13. 

“What this does is drive cultural relevance, which helps decision making both from inside the business and for your audience. You can build authentic cultural projects that redefine your equity, and you can optimise your internal processes for strategic growth.”

Photo: Annabel Alice


D&AD Keynote, May 2023

As the oversized statue of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama presided over the entrance to Harrods, beneath it a pile of freesheets faced upwards, the front pages dominated by foreboding headlines of economic headwinds, tragedies and an ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

The often frivolous and excessive nature of luxury fashion has long been exposed during recessions, but as the news headlines during last month's London Fashion Week rolled out, it became increasingly evident that it is becoming increasingly challenging for luxury brands to stand out.

Nonetheless, as both a consumer calendar moment and a business event that demands the collective of buyers, fashion houses, media and designers all coming together in one city across a week, many luxury brands have chosen the gateway of LFW to create standout experiences and campaigns to fuel chatter and gain cultural currency.

Think Loewe: the brand brought its latest capsule collection with Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli to life at Selfridges with a series of immersive installations.

Timed to capitalise on LFW, the spaces based on Howl's Moving Castle included The Cloud Room, which housed an exhibition telling the story of the collab and Calcifer's Kitchen, a "culinary experience" named after the film’s fire demon.

And Vogue used the moment to unveil its second iteration of Vogue x Snapchat: Redefining the Body, an exhibition curated by British Vogue’s editor-in-chief Edward Enninful that explores the future of fashion’s physicality, harnessing AR to bring the high fashion of Dior, Versace, Thebe Magugu and more to the digital masses, not just the FROW.

The experience fell under LFW’s City Wide Celebration programme of events and attractions that ran alongside the LFW show schedule, which included creative workshops, styling sessions and brand activations, including Anya Hindmarch’s World’s Smallest Department Store.

As Oliver Lloyd, strategy director at Attachment, who works with The British Fashion Council across its entertainment strategy, talent and brand partnerships, says: “Throughout the pandemic there was a democratisation of experiences as consumers really embraced live streaming, something which TikTok does so successfully.

“Coming out of it, there’s a more hybrid approach. Additionally, fashion’s relationship with entertainment has also been dialled up and we are seeing unexpected celebrities now attracting new audiences.”

Partnerships with culture-defining celebrity talent are rapidly increasing. Daniel Lee marked his creative directorial debut at British luxury brand Burberry with "an ode to Britishness" – a campaign featuring some of the UK’s most exciting talent, from Shygirl and Skepta to Raheem Sterling and Lennon Gallagher, leveraging celebrity names to reach new audiences.

“Fashion has always been about self-expression and identity,” Platform13 founder Leila Fataar says. “Luxury is finally catching up and there are shifts from the old to the new, from status to self-expression, moving beyond only the cost of product to cultural credibility, shifting from traditional bricks and mortar retail in only the traditional fashion capitals to brand experiences and creative ways to drive sales, in new and unexpected places.”

And while LFW presents a rich playground for brands to activate and engage consumers alongside press, talent and retailers at scale, to gain cultural currency, badging exercises are over and brands need to co-create, argues Lloyd.

“Brands must come together to genuinely have an active role with the creative industries or give consumers, especially Gen Z, new, meaningful experiences.

“Beyond impactful talent, we are seeing brands cut through using unexpected collaborations that create conversation and big, bold experiences that involve a breadth of target audiences from press, buyers, talent and consumers.”

Collab culture 

One brand capturing the imagination of the experience seekers is Louis Vuitton, with its global takeover by Yayoi Kusama appearing from NYC’s Fifth Avenue to Place Vendôme in Paris and London’s Knightsbridge.

And the ultimate example of collaboration, in terms of scope, scale and vision, came this LFW, when Italian luxury fashion house Moncler unveiled a collaboration of mega proportions with its "The art of genius" event at Olympia.

Inviting in 10,000 consumers alongside a VIP crowd of global celebrities including Serena Williams, Naomi Campbell, Lewis Hamilton, Hailey and Justin Bieber, was a considerably risky move but one that paid off, given the PR coverage and social reach. 

Brand experience agency XYZ delivered event planning, logistics and event production, with Paris-based Villa Eugenie on creative production for the experience that stole the LFW spotlight with its evening of immersive experiences from brands including Mercedes-Benz, Adidas Originals and Roc Nation, plus a surprise performance from Alicia Keys, sporting her debut capsule collection.

XYZ’s executive creative director Paul Stanway believes that Moncler went for, in a controlled way, “the energy of chaos and disruption”, explaining the very deliberate choices the brand made to opt for a huge consumer crowd, beyond a select fashion set, and a wider VIP guest list than LFW traditionally commands, not to mention the millions that tuned in to watch.

“It didn’t matter if you were some hype kid from south London or a celeb flown in from Hollywood, the way you experienced the collabs was all the same – the way the artists had envisioned.” 

It's a view shared by Stefano Pierre Beruschi, senior design director, culture collaborations and partnerships, Adidas Originals, who described the brand’s immersive space within the event as an extension of the collection’s vision, “toying with the senses in order to confront guests with an experience that is inspirational and outside of the norm”. 

So, does this ambitious approach represent a further disruption of the traditional show experience? “Evolving the current system is a huge opportunity for luxury brands, as we move beyond the now uniform hype and drop mechanics of the past few years,” Fataar says.

“We love finding that cultural positioning – an intersection of the brand and its target communities, and then bringing it to life in a resonant way – always based on how the audience wants to receive it.” 

With LFW celebrating its 40th year in 2024, more brands should opt for the capital to engage the creative community and inspire young audiences.

“London is the home of innovation and creativity,” Lloyd argues. “For brands looking to tap into this, and genuinely position themselves in a purposeful way – there’s nothing comparative or as exciting in the UK.”

And luxury brands, emboldened by the success of Moncler’s unconventional approach to its Genius presentation, will look to expand their approach to experiences.

“The visual language of how you present fashion was so engrained and so traditional that it was ripe for disruption,” Stanway says.

“Breaking the tyranny of the catwalk is long overdue.”

Campaign, March 2023

__It’s a volatile world and we just live in it__

The role of branding, marketing and communications has never been more important in trying to solve global issues and helping intersectional audiences navigate the world we live in. 

We have a responsibility not to allow people to forget the meaning behind the immense shifts of the past few years. 

A responsibility to create the future we want and need for people and the planet without greenwashing. And a responsibility to push things forward with intent, purpose, courage and empathy.

Credibility and relevance must become the objective to rebuild consumer trust, decolonise the industry and reduce cancel/callout culture, which was already circling in pre-Covid times. 

For brands, that takes a commitment of time, effort and money to unlock their credible role in culture.

We have a rare opportunity to make cultural relevance a growth driver: to create short- and long-term plans that work at the speed of culture, understand how these cultural shifts affect behaviours and attitudes, and to create employee engagement and incentives around inclusivity, curiosity, experimentation and innovation.

Getting this right will ensure we produce work that drives positive impact, finds latent audiences and reaches dormant and existing consumers where and how they want… ultimately resulting in positive business growth.

At Platform13, we do this by assembling bespoke, crack teams of the most relevant global voices who represent, shape and create culture to answer brand challenges, unlocking relevance, unleashing creativity and creating positive conversation.

__Big funnel energy__

The past few years have seen a massive uptick in lower funnel performance marketing and promotion – and their traditional measurements of success read through KPIs and ROI. This was done at the expense of brand-building in the pursuit of explosive business growth. In a world of uncertainty, brand love and loyalty will help, so balancing those short-term sales with long-term growth is essential. But with that will come an evolution in how clients brief and how we measure success.

__Ask not what your community can do for you, but what you can do for them__

If brands want to resonate with their target audience, they must earn their place in the culture or community they want to connect with. Meaningful connection trumps paid reach, especially as the algorithmic social heavyweights’ influence and relevance starts to fluctuate.

__Let’s get phygital, but make it culture-first___

For too long we have had to deal with the same creative ideas repackaged, the same formats repurposed with the same type of mindsets saying the same thing.

The past few years have unleashed a new era of creativity – with radical inclusivity, new-world innovation with AI, the explosion of crypto, blockchain systems and Web3, and multiple and mixed realities using VR/AR/XR at the forefront disrupting the limitations of the traditional
channels of experiences, retail, marketing and communications.

At Platform13, creativity is contextual to culture – it needs not only to have reach but resonance, sitting at that unique intersection of “brand” and “culture”. 

This will explode as the talent diversity pool continues to widen, both internally and with external teams (procurement policies and the pitching process needs updating for this to make an impact on the type of agencies/partners/collaborators brands work with).

Now more than ever, a constant influx of fresh and relevant cultural perspectives throughout the creative process is necessary and will serve only to strengthen the work. This in turn drives brand fame and business growth, while making an impact on the community, socially and financially.

__Convergence of corporate and consumer comms__

As always, actions speak louder than words. Saying a brand is doing “X” or committed to achieving “X” by 2030 is no longer enough – it’s never been more important to transparently and tangibly act on corporate policies and promises.

By doing cultural relevance right, organisations can ensure they and their communities win – the only option when it comes to modern marketing, not to mention that priceless brand advocacy. The brands and companies that do this authentically will be remembered for the right reasons.

Campaign, January 2023

We are in a time of radical transformation – political, societal, technological – the list goes on. For us, this is culture – the stuff of life, the fabric of our reality, a global connector of communities. Culture is how we all communicate, what we wear, eat, see and listen to. It's how we behave and what influences us. Culture is living and breathing and changes all the time.

Brands, industries, products and spaces we didn't imagine could ever disappear, will... and fast. Because, if a brand or company can't (or doesn't) read, analyse and address the right shifts for it, it can easily lose that all important cultural relevance and become redundant very, very quickly.

The new values-focused consumer and employee speak both the language of meaning, not only profit, and they will work for and buy brands that share those values. It is no longer acceptable for organisations to sit on the fence – staying silent or culture-washing is almost worse.

Since the Black Lives Matter movement, businesses have had to take a long hard look at themselves to identify their gaps in diversity and the reasons for this, and from the explosion of DE&I activity since then, we can only assume the gap is massive – from C-suite all the way through the business. 

And when the memes go viral and HR "diversity" initiatives become fodder for comedy, you know it's a live conversation.

But in this golden age of DE&I, we always, if not more than ever, need to look critically at how we can ensure the end result matches the objectives. This starts with clarification of the terms.

DE&I – or diversity, equity and inclusion – are usually lumped together, and in theory they could be... but unfortunately, in practice they definitely should not be conflated as they need to be approached in different ways to ensure long term success and change.

Diversity is a broad term describing people on their intersectional range of experiences and backgrounds, based on characteristics such as gender, sex, socioeconomic background, cultural upbringing, religion, education, sexual orientation, ethnicity and neurodiversity. And just to be clear, this transcends purely race.

Inclusivity is ensuring that all those people are not only represented, but also thriving because of their unique differences. This is manifested in equality in opportunities, resources and treatment both in the workplace and also with external partners.

Equity is a driver of inclusivity – recognising that people's intersectional experiences and backgrounds differ vastly and that this can affect their starting points. Some people were never given the opportunities to even be at that "equal and inclusive" stage, so it is great to see the green shoots of equity driving initiatives in the industry, creating fair access, opportunity, and advancement.

I believe DE&I done right breeds business success. My personal experiences have proved that a variety of perspectives and positive internal culture drives innovation, performance and growth – a win-win.

So what does it all mean for the current state of adland?

For me, advertising, marketing and comms have the power to push things forward. While there has been good progress in diversity (especially in output such as the variety of representation in campaigns) and even some of the equity buckets, especially around access to the industry (night schools, internships etc), the inclusivity bucket at brands, companies and agencies is where the work still really needs to happen across all levels. 

It's inclusion in the input both in-house and agency side – insights, ideation, creative, production, etc and crucially, in senior decision-making.

The Advertising Association's All In Census published in 2021 is pretty clear:

"One in three of our black colleagues in advertising didn't feel they belong in the advertising industry"
"1% black representation in the advertising c-suite"
"32% of black industry individuals we spoke to said they likely to leave the industry due to do discrimination"
It's deep, complex and nuanced, and part of the process is asking yourself the hard questions, and facing and addressing the uncomfortable truths about yourself and the business you are part of.

A big blocker is unconscious bias and stereotypes, enabling the perception of women of colour being collectively labelled as "difficult or aggressive" or people of colour not being "team players" if we challenge the status quo or an invalid view because we have different reference points.

Example questions: are there enough black people in key leadership roles throughout the business, with decision-making powers? If not, why not? Are we continuing the work beyond Black History Month?

For the limited POC who are in these positions:We are in a time of radical transformation – political, societal, technological – the list goes on. For us, this is culture – the stuff of life, the fabric of our reality, a global connector of communities. Culture is how we all communicate, what we wear, eat, see and listen to. It's how we behave and what influences us. Culture is living and breathing and changes all the time.

Brands, industries, products and spaces we didn't imagine could ever disappear, will... and fast. Because, if a brand or company can't (or doesn't) read, analyse and address the right shifts for it, it can easily lose that all important cultural relevance and become redundant very, very quickly.

The new values-focused consumer and employee speak both the language of meaning, not only profit, and they will work for and buy brands that share those values. It is no longer acceptable for organisations to sit on the fence – staying silent or culture-washing is almost worse.

Since the Black Lives Matter movement, businesses have had to take a long hard look at themselves to identify their gaps in diversity and the reasons for this, and from the explosion of DE&I activity since then, we can only assume the gap is massive – from C-suite all the way through the business. And when the memes go viral, you know it's a live conversation.

And equally, when HR "diversity" initiatives become fodder for comedy, it's a live conversation

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But in this golden age of DE&I, we always, if not more than ever, need to look critically at how we can ensure the end result matches the objectives. This starts with clarification of the terms.

DE&I – or diversity, equity and inclusion – are usually lumped together, and in theory they could be... but unfortunately, in practice they definitely should not be conflated as they need to be approached in different ways to ensure long term success and change.

Diversity is a broad term describing people on their intersectional range of experiences and backgrounds, based on characteristics such as gender, sex, socioeconomic background, cultural upbringing, religion, education, sexual orientation, ethnicity and neurodiversity. And just to be clear, this transcends purely race.

Inclusivity is ensuring that all those people are not only represented, but also thriving because of their unique differences. This is manifested in equality in opportunities, resources and treatment both in the workplace and also with external partners.

Equity is a driver of inclusivity – recognising that people's intersectional experiences and backgrounds differ vastly and that this can affect their starting points. Some people were never given the opportunities to even be at that "equal and inclusive" stage, so it is great to see the green shoots of equity driving initiatives in the industry, creating fair access, opportunity, and advancement.

I believe DE&I done right breeds business success. My personal experiences have proved that a variety of perspectives and positive internal culture drives innovation, performance and growth – a win-win.

So what does it all mean for the current state of adland?

For me, advertising, marketing and comms have the power to push things forward. While there has been good progress in diversity (especially in output such as the variety of representation in campaigns) and even some of the equity buckets, especially around access to the industry (night schools, internships etc), the inclusivity bucket at brands, companies and agencies is where the work still really needs to happen across all levels. It's inclusion in the input both in-house and agency side – insights, ideation, creative, production, etc and crucially, in senior decision-making.

The Advertising Association's All In Census published in 2021 is pretty clear:

"One in three of our black colleagues in advertising didn't feel they belong in the advertising industry"
"1% black representation in the advertising c-suite"
"32% of black industry individuals we spoke to said they likely to leave the industry due to do discrimination"
It's deep, complex and nuanced, and part of the process is asking yourself the hard questions, and facing and addressing the uncomfortable truths about yourself and the business you are part of.

A big blocker is unconscious bias and stereotypes, enabling the perception of women of colour being collectively labelled as "difficult or aggressive" or people of colour not being "team players" if we challenge the status quo or an invalid view because we have different reference points.

Example questions: are there enough black people in key leadership roles throughout the business, with decision-making powers? If not, why not? Are we continuing the work beyond Black History Month?

For the limited POC who are in these positions:

Are they empowered within their roles to decolonise old-world policies on important areas such as hiring, internal progression and/or procurement. Are their opinions listened to and actioned?

Have they been placed there for the optics and to tick a box in a world where things have changed and organisations need to be seen to be doing the right thing?

Have they been put in positions of power because they reflect the traditional structures that have so long kept the status quo as is?

And, ultimately, should these individuals be the spokespeople for all POC – with the expectation from both white and communities of colour? After all, the homogenisation of communities is problematic too and erases intersectionality.

It's a personal choice, not the job of marginalised communities in the workplace to teach everyone how to be inclusive – there are countless tools, books, podcasts, and lists available to self-educate on how to practise anti-racism in your everyday actions.

We talk about organisations taking action, but at the end of the day a person's values have an impact on their professional life and those around them – and just because your company may be on the way to being more diverse, the mindset to foster inclusivity (and equity) is not a given.

Leila Fataar is founder of Platform 13


Campaign, October 2022

This weekend, the world’s (second) biggest party returns to the streets of west London for the first time since 2019. Notting Hill Carnival, a British summertime institution, attracted up to two million partygoers annually before the pandemic put a pause to its IRL plans. A relocation into the digital world failed to scratch the collective itch for a true “carni” experience and, three years on — with social distancing a distant memory in the UK — organizers are anticipating a record attendance.

As ever, Carnival’s main events fall on the Sunday and Monday of the August bank holiday weekend, with the former typically noted for its family-friendly feel. However, the unofficial start of this year’s festivities is being marked by the National Panorama Steelband Competition — the only ticketed part of Carnival — kicking off from 4pm BST on Saturday, August 27.

While this summer saw music festivals return en masse throughout the UK, tickets to some of the biggest and best were impossible to acquire for most. Notting Hill Carnival, on the other hand, is a free-for-all, and music — the great equalizer — is at the heart of both the carnival and the Caribbean culture it celebrates. Those descending onto the three-and-a-half mile route this year can expect to find all the familiar sights, sounds, and scents that make the carnival so legendary. Freshly-grilled jerk chicken and ice-cold cans of Red Stripe will be soundtracked by a choice of 38 different static sound systems dotted around, and just off, the main parade. In compliment are the inevitable pop-up side-street parties, hundreds of parade floats, horns, whistles, and steel bands accented by a sea of dancing smiles and a kaleidoscope of intricately crafted costumes. Oh, and dancing police, if you’re lucky (we guess?).

Some of the unmissable stages returning this year include the Channel One Sound System which marks its 40th year providing the people with roots and culture; Deviation, the brainchild of London-born DJ and long-time Virgil Abloh collaborator Benji B, which is taking over the Killerwatt Sound System on Sunday; Rampage Sound, which is ramping up for another carnival roadblock; and certified carnival institutions like Cecil Rennie’s sound system, better known as King Tubby’s, is set to return return along with original dubmaster Aba Shanti I.

“Carnival is an important milestone in the year symbolizing the huge impact of Caribbean culture in all its forms and influences
Travel site Trippin has created a helpful downloadable digital map featuring a curated selection of “the best sound systems, stages, parties, food stalls, toilet access and safer spaces across Notting Hill Carnival”, which can also be used offline⁠ in case of bad cell tower reception. We’ve also heard that community greengrocers Trapfruits have linked up with another Black-owned, London-based brand, BAYAB, for a special carnival punch collaboration. These will be handed out for free at secret locations throughout the weekend (so don’t expect to find these on Trippin’s map).

Rivaled in size only by Rio de Janeiro’s Carnaval, London’s Notting Hill Carnival is a colourful, three-day celebration of Caribbean culture spanning the musical to the culinary and everything in between. Since the late 1960s, the annual event has brought together generations of Brits (and beyond) through a shared love and appreciation of “island life” — albeit a slightly sunnier version than the British Isles are known for. This not only reflects the indelible impact the UK’s Caribbean community has had on modern-day Britain but speaks to the larger influence Black culture has had on the arts across the western world over in the past century.

But, like similar celebrations born of strife — think Pride and the Stonewall Riots — the Notting Hill Carnival is rooted in a slightly darker place: the 1958 race riots of its namesake neighbourhood saw a 300 to 400-strong fascist mob attack the neighborhood’s West Indian residents and their houses. Post-war Britain was inevitably a period of great change, but the cultural shifts that came with this could not have been predicted: while Britain was on the winning side of the war, the British Empire was fast losing territory and in 1948 the British Nationality Act gave Her Majesty’s colonial subjects the right to UK citizenship. Soon after this, the SS Empire Windrush arrived at the port of Tilbury, near London, bringing with her the first migrants from Jamaica, many of whom settled in the then-dilapidated west London neighborhood the carnival is named after. These two events would not only shape the UK but arguably popular culture as we know it today, impacting music, fashion, art, and culture worldwide.

“This is the biggest celebration of Caribbean culture”
Hypebeast spoke to a couple of long-time carnival goers ahead of this weekend’s event, including London-born photographer, Ollie Trenchard, whose work captures a side of carnival most don’t see: arriving at the crack of dawn, he shadows some of the vendors and performers working on behind-the-scenes build-up to highlight the full spectrum of love that goes into creating Europe’s biggest gathering of people. “Notting Hill Carnival coming back means everything! As a proud Bajan, this is the biggest celebration of Caribbean culture. It shows how it permeated all aspects of the UK from music to fashion and food. It’s such a unique event, it must be treasured.”

Leila Fataar, the founder of culture-catalyst Platform13, echoes this saying “(it’s) where everyone I know, regardless of age, color, the background comes together. Pure joy, pure vibes. An important milestone in the year symbolizing the huge impact of Caribbean culture in all its forms and influences”.

As always, expect surprise guests throughout the weekend. In 1997, a young Jay-Z surprised fans with an unplanned performance, and in 1999 a pre-Carter Beyonce Knowles performed with Destiny’s Child. Given the love shown to London by stars from across the pond, it shouldn’t be a stretch to think some will make the trip over for this year’s event.

In other news, adidas just released a special Carnival edition double-pack consisting of a Samba and a Campus, two of the brand’s silhouettes long-associated with dub culture, and Arsenal F.C. are launching a new jersey celebrating the club’s Jamaican supporters.

HYPEBEAST, AUGUST 2022

HURS, MAY 2022

Brand relevance is a discussion that has been on the rise, especially in the last few years, with brands like Lego doubling their profit during the pandemic due to the adaptability of their marketing and aesthetic, that has been in tune with the situation in the world. 

Janine Hearn-Odell, global brand marketing manager at Dr. Martens, however, points out that in the past when she worked for Vans, relevancy was not a word that was mentioned often. 

“In recent few years, relevancy has come up more and more,” she shares, “Relevancy is a confidence in your reason for being, that allows brands to reflect what is shaping society at the moment, but has to always be done with empathy and through active listening.”

Platform13’s founder Leila Fataar took it even further, and explained that brand relevance, and especially ground-up relevance, is critically important, because many brands today “hold a lot more power than possibly even governance.” 

“There is a role for these brands to play not only to reflect and normalise things that may not be normalised in communities, but also they need to realise they have the weight and power to be able to do that authentically, while having a back and forth with the consumer about where they do well and where they fail,” said Leila. 

When it comes to listening and having an open back-and-forth approach with consumers, Alex Hill gave an example of a recent TikTok trend that Dickies found themselves in the midst of, where people wearing their wide leg trousers decided to start turning the waistband over because it looks cooler. Something that was definitely not manufactured neither was it intentional, but gave the brand an incredible boost on social media.

“What is super interesting is seeing how your consumer takes your brand and appropriates it and adapts it as they want,” says Leila. “It actually has nothing to do with the brand! 

There’s absolutely no way that the flicking over of the waistband trend was in anyone’s mind when that happened. And I think what is really important here is to be able to pick up on that and authentically celebrate how your consumers use your product - that is what adds brand relevance.”

In terms of where relevancy grows, Alex touched upon brand purpose, values and how important brand stance is, as well as how adaptable those stances that brands take should be. “An obvious example is Patagonia - we know who they are and what they stand for, but would I buy anything that they create because of what they stand for? Is this something that is essential for brands to be vocal about now, in terms of who they are?”

Janine pointed out that now, more than ever, being vocal about who the brand is is crucial. “It’s also appropriate for us as brand people to make those decisions that make you feel what the brand is. Doing the thing that feels connected to where you started and why this is what makes it so uniquely you, makes you really memorable and meaningful to consumers. 

So purpose absolutely has to be part of it. Vans is all about driving creative self expression, where as Dr. Martens is all about breaking down barriers, and that’s what makes them so distinctive, as they sit side by side.”

Leila believes that beyond recognising those pillars of purpose, brands need to be prepared to take some of their profit and put it back into what their purpose means. “It’s really hard to do this in the corporate world. To realise that something is not a sales opportunity, but a brand building opportunity.” 

Keeping core values in mind and being aware of what the brand stands for is just a start, but as established before, consumers tend to take things out of context a lot of the time. 

Alex moved on to question how brands are meant to keep an eye out for new audiences that adopt their product, while still maintaining the core audience that it was set out for, especially from a fashion perspective. 

“There isn’t culture and mainstream anymore - they sit side by side,” said Janine. The honest question that was looked at at Vans was how to protect skateboarding as the brand grew beyond it. 

“We absolutely had to talk about skateboarding in a wider context. And it was about also acknowledging that people are on a different journey with your brand at different points in time. So if you picked up that product in a sports store, or at a skate store, you still have a right to be here and spoken to. 

It comes back to the consistent change and reevaluation of how you communicate your brand.” 

So far we understand that flexibility has to stand at the heart of brand relevance, as well as keeping in touch with how their own consumer circles adapt their products, and when new consumer circles emerge to reappropriate the product. 

But how can legacy brands identify their core and stay true to it, while not becoming completely out of touch with what they are meant to be delivering to their contemporary audiences? 

“It is harder, but at the same time, I think there’s a shift in people wanting to know the foundations of brands now. It wasn’t like that before and I think people are more caring about foundations now. 

Business is not just about the product, it’s very much about being bold and making a meaningful contribution,” explained Janine. “I think that’s where the big legacy brands come in because they constantly do that and are reevaluated all the time.” 

For Leila, the devil is in the details, because she truly believes that legacy brands are the ones that have the most richness in terms of relevance if they really look into their roots. 

For example, when she was at Diageo and was going through their archives, she discovered that Guinness had been selling to the West Indies and Africa since as early as the 1820s.

“The brand has a huge, huge relationship with Caribbean culture in this country, so we recently did a campaign where we highlighted that newfound relevance. The community felt heard and it was fantastic to see their engagement - creative decisions need to be made around that,” she pointed out. 

“It turns out it is such a huge part of this culture that some of my Jamaican friends didn’t even know it was Irish!”

Social Media Week, May 2022

You can’t turn anywhere without hearing about ‘the Metaverse’ these days. Why it has planted itself so firmly in our reality at this moment in time comes down to a perfect storm: Firstly, the global lockdown meant everyone started living digitally. And additionally, technological advancements and the mainstreaming of hardware and peer to peer platforms like Roblox and The Sandbox are driving new ways to connect, create and, ultimately, earn.

It didn’t take long for the industry to press GO: Roblox launched music, Nike acquired Rtfkt, adidas and Prada partnered on an NFT, and Balenciaga launched merch on Fortnite. By the time you read this, 1000+ other projects will have minted themselves into existence.

In this unfiltered discussion, curated and hosted by Leila Fataar, we explore the ultimate question: How can we stay human in the face of this virtual world?

THE PANELISTS
- Leila Fataar, founder, Platform13

- Wilson Oryema, Head of Metaverse at the Institute of Digital Fashion (IoDF)

- Shanu Walpita, Futures Director, Educator and Co-Founder of The Emergence of Tomorrow

- Galit Ariel, Technofuturist & author

LEILA FATAAR: The Metaverse is happening… fast. It feels like the metaverse is ‘new’, but Galit, tell me, have we been here before?

GALIT ARIEL: It's not new. During my college days in London, I almost failed my degree because I was in Second Life, and that was the '90s, right? We're seeing similar discussions and similar, I want to say, challenges, to what was happening then. The idea of Web 3.0 or the metaverse isn’t new at all.

FATAAR: Let’s discuss the differences between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0…

WILSON ORYEMA: Web 2.0 is, basically, a few centralized systems controlling the source of information and the removal of agency from the individual, so that most people's opportunities and experiences are limited by the big platforms. Web 3.0 is decentralization of the internet, or the mobile internet, that we've come to know before, so that individuals have their start point and that they can interact on any level with any individual or organization that they choose to.

SHANU WALPITA: Web 2.0 Is about the individual/the corporation, and Web 3.0 is about the collectivist statement, or the community / collectivist environment, in some ways.

ORYEMA: I'm super optimistic about what can be achieved through blockchain innovation and this onboarding to the metaverse. One thing that most people don't realize yet with regards to Web 2.0, is that they own nothing. They have no ownership or responsibility for any of the systems or products that they interface with. So what is coming through now, with things like Ethereum and Bitcoin, is that people can now be self custodians and directly interact with others on a peer to peer basis.

ARIEL: Web 1.0 was really about the connectivity economy – the ability to access information, create communities, and the worldwide network. Web 2.0 became the data economy, where the transaction seems free, but our data and the surveillance of our behavior is the transaction or the fuel behind it. And these two are super necessary to arrive at Web 3.0 - the spatial economy, where virtual space experiences or digital assets and experiences in a physical space become the web.

And a word of caution to all these world builders, corporations, and brands, because this is a space where people are not just participating but proactively creating. If these organizations are not careful, there may be a time they are not needed anymore beyond facilitation to create communities, activities, and content. So I think we're going to see a really big power shift through Web 3.0, eventually, but I'm concerned about who's trying to centralize it while using the term "decentralizing."

FATAAR: As we shift from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, what does this decentralization actually mean? How do we make sure we're embedding safety, representation, inclusion, learnings from social media, etc., and fixing these issues?

ORYEMA: So there's a lot that's being done already. It's still very open in terms of what is possible and what is capable in these spaces. Of course you have people who are larger shareholders in the space, but there's still opportunity for everyone to kind of come in.

WALPITA: This power shift is super interesting. The way that I've been trying to think about this metaverse as a space for digital ecologies to grow from a cultural side rather than a monetary side, which is speaking more to accessibility. It’s like this modular thing that keeps moving and creating, there's always much more open to interpretation, and it’s much more accessible and inclusive in its own way.

FATAAR: What's the difference between life in the metaverse and IRL? How do we normalize these things so that we start living in that way IRL instead of only virtually?

ARIEL: There is already a really transformative phase moving through social media - this fluid state of being represented as ourselves or alternative selves in virtual space. And so the boundary we pretended we had between digital and physical spaces is going to be literally broken by virtual spaces.

WALPITA: I mean, to a degree, because there's a lot of people who are trying to acknowledge the fact that some of these avatars are quite limiting at the moment. What's really exciting is that there is going to be this more permeable kind of existence between real and not real, to the degree of us being able to create these fictional fantastical characters if we want to.

ARIEL: We already have it with beautifying filters on Instagram. And you have this anti-movement of representing yourself in an authentic place. But of course in the virtual space, it’s a given. And when we talk about regulation, it's also coming more heavily from users themselves. There's self-regulation – the community itself is, I want to say, more vocal, more proactive. We are more aware of the impact of Web 3.0 and our desires and our goals. People will go where the real value is for them. And the question is then, what will be that real value? What will be that space that interests people?

ORYEMA: It's different strokes for different folks. In that, Meta will build in their own experience and will have their own limitations based on regions they enter.

FATAAR: One thing that's obviously the biggest issue in all our lives is the climate crisis. We know the technology required to run the metaverse is going to make an already difficult situation even harder. What are our thoughts on its environmental impact?

WALPITA: The internet is invisible, to a degree. People don't really understand the impact that it actually has on our environment. Digital technology now accounts for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions. That's more than the entire aviation sector. And then looking ahead into 2050, the internet could consume more than a 5th of the world's electricity. Just to give you a sense of where we are at: a single transaction of Bitcoin, has the same carbon footprint as 680,000 Visa transactions.

ARIEL: There is this illusion that tech is something that happens somewhere and has no cost, cultural or physical. Which is untrue. My question is whether the Metaverse is becoming a space for increased consumerism. You can own a 1,000 dresses, but then you have to power it and maintain it. And it has its own economy of trading, forgery, and ownership. The ecosystem around it doesn't just end when you put your goggles on or switch on your phone. I somehow suspect that owning a real wardrobe might be less costly long term.

FATAAR: What is your opinion on ownership and copyright?

ORYEMA: I actually wrote a blog post a few weeks ago about how essentially all fashion, all pieces of physical fashion, will eventually be tokenized and sold as NFTs. So the idea is that although we only look at NFTs as digital images, NFTs at their core are just certification or proof certificates to say that you own something.

ARIEL: But NFTs are not always for ownership. That's something else the audience needs to know. Not always does the NFT say, "You actually own the full copyright." There are NFTs and blockchain technology that allow you digital ownership and there is the other kind, affiliation, which is slightly different.

ORYEMA: It’s a direct tokenization of physical items, and in the future, brands will tokenize their products themselves.

ARIEL: We're moving into new ideas of ownership and copyright. This was dismantled in social media because as long as you could share it, you owned it. It’s going to be really, really interesting to see how it shifts.

WALPITA: I come from a trend background, so this is something I've thought about so much over the years, and I've shifted my thinking around ownership and what it means to create. It’s very polarized. You've got brands taking huge ownership of their creative work that spans eras. Is that going to have an issue in terms of creativity in that sense?

But I was also thinking about hype culture and the idea of tokenism and collectibles – a big part of sneaker culture. For brands to operate in that space, I think the Metaverse could offer tons of potential. We know that it's been successful for Balenciaga and Fortnite, for example.

If they want to be in that space, they really have to understand who that consumer is, and that consumer is super complex. On the one hand, you've got kids who are like, "Boomerverse." But you've also got lots of people who are really excited about this idea of being able to create and buy and purchase and repurchase and own;this tokenizing of product. It's so complicated, but I'm also excited by that. It's going to be tricky and it's going to be super cringy as well.

FATAAR: Platform13 was created in order to make sure that the input of marketing and communications ideas is done by the people who brands are trying to sell to. So instead of just talking at them, the ideas come from the culture, from the community you're trying to be part of. Do you think that those big companies currently driving this space don’t have enough people at the input stage to ensure they are being as careful about everything?

ARIEL: The new era is not coming from Silicon Valley at all. It is coming from everywhere. This is a decentralization of innovation that is happening everywhere. It's reactive, it's a regulatory thing. I think it's a different world post-COVID.

FATAAR: I understand. But what I'm saying is from a branding and marketing point of view, I can see that hype. I can see this thing and I'm like, "Is it a shiny new toy? Or can we make sure that it's done properly?"

ARIEL: It's a shiny new toy that can be done properly.

WALPITA: But I mean, if you don't embed the power swap, if you don't embed the right people in those spaces, we will risk institutionalizing them again. What's beautiful is that what Web 3.0 and the Metaverse offer is a sense of collectivism, which would potentially reinforce these nuanced interests. But we have to be very careful.

Maybe a way to position it is, and I'm obsessed with this word right now, flex. This idea of flex as a way of looking at how brands and consumers are navigating this quite complex space between value consumption, social impact,, and also just, existing. It's flexing, we're flexing in and out of these realities when we talk about the Metaverse. The more that we progress with technology, the more that we're going to flex in and out of this as well. I think a lot of brands need to be much more in that mindset of not always knowing exactly what to do, but being open enough to do something. Maybe this new virtual world will push them to be more flexible, or will force them to be more flexible.
ARIEL: So you say flex, I like fluid. I think it's fluid. And that is very hard for brands, because they're used to…

FATAAR: Demographics vs mindsets.

WALPITA: Yeah. Get the metrics, right?

ARIEL: It's a whole new platform with a whole new interaction, so it will force them to adapt. It's a complete transition. You're bringing the real world and mixing it together with a speculative world.. It will work to a limit for a certain amount of time, but then, it will have a shift. And it will shift much quicker than in social media, because now we are involved.

FATAAR: What’s the gamechanger to shift this forward?

WALPITA: Awareness, hindsight. And we have to be aware of the fact that it's digital natives who are now co-creating these spaces. Whereas before, it was very much top down. And really enabling collectivism, collectives, community to build these spaces from the ground up, rather than from the top down.

FATAAR: Is this democratization of creativity a good or bad thing?

WALPITA: It's both. I feel like democratization obviously is really positive for young creatives in particular. It gives them space. And it also negates this idea of gatekeeping, which very much is an issue in terms of accessibility. All these issues can theoretically be sorted through this idea of ‘decentralization’. But at the same time, I think we also have to acknowledge the issues that it could present.

FATAAR: What do you think the future holds for us and what can brands do now?

ORYEMA: It will move towards everything that has the foundational layer of the blockchain. Brands and individuals can build on top of it, but there is no restriction to any individual party.

And we'll see this extend throughout the metaverse as all of these different platforms or systems - that's democratizing opportunity for all. In the future, all of this is overlaid through a seamless experience with the use of AR/VR. Our phones, which will become a lot more functional over the next decade, and will have such a seamless experience that encourages sovereignty, but also, allows for the safe space or various safe spaces of the users' world

But there's also a lot of people who also like the comfort of these centralized spaces where they don't want to think too much. So, I think there'll be opportunity and freedom for everyone to make their particular choices.

For brands, just play around with these tools in your spare time. It requires a whole different way of thinking in terms of how peer to peer systems operate. I would say for anyone to just buy your own NFT, set up the MetaMask wallet. Get involved.

WALPITA: Technology in the virtual world will absolutely impact the way that we experience these spaces and that, in itself, will also, then, push innovation in a different perspective, or in a different place than it is right now. And we can't deal with the same rules that we're dealing with right now. It just won't exist, or they'll change slightly.

On brands, co-create and make it accessible, and also, get people to challenge your perspective. And who also really are in that space who can tell you what that usability is like, and also, then kind of build equity into everything that you do in terms of strategy, that's my advice.

Take it beyond the product. It's about experience. It's about value, it's about new systems that aren't necessarily linked to an artifact or a physical product. So, what can you do as a brand to really tell a story in a completely different way that is completely inclusive and it's inclusive beyond binary?

ARIEL: My advice is to grab the opportunity to learn, reflect, and explore creative brands, playgrounds, to co build and evolve your presence, but also, your perspective on this space. There's a lot of time. Start now. And protect yourself, protect your users, protect culture, like really think about it because long term is not just like let's build it and make it stay. Like really understand, keep your finger on a pulse. Because again, in these environments, the down spiral is going to be very quick and very hurtful, and very damaging for yourself and the users. The duplication of the value system that we already have in this world is, for me, boring. We can go to social media for that. What is exciting for me in VR and is starting to come, is this alternative speculative, cultural space that I'm so excited about.

FATAAR: Like anything new, this is incredibly exciting. We're at the stage of build, and this input is essential for what's going to happen over the next few years. But if we don't get it right now, it's a waste of everything that's happened before.

HIGHSNOBIETY, MARCH 2022

Leila Fataar is a rare breed. A woman who can seamlessly marry commercial savvy with creative vision to produce brand projects you’ll actually want to watch, share or be part of. As a result, her company, Platform 13 embodies this same unique perspective. With her small but perfectly formed team, Leila enables credible conversations between brands and their audiences without the common mis-steps or clichés. 

We wanted to speak to Leila for this series because with 20 years of experience, from running a youth-oriented boutique agency, Spin, and senior positions in-house at adidas Originals and drinks heavyweight, Diageo, Leila is the person you want on your team to bring wisdom, flair and fun – always fun. 

__Why did you first want to start Platform13? __

We are in a time of radical transformation: politically, societally, culturally and technologically. Consumers want and expect brands to be more than the product or service being sold - it needs to make sense, to add value, earning their place in the culture or community they want to be part of. And brands / companies need to evolve to reflect cultural shifts.

Three key challenges I wanted to address impacted why and how I set up Platform13.

Where big brands use agencies which are perfect for letting your target audience know about the features or benefits of your product or brand to drive sales. My biggest issue was and is that these agencies are filled with the same types of people. For me, lack of diversity and lack of access for talent  at the input stage of creating a campaign is a LIVE conversation and something I have always been vocal about within the advertising and comms industry.

Additionally, this traditional way of approaching comms also misses out on HOW brands can positively impact the people they are trying to sell to, and the wider world. For us, positive impact comes in many forms. 

So, I set up Platform13 differently in all aspects. One essential way is that we curate our teams according to the brand category, the culture and community that that brand is trying to be part of - be it local or global. This means that any Platform13 projects have INPUT of the audience from the get go…and not only “representation” in the output.

__What were the first main steps you went through in the process of setting up Platform 13?__

For me, it was identifying what Platform13 could offer big brands that their traditional agencies could not. 

I literally wrote down the 5 things I knew I could do that complemented the current industry set up. Platform13 has never been about competing with the traditional agencies and we don’t want to - there is a role for both. In fact, we don’t call ourselves an agency at all.

I wrote a clear vision deck with the values I wanted the company to uphold. 

I definitely didn’t do a traditional business plan, because it was a new way of working, but I had to think about how the company would work financially.

__What were some of the main obstacles in the beginning?____

I do remember, from my first company, gaining clients initially and cash flow were the toughest obstacles, especially when you have no contacts or even from being in school for what I do now. 

As a new company, one of our biggest challenges was the beginning of the pandemic, when all brands just stopped work. Our business setup meant that we could quickly adapt, not only from a remote working POV but also the ability to offer what our clients needed at that point. 

Now, with Platform13, my 20+ years experience, a strong small core team, knowing those languages and clarity on our offer helps. I was lucky that Diageo came on as my first client as soon as I was set up. This allowed me to ’test’ this new non-agency concept and it worked well for me and them. 

“When starting a new project, aligned ways of working with your client is key e.g. do they want a weekly or daily update, in person, on email, on the phone.”

__You started with one main client, what advice would you give to people when they're looking to attract and sign up their first new clients?__

The main advice would be to try to and go for potential clients who may need your unique offer. Research well and put together an intro that ensures they understand that you have done your research about their company and their needs. Target your outreach emails, keep it short AND please, please check your spelling, grammar and names of the people you need to talk to. People get literally hundreds of emails a day. What’s going to make them stop at yours?

__What are the first things you make sure you address or cover when you start a new client project?__

Once they are signed, ensure clear terms on budget, timelines, deliverables and payment schedules in your agreement. When starting a new project, aligned ways of working with your client is key e.g. do they want a weekly or daily update, in person, on email, on the phone. 

Team curation is key - ensuring the right people are involved makes the projects what they are. The ability to work with a mixed and diverse team from a variety of backgrounds, life experiences and levels of professional experience is one of the reasons I started Platform13. 

__What would you do differently, knowing what you know now?__

Not sure if there is anything I would do differently, as for me, every step is an opportunity to learn. I am very very hands on with all aspects of the business, so what I am focused on now is building and developing the team.

__How do you stay motivated when energy for the project is a little low or if it's challenging?__

It's tough and as a founder, the buck always stops with you. You will have to shoulder the responsibility, especially when it's challenging. You have to face it head on.

I enjoy troubleshooting, so I like solving problems. You have to be passionate about what you are doing - remember why you started - this usually gets me through. Otherwise, it’s really hard to motivate other people.

__What do you love about running your own company?__

I learnt so much when I worked in-house, but I really struggled with in-house culture. So, in my own company, I can set my own rules and try new ways of working.

__What's the best advice you've had or heard for anyone starting out or starting something new?__

I know this is supposed to be an inspirational quote, but I am always a realist. My first accountant of my first business said: "Just remember, you are only 'in business' when you invoice, when someone wants to pay for what you can offer.” It stays with me always.


RIPOSTE, JANUARY 2022

ADWEEK, DECEMBER 2021

Ahhh Thanksgiving, a time-honored, extremely problematic American holiday that has bred another, equally problematic holiday, one enshrined entirely to the apex of capitalism and consumerism. That's right, Black Friday. And while this holiday is great for those of us looking to snag deals on new technology, it is something of a nightmare when we consider the drastic impact this heightened consumer frenzy has on the environment.

In this unfiltered discussion, curated and hosted by Leila Fataar, we explore overconsumption to answer the question: “Do we still need moments like Black Friday?”

THE PANELISTS
- Leila Fataar, founder, Platform13

- Dio Kurazawa, co-founder of The Bear Scouts

- Lola Okuyiga, buyer & former director of collaborations and special projects

- Leanne Elliott Young, co-founder of Institute of Digital Fashion

- Steve Dool, Head of Brand Partnerships at Depop

THE CONVERSATION
Leila: I think that sustainability needs to be redefined as "planet and people," because that's something people seem to forget. Fashion is the world's second largest polluter after the oil industry. People buy 80 billion garments around the world every year. 80 billion. Nearly 70 million barrels of oil are used each year to make the world's polyester. And that takes more than 200 years to decompose. I mean, these are ridiculous numbers.

So since the 1980s, many Western fashion retailers have been sourcing their clothes from countries with low labor costs, Di, looking at you, and poor environmental governance. What does this mean for things like Black Friday? Because without that, would these people be starving? What is the way forward for this? What do you think, Di?

Dio: I come from the Global South, and I come from a family who manufactures in the Global South and has taken advantage of globalization, or let's say the offshoring, production from the Western world. Everyone has to evolve. And what I mean by that is, I don't look at my family and say, "We rely on the pennies that we get from the Western world, and without those pennies, where would we be?" We have to disrupt the industry in a way that sees the supply chain and the brands partnering, but not partnering from "Yes, my partner in the supply chain is ABC," but partnering from a perspective of sharing gross profit margin. If I'm a supplier and I'm getting the cost of goods for whatever I create for a brand, why should I not also get a small piece of the pie of profit?

Leila: Yeah, but because of over-consumption, you get these big, fast fashion retailers that are selling things at five pounds, that to make is pennies. I mean, it's ridiculous. The margins are massive. What if the margins of the price of it are so small that it's impossible to do? Which means that somewhere, something's got to give... usually at that labor cost and supply chain further down the line.

Dio: It's not just the labor cost. I spent, let's say, three years in Bangladesh for brands I shouldn't mention. And I can say that there's a lot of unregulation, which is the reason why things are the way they are. I've sat in meetings where I'm, at the time, a product developer, meaning I go on a development trip, let's say for a month, get everything ready, and then the buyers come in to make decisions and to negotiate the cost. And I would be privy to this negotiation. The buyers would first go to Pakistan, and then they would come to Bangladesh, and the buyer would lie to the owner of the factory and say, "Hey, the guy in Pakistan is saying it's 10 cents less than what you're offering." Total lie. I know it's a lie. But what can I say? The owner of the factory is literally in tears. I'm a person of color and I'm hearing this person of color talk to this Western person and saying "Boss, please don't do this. If you do this, then we cannot lose the business." Cause look, not taking the business is bigger than taking the cents off.

But if you take the cents off, then what is missed? You mentioned labor cost immediately. Labor cost, yes. But what about innovation? What about basic maintenance of the factories? What about the future of the factory, as far as bringing in new business, bringing in new employees? It's a downward spiral. But it's all based on the fact that clothing is cheap.

Leila: Exactly. Why should clothing be so cheap? Leanne, from a digital innovation point of view, can people still have that feeling of expression and stuff that we love clothes for?

Leanne: The key thing we talk about as a company that's creating digital fashion is that we are not negating our physical world. It's how the IRL and URL, how the physical and digital, can work in unison, and how they can lay on top of one another, and what these experiences feel like. If you boil it all down, fashion is about expression. It's about kinship. Fashion is about expression. It's about kinship. And what we're missing is that when you actually all live in a digital age, and the fact that everyone thinks digital fashion is so abstract, but actually we're already sharing digital assets. As soon as you post something on Instagram, that is a digital asset. And it all comes down to the idea that if we, as humanity, really thought about how we could live in a more cooperative space, then the world would actually be a much better space, a greener space.

Leila: Steve, what are your thoughts on the impact of people, the structure, and how it feeds each other in a way? And to Leanne's point of view, this idea of the digitization of it?

Steve: I mean, it's structural, there's so many places that need vast improvement and complete overhaul. But on a fundamental level, if you are a consumer and you see a bathing suit, a T-shirt, whatever the case may be, sold for five pounds, how do you say no? Especially if you're someone who doesn't have a lot of disposable income? We can shout at the top of our lungs 365 days a year about how we need to make better choices as consumers, but we need to be more responsible and more conscious.

Dio: It's up to people like us, and to brands, to educate and explain and have that level of transparency. But there has to be a real reckoning with someone who just doesn't have a lot of other options financially. It's hard for a consumer to navigate when push comes to shove, when it comes to taking money out of their wallet. So I hope all consumers are educating themselves. I hope brands are being transparent about it. The responsibility is on everyone to do better in a way that’s hard to pinpoint, like, “This is what we should do tomorrow.”

Leanne: There's so many smarter ways to shop now. You can purchase something, and then there's an option or ability for resale, like Depop. The youth are getting more and more smart about thinking about their own ecosystems, their own sense of commerce. And I feel like we're in a really powerful time now, because as a customer, you can really make a statement. We've got these platforms where you can really amplify your message. And it means that there's much more knowledge out there.

Lola: Hype culture gets such a bad rap, but when I think about hype, I think about demand exceeding supply. Which is what we want, right? What I always think with sustainability is mindful consumption, and when demand obviously outstrips supply, then it means that you've got stuff that people aren't going to throw away. They are going to put it in the circular economy, or they're going to keep it and display it and sit on it or whatever. We live in this timeline-based culture, so "New In" is the most-shopped page at most retailers or brands. That is what is driving demand. We're literally scrolling down, trying to see what's new. Expecting consumers to make better decisions when things are quite confusing is quite hard.

Leila: Absolutely. I don't think it's as simple as going, "It's not the consumer," or "It is the consumer," or "It is the industry." It's going to take a village, all of us, to make the change. So, what is the solution? What is the short-term, medium-term, and long-term solution? Because to your point, what can you do tomorrow? I think where everyone gets stuck, they're like, "Oh my God, it's so massive. I don't even know where to start."

Leanne: Covid gave us this amazing opportunity where the semantics of fashion were really reconsidered. It gave us a point, almost like a breather, to think about the future of the industry. I feel like the fashion industry is like a big beast. It's like the Titanic. It's massive. And it's like, we're heading towards the iceberg, but it's too big to turn, everyone's on the top deck still playing, they're like, "Oh my God, I can see it." How do you remodel that?

I’ll talk about digital, because that's my space. With a digital asset from studio floor to shop floor, that asset is a digital asset, but there's nothing that has gone into production. And that can be worn a million times and it's still the worn asset. You can click through various different fabrics and they haven't even gone into production. You can see it in a python skin, but no pythons were killed. That's the beauty of that landscape. Those things seem so radical to even because it feels all so abstract. There's so many solutions, but incrementally, as the adoption of digital has become more and more normalized, we'll really see that shift in the landscape and have lots of sustainability.

Steve: Maybe there's a way to at least kind of lean into that unquenchable thirst that consumers seem to have around something new. That's just shifting it slightly into, you're not necessarily buying all the clothes that you used to buy to wear on Instagram or TikTok. You're maybe replacing some of those with digital. It's a start towards something that seems a little bit better.

Leila: Di, you've been working in this space for a long time. Out of all the stuff that you've been seeing, what do you think is the one that's a myth? And then also, what do you think is the one that has the legs, in thinking about the future and where that innovation could happen?

Dio: One of the myths is about circularity and recycling. We work with a lot of influential or high brands, and at the end of the day, if you have a recycled product, it's not 100% recycled. It's maybe sometimes 30 percent. If you're lucky, depending upon the fibers, up to 70 percent. And then if you want to push circularity, to bring back into the supply chain something that was 50 percent, which if I now recycle it again, it's even less.

However, I believe very much in upcycling, and in 3D printing. And I would love to see direct-to-consumer shipping. So it's not shipped to a distribution center or to a shop anywhere. It goes direct. That's a major improvement to the carbon footprint.

Leila: What's the blocker right now in your industry? What can we do straight away this year? What can we do next year? Are we doomed? Steve?

Steve: We are in the business of selling things that people like, that make them feel good, that they can express themselves in. I don't want to see another more consciously-made or ethically-made collection that's promoted with somebody walking through a fucking field and touching a tree. I can't relate to that. It has to look good. Do you know what I mean? And I know that that sounds frivolous. But truly, if we're selling the ideal, it has to be made well, mindful of the people who make it. We can start there.

Leila: One last comment, do we need Black Friday?

Dio: No.

Leanne: No.

Steve: No.

Lola: I'll say no for the big companies. However, I do feel like a lot of smaller brands and people I know use it to.. It is another peak for them. So I guess from a supporting small businesses point of view, it could be a thing, but I don't like the concept of it as in terms of just markdown. It's work. It's like a moment on the calendar, isn't it? People around, and then everyone knows to shop on that day, and if people are going to shop and you're not going to stop someone from shopping, let's least give them some -

Leila: Better options that are feasible and realistic. Yes, we should.

HIGHSNOBIETY, NOVEMBER 2021

This week's FRONTPAGE is an analysis of a leading question facing the industry: just how involved should corporations be in the dire social struggles defining our times?

Two weeks ago, Valentino launched one of this year’s most covetable luxury products. For a mere €590 (about $690), you could be the proud owner of a limited-edition black logoed hoodie, emblazoned with the words “VACCINATED,” of which 100 percent of the proceeds would go to UNICEF’s global COVAX program.

The idea came from Valentino’s celebrated Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli after seeing the overwhelming positive response a selfie he posted on Instagram had generated, in which he wore one of the "(V)accinated" pieces, following his second jab. And when Lady Gaga, Marc Jacobs, Instagram’s Eva Chen, and almost every other major industry figure “needs one,” it’s go time.

“I can talk about ruffles and bows, but sometimes you have to use your voice to say what you really believe, and I believe it’s our social responsibility to get vaccinated,” Piccioli told The Times’ Vanessa Friedman ahead of the launch of the capsule. “It’s not a symbol of freedom to not be vaccinated. It’s a symbol of lack of respect for others,” he went on.

The Italian fashion house is the latest to join a fast-growing list of apparel brands who are making their support of social causes a key part of their branding strategy. From Nike’s public support of Colin Kaepernick and Burberry’s long-term partnership with footballer Marcus Rashford on fighting child poverty to Louis Vuitton’s work with UNICEF, brands big and small are looking to find growth by unapologetically wearing their heart — and values — on their sleeve.

“More and more consumers care about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues; it therefore makes good marketing to weave those values into the brands' narrative,” says Luca Solca, Senior Research Analyst, Luxury Goods at Bernstein. “Think Prada and re-nylon, think Moncler and the Covid-19 hospital donation, LVMH and disinfectant liquid, as well as Valentino. They’re all examples of the same trend. Brands are right to update their behavior and discourse, adjusting to the current zeitgeist.”

But how much can brands (whose entire reason for existing is centred around growing their bottom line by finding new ways to sell you new physical products) actually drive lasting change? When is it genuine? What does “good” even look like? These questions are increasingly becoming more nuanced and polarized, as watch dogs like Diet Prada and Twitter are always lurking to catch fashion’s latest misstep. With real money at stake, brands can no longer avoid becoming more value-driven.

According to a 2019 study on value-driven brands by Deloitte, “55 percent of survey respondents believe businesses today have a greater responsibility to act on issues related to their purpose. Those failing to do so risk being displaced by purpose-driven disruptors.” It’s also bad for business in the long-term, with purpose-oriented companies seeing higher productivity and growth rates. Especially given that consumers are ready to walk away from the brands that don’t hold themselves accountable to the values we hope they’ll share with us.

At a time when our trust in traditional governing bodies is quickly fading and pessimism about social and political climates has reached a historic low — according to Deloitte’s updated Global Millennial 2020 report, more than 40 percent of survey respondents expect worsening situations, the highest ever recorded — we’ve looked elsewhere to those that can guide us. Brands whose role has always been to convince us they’re direct extensions of our identity — and are instrumental for how we want to be seen by others — have taken it upon themselves to save the day.

As social media has democratized the feed, a brand like Gucci has the same digital real estate and engagement frequency as that of your best friend (both live alongside each other on your feed). And brands have infiltrated every aspect of our lives by masking themselves as just that: our friends, our guiding forces. Those who best understand what values drive us emotionally win. As Deloitte states in its report: “As consumers are increasingly putting their wallets where their values are, stopping or initiating relationships are [now] based on how companies treat the environment, protect personal data, and position themselves on social and political issues.”

We’ve now come to a point where we’ve humanized brands to the extent where, by and large, we expect them to think harder, know better, and feel deeper. We’ve decided that anything shy of that embodiment just isn’t acceptable and doesn't deserve our time, attention, or money — the three ultimate pillars at the center of today’s brand competition. It’s a challenge brands have all too eagerly accepted.

“Brands are made up of people, and at the end of the day, we’re all humans,” says Leila Fataar, founder of Platform13, an independent full-service creative marketing and communications company that has worked with companies including Vans, Dr. Martens, and adidas on building cultural value for brands by working hand-in-hand with cultural voices around the world. “These human-first decisions can make a difference in how brands act; they have the weight and power to change narratives, if they want to. They also have the responsibility to do so.”

Fataar continues: “At best, they’re doing it because they really want to be part of the much needed change that has been accelerated in the past 18 months. The best brands and companies listen to their consumers and employees. At worst, it’s a performative action to stay relevant and be part of the conversation.” She adds: “It's a risk if it's not done with the right intention or without the guidance and collaboration from experts or people who are impacted. It’s a complex issue, as opportunity and risk are two sides of the same coin. [But] change doesn’t happen overnight. Long-term action and commitment is needed for social justice issues.”

What’s clear is that brands that are still on the fence of getting involved with social causes now that their societal role has changed, and as their global influence has continued to grow, shouldn’t ask "if" but "how" they can best get involved in an actual impactful way. At least that’s what our HS Rolodex community members think.

“If I was asked this question a few years ago, I probably wouldn’t have cared if brands spoke up regarding social issues,” says one member. “But today, I feel it’s crucial that they do. I’m a young Black woman from the US and I really felt seen when brands that I shop from posted their support of the BLM movement. A brand should support their customers like their customers support the brand. Creating that personal connection prompts me to want to support a brand [more].”

Across the board, however, the experts and HS Rolodex members we spoke to say they only want to see brands support social and environmental causes if it makes sense to the brand. Without a clear association, one can be walking on thin ice and risk coming across as green- or woke-washing.

“When fashion brands choose to become more involved with social causes, they can do this if their ambition goes beyond selling more products,” says one HS Rolodex respondent. “They need to choose carefully which social cause is meaningful to them. This can be through an authentic tradition, a cultural moment, or a long-term vision that connects the cause and the brand for the future. Short-term product drops and social activations can be perceived as cheap and provoke the wrong message.”

“I think Jacquemus does a great job in his sharing of LGBTQ+ rights, as well as Virgil Abloh and [his work] as an influential Black figurehead in fashion and culture,” says another respondent. “Brands should only get themselves involved where they’re able to genuinely add genuine thoughts, opinions, and social solutions, or have a reason for involvement, not when it’s just trendy or if it’s from a money-making angle.’”

Or, as Bernstein’s Luca Solca says, “[Brands] appear more credible when what they do is directly linked to the brand core equity. For example: Prada is recognized for nylon; using recycled nylon is credible. Charitable actions disconnected from the brand equity are commendable, but produce less of a positive impact.”

Credible impact is when Pyer Moss’ Kerby-Jean Raymond and Kering link up to launch Your Friends In New York, a platform designed to empower the next generation of innovators, which merges fashion, philanthropy, art, and music; when Burberry — one of the most widely-adopted brands in football culture — invests in footballer Marcus Rashford’s ongoing vision to support charities supporting marginalized young people in the UK and beyond; or when Jordan Brand and Michael Jordan pledge to donate $100 million over the next 10 years to fight racial inequality. Fast fashion giants pushing celebrity-endorsed messages about their new, more environmentally responsible capsules? Not so much.

“I would add Telfar as a brand that is delivering social impact through their unceasing vision of the ‘not for you, for everyone’ stance,” says Heta Fell, a Brand and Social Impact Consultant who has worked with brands including Gucci, Fendi, and adidas. “While most luxury fashion brands are slowly becoming slightly more inclusive, Telfar paves the way, and it’s clear it comes from the heart.”

Fell names Bethany Williams’ work with Manx Workshop for the Disabled, addiction rehabilitation centre San Patrignano, and The Magpie Project that supports mothers in insecure accommodations as key examples of how a brand can authentically put community impact at its core, as well as Ganni’s publishing of its Responsibility Report, and Loewe’s Studio Voltaire Award, which offers rent-free studio spaces to artists in London.

“Too many luxury brands aren’t getting the basics right in social impact and end up giving Diet Prada more fuel than we have right now. There’s too much performative impact work that ends up with brands burdening the very communities they are trying to help,” Fell adds. “I think it’s vital for brands to use their platform and resources to make a positive impact, but it needs to be done properly.”

She recommends brands take a community-first approach and directly work with communities to find out what they really need, and how they can contribute to lasting change. That includes brands needing to recognize community leaders as the experts in this work and valuing them as a result.

“The brand team that works on this needs to be intersectional and understand how to operate in worlds outside of luxury fashion. [Of course] a luxury brand’s social purpose also needs to be the obvious choice for the brand’s vision. This adds positively to the mental imprint of the brand in people’s minds, and keeps your brand top of mind when it counts.”

With that in mind, over to you.


HIGHSNOBIETY, OCTOBER 2021

Fashion’s freelancer problem exposed

Fashion’s freelancers say they are stuck in a cycle of financial instability and poor mental health. What would a more sustainable and stable ecosystem look like?

Nicky Pasterfield, an artist who hand-paints bespoke florals on everything from dresses to blankets for brands, says there is a dichotomy specific to fashion freelancing that has taken a toll on her mental health. “Month to month or week to week, nothing is guaranteed,” she says. “For the first two years of freelancing, I was living hand to mouth. Ironically, I was working on luxury fashion but I couldn’t even afford a pair of shoes or a new coat.”

Vogue Business surveyed 549 Vogue Business Talent subscribers in March — 192 of whom identified as freelancers working with fashion brands globally — to find out how, over a year into the pandemic, their work loads and mental health have fared. Of the respondents, 66 per cent said their financial situation had been unstable during the pandemic, compared to 19 per cent before the pandemic. Among the reasons cited by respondents were: fewer freelance opportunities, lack of contract clarity, poor pay, lack of supplemental jobs, uncertainty with clients and late payments. The most common issues included the irregularity of work, extreme pressure and stress, clients cancelling jobs with no notice or compensation, and ageism.

Freelancers interviewed by Vogue Business painted a picture of a challenging industry before the pandemic: six- or seven-day working weeks punctuated by loneliness and late payments, time wasted chasing invoices, and a race to the bottom on fees as more and more freelancers compete for opportunities. When Covid-19 hit, this instability was magnified. At the same time, those who did find work say they grappled with higher expectations from clients and the disheartening likelihood of less pay.

A 2019 survey by Edelman Intelligence for Upwork and Freelancers Union says 75 per cent of those working in the US arts and design sector are self-employed while Eurostat estimated that 32 per cent of Europe’s cultural workforce was self-employed that year, compared to 14 per cent of the whole economy. The Creative Industries Federation estimates that there are more than 660,000 creative freelancers in the UK. The pandemic led to event cancellations and budget cuts all round, leaving freelancers feeling more insecure. There are no unions that cater specifically for fashion freelancers, leaving an advocacy gap that allows exploitation to flourish.

The results of the Vogue Business Talent survey suggest that sweeping change is necessary, says Anna Codrea-Rado, author of freelance guide You’re the Business. Changes can be made throughout the freelance work cycle, from grassroots action to better brand policies and stricter enforcement of legislation, she says.

Giulia Mensitieri is an anthropologist and author of The Most Beautiful Job in the World, which exposed a culture of exploitation across the industry. She says that fashion is upheld by the illusion of “the dream”: if you can first endure hardships and free labour, you’ll be awarded on the other side by a glamorous role. To overcome this, Mensitieri says, “We should build another dream that transforms the idea of what is successful and glamorous, that re-enchants the idea of stability and collective goals.”

Lack of opportunities, barriers to access

In the survey of freelancers, Vogue Business found that many had been asked to work for free or “exposure”. Some supplemented their income with hospitality or retail jobs to cover basic living expenses. The cancellation of travel and international fashion events during the pandemic played a significant role in reducing freelance opportunities. A few respondents also pointed to the cancellation of weddings, proms and other occasions that had previously offered a supplementary income outside of the fashion industry.

University of Cincinnati students Draven Peña, Elie Fermann and Alexa Ream published a report called The Dream Will Never Pay Off in September 2020, detailing how unpaid internships uphold exploitation and financial instability in the fashion industry, drawing parallels with freelance work. “Knowing you are undervalued takes a toll on your mental health,” says Peña, who saved $5,000 over 18 months to afford a short internship in New York. “So many people go into debt for their fashion career, so they accept low payment throughout.”

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“I put myself into debt to build this career,” says creative director and stylist Jamie-Maree Shipton, who has been diagnosed with OCD and depression. “It’s soul-crushing. When you’re struggling financially, you accept rates and conditions you wouldn’t otherwise. That financial need among freelancers is being exploited.”

These issues are exacerbated among freelancers from underrepresented backgrounds. “There is an issue with access across the industry,” says Leila Fataar, founder of creative marketing and communications company Platform 13, which is modelling a new blueprint for freelance work. “People who don’t go to the right colleges or have the right contacts have fewer opportunities, but it doesn’t mean they have less talent. We teach soft skills like building a deck and invoicing as we go.”

The perceived scarcity of opportunities leads to many freelancers accepting more jobs than they can reasonably complete. Many survey respondents spoke of overbooked schedules and burnout. The combination of job insecurity and overwork, plus competition in a highly sought-after field and isolation, is mentally taxing.

But workers say they still can’t risk losing work to take care of their health. “When you’re freelancing and have no security, it’s even scarier to disclose mental health conditions,” says editor and consultant Hannah Tindle, who has been freelance since the beginning of her career, mostly on contracts with no holiday or sick pay. “Brands should make reasonable adjustments for freelancers like they would for staff.”

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Debunking the dream: Is working in fashion going out of style?
BY BELLA WEBB

How Pinterest became Gen Z’s favourite fashion inspo
TECHNOLOGY
How Pinterest became Gen Z’s favourite fashion inspo
BY LUCY MAGUIRE

Debunking the dream: Is fashion’s lifestyle sustainable for employees?
FASHION
Debunking the dream: Is fashion’s lifestyle sustainable for employees?
BY BELLA WEBB

Companies could extend HR, finance or tech support services to freelancers, suggests Jodi Muter-Hamilton, founder of consultancy Other Day and currently working on a report about creating better freelancer environments. Several other industries have rate cards, which offer guidance to freelancers and employers on minimum pay rates, helping to standardise pay and improve transparency, says Yann Allsopp, organising official of the British trade union Bectu. “Rate cards also cover overtime rates, bank holiday payments, unsocial hours, night or weekend work, things you probably don’t have as a freelancer because you don’t have the same protections under employment law,” he says.

“I’m sick of not getting the support someone would have in-house,” Shipton says. “It should be a no-brainer to support the people you’re hiring and if that isn’t happening, we need a body to report these issues to. There’s nowhere for us to turn right now.”

Advocating for a better system through collective action

“Workers are aware that something is wrong, but collective resistance to professional abuse is science fiction to them, largely because fashion freelancers don’t necessarily see themselves as workers,” says Mensitieri. In 2012, New York’s Model Alliance was formed to take on harassment and unsustainable practices in modelling. In February this year, SAG-AFTRA allowed social media influencers and content creators doing sponsored videos or social media-based voiceovers to join its union. As yet, other fashion freelancers have fallen through the cracks. Budapest designer Fabian Kis-Juhasz says she didn’t even know designers could join a union.

Of the fashion freelancers Vogue Business surveyed, only 3 per cent belong to a union, 7 per cent to an agency and 1 per cent to both. However, 16 per cent would be interested in joining a union, 20 per cent an agency and 44 per cent both. In total, three-quarters of fashion freelancers would be interested in a structure that offered pay standardisation, knowledge exchange, support, working rights and job security.

While agencies can help freelancers find work and negotiate fees, they can also take advantage, freelancers say. “An agent is not a union,” adds stylist and Fashion Roundtable founder Tamara Cincik. “Arguably you want both.”

In the UK, Bectu represents more than 40,000 staff, contract and freelance workers in the media and entertainment industries. This month, it will hold preliminary talks with fashion assistants — coordinated by Fashion Roundtable and @fashionassistants — with the end goal of setting up a union branch for them. Allsopp says there’s a strong appetite for fashion freelancers, but outdated stereotypes and misconceptions about unions have proven to be barriers. Allsop emphasises unions offer support, expertise and legal advice from first-hand knowledge of the field.

“If a brand mistreats you on any level, there is a third-party organisation that will step in and represent you, and that brand will be blacklisted,” explains Cincik. “That’s extremely powerful.”

Legislation is limited

Where does legislation stand? In New York, the Freelancing Isn’t Free Act mandates written contracts and full payment within 30 days. In the UK, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act is in place to curb late payments and give freelancers the right to charge interest on invoices after 30 days. “This is hard to enforce, and it’s still not illegal for companies to stipulate a 120-day payment term,” says Codrea-Rado.

Campaigners have rallied to fill this void. The No Free Work campaign by jobs board the Freelancer Club encourages brands and freelancers alike to condemn unpaid work. In August, the New Economics Foundation proposed self-employed centres offering free co-working spaces and advice services. And in February, fashion brands and organisations including Allbirds and Thredup called on US President Biden to appoint a Fashion Czar.

As legislation catches up, Codrea-Rado says contracts can protect freelancers. Most of the freelancers Vogue Business spoke to never send or receive contracts, citing fear that brands won’t want to work with them if they do. To brands, she advises posting rates with freelance job listings and seeking out diverse talent. “When you work with freelancers, be the first to talk about money, don’t wait for them to ask what the fee is. I’d also love to see freelance liaison officers, who can make sure freelancers are being paid and treated properly.”

The social capital associated with working in fashion makes complaints of financial and emotional instability difficult to raise or validate, a situation worsened by what some see as a glamorisation of mental illness on runways and in photoshoots. “There’s this energy innate to fashion that your wellbeing isn’t the priority. And that your job is do or die,” says New York-based freelancer Sara Radin, who often shares her struggles with chronic illness and mental health online. “The systems are stacked against us.”

“Work and pleasure can get very blurred, especially during fashion weeks,” says Hannah Tindle. “The industry is so problematic, but people are scared to speak about it in case our reputations get tarnished, and you’re meant to feel lucky to have a job in fashion. That’s how they keep you saying yes and not asking for more money.”


VOGUE BUSINESS, APRIL 2021

The advertising industry is in a very different place to where it was a year ago. For the creative brains behind the brand content we consume, 2020 saw a monumental shift in the way they work; animation and CGI technology replaced physical shoots and Zoom has become the new digital office space where creative ideas are formed. Creatives across the globe have been forced to pivot, spurring a new era of innovation, ingenuity, and opportunity.

Shutterstock’s 2021 Creative Trends report brought together creative minds to explore the developments, techniques, trends and technologies that will define creative expression in the year ahead.

While remote working has proven challenging in keeping team spirit alive, it has also allowed creatives to be in an environment that is welcoming to their “full selves” and has enabled more flexible, productive ways of working through new collaboration tools and technology.

“We’re actually living in the best possible time for us to be in the situation that we’re in,” said Julia Shapiro, VP, marketing, WeTransfer. “It was pretty phenomenal to see all the tools at our disposal that allowed us to communicate on all these different levels, making the execution process much easier.”

The cleverness of a story is the creativity

The participants agreed that technology has helped creative teams to connect and overcome some production issues, but Andre (Dede) Laurentino, chief creative officer, Ogilvy UK, noted that creatives risk becoming too narrow in their portrayal of the world.

“The problem is, after a year of this, you run out of the creative devices,” he said. “Yes, we need to reflect life, so this will evidently transpire into work. Suddenly your repertoire becomes very narrow because life has become very narrow. So it’s a creative process and learning curve finding ways of bypassing the narrowness of what life looks like today.”

With an increasing demand for engaging content, 2020 saw creators exploring with animation and stock content - something San Sharma, UK creative director, Wunderman Thompson believes will see creatives using more of a “hybrid approach” with these techniques in their work.

Truth is what you do when no one is looking

Culture has always defined marketing and brand marketers have a lot of power to dictate. The difference is that either brands are listening and becoming part of the cultural conversation, or they’re not, and that’s where they lose their way and get left behind.

“That’s the fine line marketers have to cross - on one hand, you want to have that authentic voice and position yourself as always doing the right thing, but you have to back up that marketing messaging with something that you’re going to do,” said Flo Lau, creative director, Shutterstock.

Brands need to think culturally about what’s happening in the world and where their service or product plays a role, and find the right cultural moment to take action, but this has got to progress from grand gestures to ongoing commitments.

“Creativity is not necessarily an ad spot,” said Leila Fataar, founder, Platform 13. “Where is the community? Where are the people? Deliver that information to them right there, that’s what they need. Creativity is going to be in what people are doing. Stop thinking like marketers and start thinking like humans in terms of creativity and interest.”

“This year forward we’ve got to hear commitments to action and I think there’s an opportunity for agencies to help those brands really galvanize consumers to help them on their mission to do practical things,” added Sharma. “Action needs to be sustainable, and it needs to be practiced.”

2021 has got to be a year of action, especially for diversity. But in driving the cultural output, there needs to be diversity in the input--not just the face of a campaign but the brains behind it.

“If the right people are on those creative teams in the input--brand and agency side -- you will have that embedded without a question about it, because that’s representative,” said Fataar.

The shift from me to we

“As agencies and brands, we need to facilitate people helping one another rather than just helping themselves,” said Sharma. “I think creativity and content will see a shift from premium to practical. We all need to work together better to make sure we can practically help people.”

Agility in creativity will be essential in moving forward in 2021, according to Lau: “We have to not plan so much and start building teams that have the ability to be agile. This is a big shift for marketers but something they are going to realize—the old waterfall process is just not working for the changing society.”

“The natural tension and correlation that exists between uncertainty, and that spurring creativity, is a really natural and human instinct, because as creatives and as humans, we want to find solutions and smarter ways to do things,” added Shapiro. “Trying to leverage that as a way to really spur creativity and culture is the best thing that we could get out of this entire experience.”


THE DRUM CREATIVE TRENDS FOR 2021

HIGHSNOBIETY X LYST THE NEXT 20, 2020

THE DRUM AGENCIES 4 GROWTH FESTIVAL, OCTOBER 2020

HIGHSNOBIETY X LYST NEXT 20, OCTOBER 2020

__Make it creative and memorable__

In a post Covid world, competition will be tougher than ever. Remember the people you are chatting to might have been on back-to-back video conferences and calls, so find ways to make your interaction with them memorable. It says a lot for the type of thinker you are and how you can flex to the audience you are trying to reach.

__Tailor your portfolio to the situation__

Personalise your portfolio to suit the company, brand or potential job. Keep it short and sharp. I always look for original thought with a simple comprehensive message, packaged in creativity and cultural relevance.

__Bring your POV to the table__

The rise and acceptance of remote working means that the talent pool has drastically widened location-wise, and opened up long-needed opportunities and access for creatives across gender, disability, sexuality, ethnicity, age and disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, too.

In this transformational time, work that shows awareness of global issues will resonate. Create campaigns or work you would like to see in the world. Bring your POV to the table.

Lecture in Progress, August 2020

HIGHSNOBIETY X LYST NEXT 20, JULY 2020

__With the Facebook ad boycott, the push for inclusivity arrives in ad buying
__

As more advertisers pull money from Facebook over its handling of hate speech, attention has turned to how their dollars are funding similar divisive content across the rest of the internet, right down to how they segment audiences.

As June comes to a close, some of the world’s largest advertisers including Unilever, Verizon, Diageo, Honda and Coca-Cola have canceled ad buys with Facebook for at least until the end of July.

The spark, the killing of George Floyd last month and global protests it spurred, prompted a reckoning with racism for those businesses that made them quickly align themselves with protesters calling for Facebook to be defunded over its handling of hate speech. In doing so, advertisers have set a precedent for whom they buy ads from in the future. 

“This is a good start but anti-racist work must be continued and sustained, underpinned by tangible actions throughout the business and industry,” said Leila Fataar, founder of marketing and communications company Platform 13. “Truly acknowledging, facing, and addressing the uncomfortable truths about yourself and your business is what’s required. This is not a situation that can be ‘fixed’ overnight, or in a month or even by the end of the year.”

What the advertisers exiting Facebook are grappling with is how to reconcile their pledges to defund racist rhetoric with their traditional business practices on the huge social platform. Granted, many of them haven’t had to think critically about racism or their own role in perpetuating it until now. But in their rush to say they’re anti-racist, advertisers haven’t fully thought through the disconnect between their messaging and the actualities. Ads bought by advertisers including Walt Disney, Amazon, Microsoft via ad tech vendors appeared on stories spreading hate speech and misinformation about the protests between June 22 and June 26, per the Global Disinformation Index. This happened at the same time many of those companies were publicly rebuking racism.

“You’re starting to see advertisers think more carefully about where they buy ads and the impact that has on society,” said Jerry Daykin, media director for GlaxoSmithKline in EMEA. “Programmatic technology puts focus on reaching the right consumers but less on the context in which that happens. That has left many marketers distant from the voices behind authentic journalism and quality content.”

Daykin, alongside Electronic Arts’ former global head of marketing intelligence Belinda Smith, is leading a task force for the World Federation of Advertisers to come up with a series of steps their peers can take to ensure they’re not just promoting messages of diversity and inclusivity but are also funding businesses that do the same. “It’s important to make it easier for advertisers to manage their media to systematically challenge the funding of hate speech and misinformation, and instead to invest in building a quality internet,” said Daykin

Some advertisers are already redistributing media dollars to minority community publishers. For example, GroupM is building private programmatic marketplaces of those media owners on the instruction of some advertisers in recent weeks. “There’s a concerted push on minority publications right now to see what we can do to support them as well as make sure they’re a permanent part of working with advertisers,” said GroupM’s global vp of brand safety John Montgomery. 

Other advertisers are looking at Black-owned podcasts. AT&T is working with Pod Digital Media, a multicultural podcast network, to find sponsorship opportunities for its Cricket Wireless network. “AT&T wants to support Black voices by identifying a mix of podcasts that not only align to their audience but also have the scope for them to make long-term media commitments,” said Gary Coichy, CEO of Pod Digital Media. 

Making those commitments won’t come without careful consideration of existing media strategies. In fact, some advertisers are already mulling how to move away from classic demographics to find more nuanced ways to segment people based on their behavior, personal interests and life stage. Their rationale is that there are some segmentation practices that incentivize segregation. An example of this is the catchall term of BAME, which lumps together Black, asian and minority ethnic groups, who all have their own rich heritage, experiences and interests. 

“We’ve seen through our communities that this is an area that’s not improving as fast it could and the events over the last few weeks have underlined how important it is for marketers to act now,” said The North Face’s vp of marketing Steve Lesnard. He said the company would have more to say on how its own media strategies are changing in the coming weeks. 

“Segmentation is always going to hurt Black people,” said Steve Stoute, CEO of agency Translation. “Agencies will segment African Americans based on the fact that they represent 13% of the population, but that doesn’t capture the dominant cultural influence those people have. The value created by Black people is never going to equate to value earned through traditional segmentation.”

While these changes won’t compensate for advertisers’ systemic failures to foster racial equity in the past, it’s clear that they are no longer able to sit on the fence.

“When it comes to our welfare and sustainability messaging we’ve always talked about diversity and inclusivity, but I can honestly say that we’ve not been as strong about those issues as we have about animal welfare,” said Handsome Brook Farms CMO, Matthew Sherman. The death of Mr. Floyd and the subsequent civil rights protests have forced a reassessment of that stance, said Sherman. 

For example, Sherman has asked the company’s media and PR agencies to find minority community publishers and black influencers for his ad dollars. “We want to be more supportive at the lower end of the funnel to those companies that may not have steady access to funding because the likes of ABC and Hulu are going to be fine without my dollars,” said Sherman. 

“To show our support of the Black Lives Matter,” added Sherman. “We’re going to use our messaging and dollars to support social justice, amplify voices as well as make donations and identify new media organizations to work with.”


DIGIDAY, JUNE 2020

We speak with Leila Fataar, founder of Platform13, about why "cultural marketing" is really just "marketing,” and Adeshola Makinde, a Chicago-based artist turning billboards and advertising into mission-driven social commentary.

Makinde’s most recent work includes an augmented reality billboard demanding an end to police brutality. We also talk to director and visual artist Emmanuel Adjei, whose music videos blend surrealism with layered messages about oppression. 

Adjei’s “Shahmaran” video for Dutch-Iranian singer Sevdaliza drew international attention in 2018 and garnered dozens of accolades for its epic visuals and depictions of Black oppression.

Together they cover everything from how brands can be anti-racist, to advertising mediums like billboards becoming an artist’s tool to amplify Black voices. 


CANNES LIONS LIVE, JUNE 2020

THE DRUM, JUNE 2020

‘It’s time to be vocally and proactively anti-racist’

The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests have sparked a global – and long-overdue – examination of systemic discrimination against black people in all societies and industries. Leila Fataar, founder of creative marketing and communications company Platform13, looks at what needs to change in fashion. 

Systemic racism in all industries is so complex that no amount of apology will do. Official “statements” and financial donations are appreciated, but tangible and accountable action is needed. Brands and companies have a responsibility to play an active and pivotal role in trying to solve global issues.

For an industry that has the weight and influence to make a positive impact at scale, the past few years have brought some of the most offensive products and tone-deaf campaigns in fashion, from luxury to the high street. However, the sales kept coming in.

In the workplace, racism is lack of thought and empathy; it is unconscious bias and old-world policies on hiring, agency procurement, promotion and campaign production; experiencing and internalising micro-aggressions on a daily basis, often at the hands of colleagues or employers; perceptions about POC [people of colour] being “difficult”, “aggressive” or “not a team player” if they challenge the status quo; being perceived to have an invalid view if POC have different reference points. And so on.

White CEOs and senior industry leaders need to hold a mirror up to themselves and their companies, even if it is uncomfortable. They need to drive for and champion horizontal, top-down, proactive, vocal, practical anti-racism training. This will mean all brands, agencies and companies across the industry formulate long-term, sustainable strategies, rather than short-term actions that are a response to a “trend” or this moment.

It is no longer enough to have vertical “diversity and inclusion” departments in the human resources function. It’s not the job of the POC in your business to end systemic racism – it is the responsibility of every non-POC person in your business to acknowledge what is happening and take responsibility for that transformation. We need to move past the “we stand by the black community” statements to proactive actions, starting with internal structures.

Being proactive and making changes from within will reduce the risk of inadvertently offending people with tone-deaf campaigns and, most importantly, will move things forward.

It’s not enough to be quietly non-racist – it’s time to be vocally and proactively anti-racist.

I spoke to voices who have worked within the fashion industry about their experiences, and how they think we can achieve meaningful change.

‘Hire more black people in integral roles’ – Tennesha Vanterpool, sales and project manager, Phoebe English 

Just as there is a glass ceiling for women, there is a glass ceiling for black people. We make it to the stores, and maybe into the lookbooks and campaigns, but the higher up the chain you go, the fewer black people there seem to be. As someone who has worked with brand founders and directors, there is something halting progression.

The industry needs to create space. Hire more black people in integral roles and allow staff to grow within the company.

I was at [denim brand] Edwin for six years and learned so much. My boss saw how hard I worked, how much I cared, and he fought for me. When I progressed from retail to wholesale after one year, the creative director at the time encouraged me to be me, and make my role my own, so naturally, I flourished.

And for the people who have made significant progress: no more gatekeeping. It is up to us to make things better for our peers and the generations after us [and help provide access].

The fashion industry as a whole needs to stop and listen. We all know the problematic history of representation within the industry, yet we’ve seen little change. That means that either someone has actively chosen not to listen or absolved themselves of the responsibility.

There is also a lot to be said for humbling oneself. People need to be way more open to constructive criticism and work towards creating real change, rather than sticking a band aid on the issue.

‘Financial inequality is holding black people back’ – Foday Dumbuya, founder and designer, menswear brand Labrum London
Financial inequality is one of the key factors holding black people back in the fashion industry – for instance, difficulty securing vital funding either from financial institutions, venture capitalists, or friends and family.

Advocacy from fashion journalism and key organisations also holds back black people in fashion. Recognition of black creativity is being appropriated by better-funded, better-advocated white-owned brands.

Success should be based on meritocracy, not on who you know. Black designers often lack the network that white designers have through their education and social network, which is further propagated in fashion journalism.

I will continue celebrating and educating others about my West African culture. I will continue supporting other black designers.

The industry needs to stop tokenism – there is room for more black designers. Democratise fashion PR and help promote unrecognised brands and give them a platform. Set up purposeful black mentorships between successful black-owned brands and unrecognised black-owned brands. 

‘It will uplift everyone once black talent matters’ – Lola Okuyiga, special projects and collaborations consultant, who has previously worked for Browns, Asos and Topshop
Businesses need to address where they’ve gone wrong in the recent past and now. Review black and POC exit interviews and start examining turnover rates of these groups.

Being in an environment that’s not optimised for you, or is even toxic for you, while trying to prove yourself relentlessly, is exhausting.

Review black talent positions in your organisations. What support do they need? Don’t just rely on them to speak up.

Review any past HR complaints, no matter how small, that are relevant and have been swept under the rug. If you or your  organisation have been complicit in causing trauma, you need to resolve it or have a real plan to ensure these things do not happen again before making a plethora of diversity hires. It’s better for retention and is the right thing to do.

Fashion is notorious for only doing “the right thing” when people are looking. This isn’t about optics. If that’s what gets progress signed off then fine, but this needs to be a lasting culture change within your organisation and therefore the industry.

It’s not a trend. If you treat it like one, you’ll get left on the wrong side of history.

Review the pay structures, hierarchy and the widely held ideas of what’s OK in terms of talent pipeline, as well as the working environment that all talent is entering, as it will uplift everyone once black talent matters.

Fashion thrives on exploitation, overworking and underpaying in many organisations. Black talent, especially in entry-level roles, is far more susceptible [to lack of progression in roles], as employees often don’t have the privilege of financial cushioning because of wider historic fiscal inequality.

The whole model is flawed and needs reform. Fashion retail, as we know is in crisis, and it’s no wonder if talent isn’t able to move up the ranks, be heard and placed in decision-making roles.

Your customer is diverse. Business teams should reflect that from top to bottom. You will end up with better product, ideas, and execution.

I have no idea why the boards of young fashion businesses are predominantly made up of middle-aged white men. We have now entered the age of the relevant CEO.

DRAPERS, JUNE 2020

HOW BRANDS CAN ACTUALLY TAKE ANTI-RACIST ACTION

The tragic death of George Floyd has erupted a volcano that has been simmering for a very long time. This time feels different, and hopefully it will be. It’s the first time I have seen non-POC vocally acknowledging and understanding their privilege (or at least trying to). Some are finally as outraged with bias, prejudice, and racism as we have been for so long. The culture, so influential in fashion, sports, food, and music, cannot simply be separated from the reality of black culture. Yet, those proclaiming to love the culture, cannot not understand the anti-racist work that needs to be done.

Within brands and companies, unconscious bias and prejudice are some of the most dangerous forms of racism. They manifest themselves in many ways — it’s a lack of thought and empathy for black colleagues and their race-based struggles resulting in us experiencing and internalizing micro-aggressions on a daily basis.

It’s the old world policies on hiring, agency procurement, and campaign production. It’s a perception about us being “difficult or aggressive,” or “not being a team player” if we challenge the status quo or an invalid view if we have different reference points. And so on.

These things may seem small, but they accumulate and add to race-based trauma. It’s deep and complex, and part of the process in becoming a true ally is asking yourself the hard questions, and facing and addressing the uncomfortable truths about yourself and your business. And while there isn’t a set checklist for brands to be checked off when it comes to being an inclusive organization, the following points and questions need to be considered.

Know Your Privilege, Educate Yourself
Your privilege isn’t left at the door when you go to work; it impacts your professional life and those around you. It’s not the job of POC to teach you how to be anti-racist — there are countless tools, books, podcasts, and lists available to self-educate on how to practice anti-racism in your everyday actions.

Ask yourself: Are you actively seeking to educate yourself and your network on the importance of anti-racism? Are you aware of offensive (especially "casually" offensive) terms, phrases, or questions? Are you aware of your history? Are you listening to black people in your life, friends, family, or people that you look up to and follow on social media? Are you calling out transgressions and questioning friends and colleagues on words and actions that are casually and overtly racist?

Commit Beyond the Feed
We need to move past the solidarity statements on the feed and take action. Yes, it can be difficult to know what to say, but empty messaging or silence is worse. Reading and analyzing shifts in how people are feeling and being human-centric is a big part of cultural communication. Your audience is watching how you act at this time. Be honest, and acknowledge your failings as a brand. Your initial message is important, however, transparency would resonate more. After this, create a credible task-force and listen to those impacted to audit your company. Collectively come together with similar brands for industry-wide change and create sustainable and long-term tangible and actionable solutions from your findings.

Ask yourself: What is the motivation and intention of the post? What is the tangible action behind the statement? How will this statement be actioned beyond marketing — and instead become part of long-term sustainable change and transformation? Is your brand or organization organizing internal anti-racist education? What are the areas within your brand and industry that you and your brand can impact in the short- and long-term?

Clean Up Your House
Executive Leadership
It’s not the job of POC in your business to end systemic racism in the company — it starts with holding a mirror up to the decision makers. In the workplace, it takes the C-Suite and senior leaders to champion a horizontal, top-down proactive, vocal, and practical approach to anti-racism. It’s not as simple as putting a POC in charge of a vertical Diversity and Inclusivity department, even if they are on the board.

Ask yourself: Is the executive board diverse and balanced? If not, why not? What and how can you change that? Are there enough black people in key leadership roles throughout the business, with decision-making powers? And for the few POC in these seats of power, are their opinions listened to and actioned? What are the specific areas (HR, supply chain, marketing, etc) that need to transform to make the overall workplace more inclusive?

HR and Procurement
Look at who and, importantly, how you work with people from black communities. If you are hiring, they may not have what your existing bias defines as the “ideal” profile — they may not have the same education or the same contacts, but the talent is there. Same goes for your partner agencies — challenge them on their black representation and activity. The more inclusive the input, the more inclusive the output. This could also prevent the likelihood of cancelling callout culture, usually instigated through tone deaf campaigns that can cause additional pain to the community and also be damaging to your brand.

Ask yourself: Are your teams diverse enough? If not, why? Challenge HR and recruiters. Are POC paid equally? Where and how do they recruit their talent? How can we attract more black talent to the business? Have I put that CV on the "maybe" pile because of the name or education? Is one “bad” or “not ideal” experience tarnishing my decision? Am I looking for the safest option? Am I looking for someone who I can relate to and mirrors my experience or background? When interviewing or meeting new agencies, is my unconscious bias impacting my hiring decisions? Are your agency personnel diverse enough? If not, why? Ask them about their policies.

Within the Teams
Within big brands and companies, POC make up the minority — understand that this in itself is difficult. We look different, we dress different, we talk different. Also, being the only one on a team may make us feel like the token POC, which comes with a lot of pressure. Ask questions and listen to your black colleagues. Our experiences and points of view are valid, even if you don’t agree with it or you have not experienced it. Diversity is proven to breed success.

Ask yourself: Do I use ‘“funny” or “jokey” yet casually racist terms, phrases, or stereotypes? Does anyone else, and have I challenged or reported them? Are POC team members comfortable enough to speak up? If they do speak up, is it actioned? Do they feel like their opinions are valid? Are they struggling with world affairs related to racism and expected to show up and deliver that presentation? How can I help take the pressure off?

Assess Your Brand, Action Change
Brands have the weight and influence to make impact at scale. Be self-reflective and considered. Consumers want and expect brands to be more than the product or service being sold — it needs to make sense, to add value, earning their place in the culture or community they want to be part of. For us, positive impact comes in many forms. But it does mean respectful collaboration with the people who represent, create, and shape culture from grassroots all the way up.

Ask yourself: Where is your inspiration from? Has your brand profited from POC culture and the community? How can I collaborate with that community? How can I contribute to that culture? How can they become part of gaining the benefit, financially?

Change the Narrative, Invest in Progress
The role of brands has never been more important to play a crucial role in trying to solve global issues and help their consumers navigate the world they live in. Use your brand channels to educate and amplify inclusive campaigns, messages, and actions to your broad audience. It may seem like a risk, but risks are necessary to champion change and progress. And follow through with tangible actions to push things forward with intent and purpose, with courage and empathy.

Ask yourself: Are the brand actions opportunistic and damaging rather than mutually beneficial? Are we using our channels to make people think about racism, educate, or change opinion? Why not? Are my brand partners inclusive or do they support racism in any form? Is my brand driving innovation with sustained contribution to change and the restructuring of oppressive systems?

Open Up the Pipeline
The only way to transform the industry to the ideal place is to open up the talent pipeline and pool, and ensure non-token, balanced, and multicultural people on all levels. This must not be measured by a target quota or statistic, this needs to be a permanent and sustainable increase in lack talent. Consider what biases or changes you and your brand need to address to ensure POC are not looked over for a promotion. Having a different “communication style” and “behavior” should not be reasons.

Ask yourself: How can I and my company be part of career days and career guidance at school level? Is my unconscious bias impacting my decisions on promotion of POC? How can I recognize those? How can my company support an internship financially? How can we instantly increase accessibility for black talent: fairly paid internships, mentoring, graduate schemes, funding, interview/CV skills workshops, and fairly paid work experience?

Leila Fataar is the founder of Platform13, a London-based independent full service creative marketing and communications company building cultural value for big brands by working hand-in-hand with cultural voices around the world.

HIGHSNOBIETY, JUNE 2020

6 brand lessons from Michael Jordan's The Last Dance

Platform13's Leila Fataar reflects on takeouts from docuseries smash.

The 1990s were, for me, one of the most influential periods of culture. Growing up mixed race in apartheid South Africa, black American culture of the 90s was the "dream", from the golden age of hip hop to the rise of sportswear as fashion, when sports such as basketball were much more popular than football. 

The Last Dance is a runaway hit, seen not only as a sports documentary but as an important cultural series with multiple lessons for building brand awareness, equity and growth. According to ESPN, the docuseries averaged more than 5.6 million viewers per episode during its run and is pulling in nearly 13 million viewers an episode from on-demand viewing while on Netflix; the numbers hit 23.8 million at the last count. 

Here are my main takeouts from the show.

Lesson 1: Diversity breeds success
Michael Jordan is definitely the star of the series, with his basketball skills earning him the uncontested title of the GOAT. For me, coach Phil Jackson embodies contemporary leadership, truly understanding the roles of each team member, setting each up for success in their own way, matched to their own characteristics, and ensuring that the diverse mix of talent and personalities worked together to dominate the courts. 

Lesson 2: Playing the long game at the speed of culture 
The early release on ESPN in the US and Netflix internationally engaged the core audience by filling a void for sports fans, as sports season was in effect cancelled, and sneakerheads. In a perfect stroke, the docuseries attracted a new and wide global audience at a time when everyone was home. Stories of resilience, perseverance and unseen footage served to entertain and uplift people while the world was feeling low. Nostalgia and commentary flooded people’s feeds through shared and earned media, driving further intrigue and interest from people who had no previous interest in either basketball or sneaker culture. 

Lesson 3: Representation matters 
Culture is the stuff of life, a reflection of reality and a connector of communities. This experience has always underpinned my way of working and are the key pillars of the Platform13 manifesto. Jordan and the Chicago Bulls weren’t just a basketball team, they were a global phenomenon in an age without social media. In the 90s, for what felt like the first time, people who looked like us started to make massive impact across colour lines, cultures and generations. This was important to move things forward.

Lesson 4: Challenging convention for category leadership
Even in the face of resistance from Jordan, the legendary partnership with Nike went ahead. This long-term investment by a brand in a then "emerging" sports star was forward-thinking – rather than using Jordan as merely an endorser, like Gatorade or McDonald's did, Nike quickly created an entire product line for him and the Jordan brand was born in the mid-80s. Identifying true cultural voices and collaborating with them in new and brave ways over a long period of time builds deep brand equity, fame and ultimately ongoing sales. Throughout that time, as with any brand, there are ups and downs in "relevance", but according to Forbes, the Jordan line does approximately $3bn in annual sales compared with Yeezy, which was expected to top $1.5bn in 2019.  

Lesson 5: Cultural credibility for long-term value 
Jordan is a sports icon, a brand and a product. His long-term Nike partnership is a masterclass in cultural marketing – finding a unique intersection between brand, community and culture to occupy. The Air Jordan, like the Converse All Star, Vans Old Skool and Adidas Superstar or Stan Smith, is a badge of cultural legacy, especially for those of us who understand the back story and its impact on culture and community. The docuseries is re-energising for us and provides an opportunity to educate a new generation.

Together, Jordan and Nike transcended from sports into culture and entertainment, with moments such as the Spike Lee ad and endorsement from rappers and the music world, and became an iconic shoe with a living active icon. Post-retirement, the Jordan legacy continued into 2020 through meme culture, with style cues still present in luxury sportswear brands such as Fear of God, collaborations with Dior and cultural movers such as Ghetto Gastro and Melody Ehsani, plus the effervescent support of everyone from Jay-Z to Billie Eilish. Wearing Jordan product says something about you.

Lesson 6: Brand storytelling drives brand growth 
Authentic and compelling storytelling, delivered to the audience at the right time, in the right channel (Netflix during the pandemic) and on the right timeline (in this case, a weekly docuseries to drive excitement and conversation), will always drive hype around a product and can ultimately result in short-term sales. According to Complex, Jordan sales as a whole are up 40% compared with the previous month on StockX since the premiere. The company has also seen spikes in traffic of 68% on average to its Air Jordan pages every Sunday, coinciding with the release of new episodes.

The pandemic is a rare opportunity for future-thinking brands to captivate a switched-on audience by making cultural relevance a growth driver, creating impact for target audiences by working with cultural voices and building cultural leaders.

Leila Fataar is founder of Platform13

CAMPAIGN MAGAZINE, MAY 2020

As the lockdown eases, KFC steps up advertising and shifts messaging

KFC is back on TV across the U.K. and Ireland this week after it pulled ads last month while all its restaurants were temporarily closed. More ads are being bought across more channels now, however, as more than half of its 960 restaurants are set to be opened by the end of the week. 

KFC has borrowed imagery from its fans’ fairly mixed attempts to cook their own version of the fried chicken while its restaurants were closed. A small number of fans started sharing their attempts in the days after the closures before KFC co-opted it using the #RateMyKFC hashtag. The advertiser’s agency Mother then used the most conspicuous creations in a TV ad where the advertiser thanks fans but explains they can stop now that its restaurants are delivering to people’s homes via services like Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats. 

“For us, advertising remains a crucial part of the overall communications strategy and so we’ll be looking at the back end of the year for when we get back those originally planned levels,” said Jack Hinchliffe, marketing director at KFC UK and Ireland. 

Despite this stance, Hinchliffe isn’t committing to any long-term media plans just yet. Indeed, 90 days is the new long term for many advertisers. Half of them have cut their planning horizons in half, and are only committing to media less than three months out, according to an Advertiser Perceptions study of 151 marketers.

The decision to focus on delivery was a “big shift” in messaging for KFC, said Hinchliffe. 

Restaurants across the globe have pivoted to a delivery model as nationwide lockdowns have kept diners at home. Those orders have softened the impact of the lockdowns for KFC in the U.K.and Ireland where sales have accelerated in recent weeks, said Hinchliffe. Sales at stores open for more than a year fell 8% at KFC in the first quarter ended 31 March. 

“We’ve seen for some time that delivery has been growing for us as our customers look for more convenient and easier ways to access food and it’s been a key growth channel for us over the last year, said Hinchliffe.”

KFC’s ad is emblematic of two big challenges advertisers are trying to nail as lockdowns ease: the first is messaging and how they show empathy in a way that can’t be construed as profiteering during a crisis: the second challenge comes down to producing ads at a time when people still need to enforce social distancing. 

“Even when total lifting happens, behaviors and attitudes may be changed for good,” said  Leila Fataar, founder of cultural marcomms company Platform 13. “Life inside the new guidelines means evolving spaces for brands to be both useful and enjoyable — all need to be taken into consideration in the coming months.

It’s an opportune time for advertisers like KFC to increase their spending. The cost of advertising has dropped across media, from TV to digital where there are fewer advertisers to drive up competition. TV ad costs have plummeted by as much as 50% in the U.K., according to the Advertising Association’s Warc Expenditure Report.

DIGIDAY, MAY 2020

Campaign Magazine, April 2020

Is it time for cultural relevance to drive growth?

A #stayhome interview with Leila Fataar, Founder of Platform13

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, we are checking in with members of our creative community to discuss how they are faring, their new working realities and the ever-shifting face of creativity.

In this interview, Leila Fataar (Platform13) discusses how her business is adapting to the new reality brought upon the coronavirus crisis, the rising importance of culture-led planning and how Platform13 uses its channels to bring together the creative community. 

How's Platform13 adapting to the COVID-19 outbreak?

​Platform13 was built to flex and move at the speed of culture for ourselves and our clients. Our global networked business model means we quickly and easily curate the right teams according to the territory, category, community and culture the brand wants to be or is part of - on both the thinking and do-ing side of things - so luckily it's business as usual for us.

Managing teams in the context of self-isolation can turn into a cumbersome task. How are you dealing with it?

​From inception, we have had the ability to work from anywhere; for us, there is a seamless transition between virtual and IRL ways of working. Self-isolation doesn't mean disconnection, but its definitely an adjustment for people and companies. This is the fastest mobilisation of remote working that's ever been seen. Think people are getting used to it now.

How do you see creativity changing in the next year?

This unprecedented time has meant that brands/companies have had to dig deep and think about those 'purpose-led' statements or stance they took - you can see the difference with those who truly LIVE it and those who used it as only a marketing 'campaign'. This is truly the time where corporate and consumer comms will intersect - something I have personally championed for a while now. I hope brands/companies finally make cultural relevance a growth driver, create plans with a culture-first approach to add value to their communities, target consumers and to build cultural leaders. For me, creative has always reflected cultural shifts and its respective resonance - how does your target audience want to receive your message? Is your message relevant to them? How does creative shift from brand out to culture in.

How should creatives adapt to this new reality?

​ Be creative :)

How can creative businesses assure clients that they can still meet their needs despite the current lock-down?

Creative businesses need to be flexible and adaptable to client need, and creative needs to respond to consumer needs - this hasn't changed. What has changed is how we do that. That's what each business has to figure out for themselves.

You recently launched a new Instagram account on Brand Activism amid the outbreak. What inspired you to do so and how do you intend it to develop?

I actually launched it over a year ago. It's a personal project on the belief that brands (and by that I mean big companies, crews, collectives and even individual people) can make positive impact. I am an eternal optimist. We have really seen this come to life, with so many stories that we have had to revert to putting all the good news up on the @brand_activism Instagram stories, archived in our COVID-19 highlights. Very very uplifting in this time.

Are you are aware of any other resources or initiatives helping our community at this time?

We are launching a new Platform13 initiative on our Instagram @platform13_ this week. We believe our community is stronger when we learn from each other. At P13 we get tons of requests for advice on careers, industries, managing difficult times in your career, how to get to the next stage, etc. We understand a career journey can be tough and challenging. But we believe you never fail; you either win or learn. So, while we have had this temporary pause, we have created INSIDE TRACK. Each week, we'll be asking new insiders - people who know the ups, downs, successes and failures in their fields - to provide practical advice to the questions our community always wanted answering. Questions are submitted, and our insiders will share their insights, pass on their knowledge, answer questions with practical advice from their own experience, providing a valuable resource at this challenging time.


D&AD, APRIL 2020

Luxury brands have perfected digital campaigning – now they must transform internally

The sports, street wear and luxury sectors may have come a bit late to the digital game, but in recent years they’ve led and accelerated incredible content and digital applications such as personalisation. Their impact has exploded when they’ve intersected – think Louis Vuitton’s Supreme collection, and the brand’s recent partnership with League of Legends.

Source: League of Legends - Louis Vuitton-designed trophy case 
Source: League of Legends - Louis Vuitton-designed trophy case

These influential brands in the passion areas of fashion, music, and art have always had license to experiment.

They’ve created multimedia campaigns (think Nike Londoner and Adidas Football) that have worked across multidisciplinary applications. They’ve produced such AR experiences in retail outlets from Selfridges in London to The Ghost House in Tokyo, not to mention cracking the code of social commerce to make it feel special.

We have seen completely new, digital-only genre evolutions such as esports. We’ve seen the rise of curated magazine-meets-concept-stores such as Semaine. And we’ve seen the emergence of cross-cultural digital platforms such as Twitch.

With recent studies by McKinsey showing that 80% of sales are influenced by online activity, it’s an exciting time for these brands and marketers.

Innovation departments attached to large traditional companies are investing in the future of their categories and industries, with a clear understanding that connected living – with devices that predict consumer needs – is how things are moving in our tech-driven world. Long may it continue.

However, the ‘internal’ digital transformation workstream (for me, one of the most important ones), has quickly became deprioritized as big brands and companies have realized the upheaval true digital transformation will cause.

They have to ask: is your workforce mobile, agile and flexible? Can they easily be supported to work remotely, collaboratively and seamlessly?

How do you scale up, pivot or switch down while keeping critical information flowing in an instant to ensure that your business doesn’t collapse? Within marketing and communications, do you have the right people and agency partners to respond in real time to ensure projects and plans are not completely derailed, and to plan ahead aligned with all other relevant departments?

And for brands, especially in fashion, reducing impact on the environment is the task. The industry’s relentless production and travel schedule needs to be addressed.

But in spite of the internal frustrations, digitizing in this realm can make a massive difference to both brand value and the bottom line: a study from Nielsen highlighted that 73% of millennial respondents were willing to spend more on a product if it comes from a sustainable or socially conscious label.

Tommy Hilfiger has recently announced it will only use 3D design to create, develop and sell samples from its spring 2022 apparel collections onward, while Stella McCartney recently launched a sustainable Loop sneaker that is glue-free and recyclable.

If anything is going to act as a catalyst for transformation, it’s the coronavirus pandemic.

In fact, 94% of the Fortune 1000 are already seeing Covid-19 disruptions, and independents, small businesses and freelancers are hugely impacted.

Brands need to be creative and flexible, taking the lead from the postponed Shanghai Fashion Week.

Organizers are going to live-stream the entire roster of shows through Tmall, Alibaba Group’s e-commerce platform, in a new ‘see now, buy now’ format, where 800 million monthly active users can buy or pre-order.

I believe success for fashion, sportswear, and luxury businesses depends on the speed at which their entire business responds, flexes, pivots and adapts to changes in the short, medium and long term.

We live in a digital – and after coronavirus, a changed – world. Even the phrase ‘digital transformation’ itself demands an evolution to, simply, transformation.

Leila Fataar is the founder of Platform13

THE DRUM, MARCH 2020

Highsnobiety has partnered with global fashion platform Lyst on The NEXT 20, a new approach to fashion forecasting. 

Highsnobiety has partnered with global fashion platform Lyst on The NEXT 20, a new approach to fashion forecasting. The first of its kind report predicting the next-generation brands and cultural pioneers on the rise.
Although marketing strategies and supply chains have been upended by Covid-19, youth culture doesn’t stand still. As the machinery of influence has been democratized, it is no longer dominated by giant brands and mainstream celebrities alone — the playing field of those driving culture forward has not skipped a beat.

The innovators of today no longer need the backing of traditional media, big retailers, and celebrity endorsements to get ahead. Today, the fact that emerging figures and brands write their own rules is more evident than ever before. With this in mind, Highsnobiety has partnered with Lyst — the world’s biggest fashion search platform — to present The NEXT 20, an in-depth quarterly report ranking next-generation brands and cultural pioneers (an emerging group whose power lies in their authority, not necessarily their reach — those who are the first wave to drive culture forward) on the rise. The core mission of this project is to improve the way forecasting in the fashion industry is done. In order to accomplish this, we gave the power to the public and enlisted external industry experts to go beyond personal opinion alone.

Those making up our NEXT 20 Brands and NEXT 20 Cultural Pioneer rankings range in size, social following, background, and age, yet they are unified by their current impact on youth culture, each having found a core community of influential, devoted fans. They challenge the formulaic blueprint set by mega brands and talents, respectively leading the charge and ultimately setting the stage for those who come next.

Methodology and Advisory Board
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To determine the NEXT 20 Brands and the NEXT 20 Cultural Pioneers for Q1, the Highsnobiety and Lyst teams formed an advisory board of leading industry experts to consider more than 250 brands and 300 cultural pioneers.

Lyst then created bespoke algorithms to analyze over 11,000 data points indicating breakout potential. The algorithms were designed to weigh the more established next-gen brands and cultural pioneers fairly against those who are still emerging. Data considered included Google search volume, social media performance, press, blog and online discussion metrics, and, for the brands, proprietary insights from Lyst’s fashion search platform, which is used by more than 100 million shoppers a year.

Data only paints part of the picture. Therefore, the NEXT 20 Brands and NEXT 20 Cultural Pioneers that emerged from the data were then reviewed once again by our advisory board for further commentary, adding human experience and qualitative insights to finalize our rankings.

Sarah Andelman (Founder | Just an Idea)

Serge Carreira (Head of Emerging Brands | Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode)

Saam Emme (Fashion Business Consultant)

Leila Fataar (Founder | Platform13)

Jo-Ann Furniss (Editor and Consultant)

Julie Gilhart (President | Tomorrow Consulting. CDO | Tomorrow)

Yiling Hong (Founder | Canal Street Shanghai)

Stavros Karelis (Founder and Buying Director | Machine A)

Olga Karput (Founder | KM20)

Lulu Kennedy (Founder and Director | Fashion East)

Mitsuhiro Kubo (Founder | GR8)

Stefano Martinetto (CEO | Tomorrow)

Chris Morton (Founder | Lyst)

Christopher Morency (Editor-at-Large | Highsnobiety)

Bosse Myhr (Director of Menswear and Womenswear | Selfridges)

Mel Ottenberg (Creative Director | Interview Magazine)

Marcus Paul (Stylist and Consultant)

Ida Petersson (Buying Director | Browns Fashion)

Sam Trotman | (Consultant)

Highsnobiety x Lyst The Next 20

How marketers can navigate the ‘perfect storm’ of remote working

From motivating remote teams to finding new methods of measuring success, marketers will need to navigate a ‘perfect storm’ as the coronavirus pandemic sparks profound changes to the world of work. 

In the context of the global coronavirus pandemic, the world of work has entered a dramatic new phase. Whereas daily life was focused on working in offices and face-to-face meetings, the need for social distancing has created a new normal based primarily on remote working.

However, a recent analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on businesses – conducted by Marketing Week and its sister title Econsultancy – reveals some alarming findings about marketers’ attitudes towards, and preparations for, remote working.

Only 40% of the 887 UK brand marketers surveyed say their business is “very proficient” at enabling remote work. Half of marketers believe their company will be compromised by an increase in remote work, while 68% of senior marketers are concerned that creative collaboration will suffer.

Asked if there will be any significant long-term changes in working practices once the threat of the virus has abated, just 32% of UK marketers think their working life will return to normal entirely.

Remote working has long been a regular part of working life, but it’s clear that doubts remain about its validity, particularly when it comes to issues around trust and productivity. Some 92% of senior marketers admit that remote working is not suited to everyone, while 37% believe it is not well suited to junior staff.

This is the first time we’ve seen large organisations adopting the policy at scale and new formats need to be found to keep people motivated, spark ideas and stimulate communication.

It’s a perfect storm for leaders and particularly for leaders in marketing, given that the role of the marketer is to bring insight into the organisation.

Mark Evans, Direct Line
Technology, video conferencing, webcams and messaging services can all bring greater engagement, but it’s how marketers communicate and interact in a meaningful way, not just with work colleagues but with their wider networks, that will be key.

Former Adidas and Diageo marketer Leila Fataar is the founder of consultancy Platform 13, which helps brands connect with a new breed of agencies and creatives. Having always had a flexible mindset that comes from working with startups, the events of recent weeks have not presented too much of a culture shock for Fataar.

However, she believes larger companies and big brands will have to change their ways of thinking and shake off entrenched ideas about staff working from home being too disconnected and distracted.

“People talk about this being an age of experience, but actually it’s an age of uncertainty,” she states.

“You have to be able to flex around these changes as they come. You need to shift your plans according to what’s happening in the world, to be able to quickly pivot and identify what needs to change in order for you to still do good work.”

Fataar calls this enforced wave of remote working the “new normal”, and it is tempting to view this as a pivotal moment that will usher in an age where the old employment structures no longer apply.

“Corporate people like structure and security, but this is a different way of working,” she says. “These are transformational times, everything’s changing and it’s exciting.”

Stay motivated
As firms navigate their way though this transition, staying connected and motivated is vital. Managing director for marketing and digital at Direct Line Group, Mark Evans, believes that a lack of clarity about the dangers of the virus, coupled with mixed messages about what people can and cannot do in their everyday lives, is making it harder to motivate people in their work.

“This is a huge leadership challenge, because people are in a threat state, there’s so little that is certain,” he says.

“Basically, they’re scared. It’s a perfect storm for leaders and particularly for leaders in marketing, given that the role of the marketer is to bring insight into the organisation, to see what’s going to be happening down the road, to future-spot and get the organisation future-ready.”

On a practical level, Evans recommends keeping some sort of routine to working days to help maintain energy levels and keep minds thinking creatively. “People still need to feel that sense of achievement, it’s in all of us. It’s not performance management per se, just about keeping people motivated through achievement,” he adds.

Communication is an obvious, but still crucial factor in keeping team spirit alive, especially anything that lifts the mood and gets everyone back into a familiar routine of relaxed interaction.

Corporate people like structure and security, but this is a different way of working.

Leila Fataar, Platform 13

Neil Perkin, founder of digital consultancy Only Dead Fish which specialises in organisational agility, believes that informal virtual get-togethers and catch-ups are just as essential – if not more so – than a formal conference call.

“Things like virtual coffee breaks, where people can just sort of hang out together, have one-to-ones and have that kind of connection are as important as any formal meetings,” he says.

It’s all about creating an atmosphere of connection and trust. It is important also to think about a different way of measuring achievement, away from clock-watching and the rigid framework of the 9am to 5pm.

“The leadership attitude has to focus more on outputs, rather than presenteeism,” Perkin adds. “I think over time this will naturally play out and we’ll see more flexibility.”

Virtual connections

Equally, there’s a need to prioritise and be realistic about what people can achieve, at least in the short term. Evans believes that the current situation will lead to a more productive way of working, mainly because we’re going to see a major shift in how we communicate and how we relate to – and look after – each other.

“I think it will further cement the mental health agenda,” he says. “There isn’t going to be an individual in the world who isn’t going to have some sort of mental health impact as a result of this.”

TSB CMO, Peter Markey, stresses the need for developing a more engaging, familiar dialogue with staff.

“Now’s a really important time for any business to recognise people in the entirety of their lives. As leaders we have to find the opportunity to bring teams together,” he advises.

“How do we inject a sense of fun into our interactions? What will make up for not going for that beer after work, or dinner with an agency?”

The leadership attitude has to focus more on outputs, rather than presenteeism.

Neil Perkin, Only Dead Fish

In the traditional office set-up people were used to spending more time with their colleagues than their families. Those sort of work connections will still need to be strengthened and developed, even in an increasingly virtual world.

Markey talks about companies arranging online gaming sessions during lunch-breaks and predicts we’ll soon see more ways of keeping staff connected beyond their working hours.

“You do lose a bit of camaraderie when you’re not together,” he states.

“We shouldn’t make everything transactional; it shouldn’t all be about asking if a certain task has been done. It’s more asking how things are coming along, how are we all feeling? Each person will have their own story to tell and we have to provide the support and the listening ear. And we’re learning the best way to do that day-by-day.”

Structure your day
Plenty of people are already used to working remotely, particularly in creative sectors where freelancing and flexible approaches have long been established.

Colin Watkins is UK country manager for language-learning platform Duolingo, a US company with offices also in China and Mexico.

Watkins works from his home in south London and has to negotiate tricky time differences with the rest of his team. “Working remotely was a massive change. I was so used to having people around me, but now I structure my days and turn things like the time difference into a positive,” he explains.

By freeing himself up from the usual time-frames, he can adapt his working day accordingly. Watkins readily admits that he’s lucky; he loves his job, believes in the brand and has a good working relationship with his boss in the US. Now familiar with remote working, he sees the value in structuring his day in the most productive way possible.

We shouldn’t make everything transactional; it shouldn’t all be about asking if a certain task has been done.

Peter Markey, TSB

“At Duolingo they’re really comfortable with the idea that you might need some extra time in the day for personal reasons and then work a little later in the evening,” Watkins explains.

“You really value your time when you work from home. I don’t think anybody who works from home does a traditional 9am to 5pm. It doesn’t happen.”

Watkins likes to use the hour or so he saves on commuting for taking a walk, listening to podcasts and letting his mind empty.

Evans agrees that how workers structure their day away from the laptop is just as important as how they plan work time, as it helps people to feel fresh and energised.

Meanwhile, Perkin urges marketers working remotely to think about how they make it work for them.

“You’ve got to create your own space, a dedicated workplace. How you schedule your day has to work for you, including how you take breaks and switch off. You’re going to get work blurring into life, so there’s a danger of overwork,” he explains.

There’s also a need to look beyond the team bubble and get an outside perspective. Staying in contact with clients doesn’t just make good business sense, it also stops cabin fever and can give a different angle on a particular project.

What next?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes the UK will have got a grip on the spread of the coronavirus within the next 12 weeks. So when the Covid-19 pandemic eventually abates, will everyone simply return to their regular working day?

Questions about the nature of work are already being asked. “Whenever we come out of this, things won’t ever be the same again,” says Markey.

“We have a huge capacity as humans to learn and hopefully this will move us in a direction of some positive things, that will help us work in a more productive way.”

Perkin is also optimistic that good things will come, for the benefit of both employee and employer. “Longer term, I would hope that work becomes more focused on the needs of the individual, as much as the organisation, and that there’s a rebalance that works for both,” he says. “This is a gigantic experiment.”

Evans is equally confident that this watershed moment will signal at least one hugely significant turning point in our working lives: “The greatest gift from all this is that it will finally smash the taboo that home working is home shirking.”


MARKETING WEEK, MARCH 2020

”Be human, be cultural leaders and make positive impact”. ✨@leila_fataar - Founder of Platform13 and former PR Director of Adidas visited the Content Developer program today. She had a really inspiring talk about the place of brands in today’s culture 🌟. Thank you!

HYPER ISLAND, FEBRUARY 2020

Agencies like Beehive, VMLY&R, Engine, Publicis Sapient, St Luke's, Rotcho and Leo Burnett are set to judge The Drum Roses Awards 2020.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Digitas' chief creative, Emma de la Fosse will chair the judging panel.

The creative world outside of the M25 is thriving. These awards identify, reward and celebrate the best work across advertising, digital and design from outside London. Big or small, old or new, anyone can enter - providing the client or agency is headquartered outside the M25.

Past winners have included: Bray Leino, Cheetham Bell, The Leith Agency, One Black Bear, BBC Creative, B&W Studio, Havas Lynx, Chapter, McCann Manchester, TBWA Manchester, Rees Bradley Hepburn, Gerry Farrell Inc, Silver Agency, Baxter and Bailey, MadeBrave, Thompson Brand Partners, Split, Forever Beta and Contagious – to name just a few.

Who is on this year's jury?
Below is a breakdown of just eight members of the judging panel. More will be added daily.

Tim Doust
Tim Doust & Associates
Tim Doust
founder

Having been in the Media & Marketing industry for over 30 years, my biggest achievement to date has been launching Inferno (one of London's leading integrated agencies), and watching it grow year-on-y... ear. I'm told that my key speciality is business lunches, and I can't really argue with that! On the more serious side, new business and networking are my cups of tea. As a Founding Partner I also look after young talent and nurture our future industry superstars. I like the personal touch and have successfully seen through the acquisition/transaction of Inferno into FCB (IPG) and one thing about me that isn’t commonly known. I used to be a professional football player!  Show more

Increasingly, the brightest and the best aren't exclusively found in London. There are gems (some hidden) all over the place, generating outstanding work for Clients, and these awards showcase that. I want to see work that works - a perennial but often overlooked criteria for judges and to see entries that emotionally connect with audiences as a way to persuade them to take action.

Martin Galton
Beehive
Martin Galton
creative director

Having been hired by Sir John Hegarty at BBH, Galton went on to create effective, award winning campaigns for brands such as Levi’s, Sony and Audi. He then moved to Leagas Delaney to become head of ar... t and partner to Tim Delaney. In 1999, Galton started his own agency, Hooper Galton, which after 12 successful years was acquired by VCCP. He is also founder of Bang Said The Gun, and more recently Beehive.  Show more
The Roses are Noel Gallagher sticking two fingers up to the world. What I want to see is bold, intuitive thinking at its best. Something that makes me look. If you don’t grab the attention, everything else is irrelevant.
Tom Bedwell
Above and Beyond
Tom Bedwell
managing director
Bedwell is managing director of independent creative agency, Above+Beyond, working with the likes of Subway, Amazon and Pilgrims Choice. Starting out at BBH on the Levi’s and British Airways accounts,...  he embarked upon a career that seen him work with a diverse range of clients including PlayStation, Guinness, MasterCard, Unilever (Lynx) and EA Games, at agencies including Wieden+Kennedy, Mother, AMVBBDO and McCann London.  Show more
Something that hits me in the gut straight away and then makes a whole heap of sense in my head afterwards. Distinctive and modern creative solutions that stand out from the sea of lazy sameness that’s rive within so many categories right now, smartly grounded in being a credible (and ownable) thing for that brand to be doing, linked to clear business or communications objectives. No creativity or innovation for its own sake please and certainly not shamelessly jumping on the latest bandwagon.

Ashika Chauhan
Krow Group
Ashika Chauhan
digital creative director

Chauhan has worked in the UK and Australia over the past 15 yers, on digital and integrated campaigns for household name brands. She has a grounding in everything from coding and strategy to creative...  concept and content production. In line with the rapid evolution of digital and content over the last decade, Chauhan has curated and led diverse teams that sit within the overall integrated agency offering, ensuring ongoing business relevancy.  Show more
I’d love to see entries that are having a positive impact on real people. The strongest work out there cuts through the advertising noise and has a message that resonates with us on a human level. Beyond the short-term, I’d like to see work that leaves a lasting impression.

Leila Fataar
Platform 13

Fataar is the founder of Platform13. She has over two decades of experience, from her 10 year first youth oriented boutique agency, Spin, a stint at corporate powerhouse Edelman and in senior roles at...  both sportswear giant, adidas Originals (global) and Diageo (Europe) giving her a unique ability to speak entrepreneurial, cultural and corporate fluently, enabling a sometimes new, but always credible conversation between brands and their audiences.  Show more
London has long been the focus of awards and creativity. But we all know, there is advertising, design and digital talent beyond the M25, whether in a big agency, a smaller shop or collective. I'll be looking for original thought with a simple comprehensive message packaged in creativity and cultural relevance. If you want to stand out, make sure it's easy to understand and compelling. As I always say, thumbstopping. No faff.
Lydia Jones
St Luke's
Lydia Jones
planning director

Jones has been in advertising for nearly 14 years. She learnt her craft in direct and digital marketing at HTW and Dare and later at McCann and Ogilvy. Highlights include tattooing someone to sell a v... ideo game and having Messi hug random strangers to sell shampoo. After 3 years in Amsterdam working on Emirates and P&G, she moved back to London in 2016 creating global brand strategy for Dove and Hellmann’s. She joined St Luke’s in 2018 and is planning director on Very.co.uk, KP Nuts and Montezuma’s chocolate.  Show more

I’m thrilled to be judging this year’s Roses awards and excited to see work from all over the UK. Awards like Roses are vital for our industry, they remind us there is life outside London and it’s especially important to show young people wanting to break into advertising that you don’t have to fork out for eye wateringly expensive London rents to be part of making great creative work.

THE DRUM, FEBRUARY 2020 (2)

CAMPAIGN MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 2020

Young, shafted and black: is anything being done to close the influencer ethnicity pay gap?

Stephanie Yeboah is among the high profile influencers calling out the industry for regularly paying black influencers less than their white counterparts. But what’s being done about it? We talk to platforms, marketers and beauty industry veterans to find out.

Black influencers get paid less than white influencers. Not all the time, and not in every market or in every campaign. And the issue may or may not be systematic (the industry’s lack of transparency over influencer pay prevents us from finding out).

But it happens, in the same way it happens in Hollywood and in the advertising industry and in almost every other paid sphere of modern life.

It happens to Eulanda Osagiede, one half of the travel and lifestyle blogging duo behind Hey! Dip Your Toes In. Last year she told the BBC's The Next Episode how a brand that constantly approached her about a content partnership ostensibly “never had budget” to pay her and her husband, Omo.

“I approached creator friends who had worked with the brand before,” she said. “These creators happened to be white and they all said, ‘Oh no, we got paid’. The brand continued to reach out to us. Each time they never had budget and each time I checked, they always did have budget for someone else. Maybe they just didn’t have budget for people who looked like us.”

It happens to Jacqueline Ilumoka, a blogger, model and marketer who once was paid at least £800 less than a white peer for the same deal with a fast fashion brand. It happens to Stephanie Yeboah, a plus-size influencer who, after being paid in the “low £100s” for a style content gig, found out that white influencers were paid in the “£2,000-£3,000 range” for the same job.

The intermediaries that broker influencer deals between brands and creators say pay discrepancy based on race is by no means built into the system. For many, including the influencer marketing platform Takumi, prices are predicated on each influencer’s reach. So, if an influencer of color has more followers than a white influencer in the same category, they would be paid more.

“The prices can’t be fiddled,” claims the platform’s chief executive Adam Williams (he has since departed the company).

“And actually, quite often clients say they have to have diversity across the board ... and actively remove some of the white influencers [from a campaign] because they want a real mix. From our platform’s perspective, it’s not a problem.”

A similar platform, Influencer, describes a similar phenomenon. The company works by asking influencers to name their fee rather than asking the client its price.

“Never have we had a situation where a client has asked us to negotiate harder or to offer a vastly reduced rate to creators based on their ethnicity,” says head of client services Nik Speller. “In some of our more recent campaigns, creators of color have actually been able to charge more than white creators with a similar following and engagement as they’ve been able to prove their ability to reach a specific audience demographic that the client is looking to advertise to.”

So if the racial influencer pay gap is not appearing at the point of deal-making, why is it happening at all? The reason is complex, structural and rooted in decades – centuries even – of historic racism. It’s because the ‘black dollar’ still has less worth than any other.

Madeira Omo
Alisa Metzger has worked in the beauty industry for more than 15 years. In that time she’s witnessed a sector failing to keep up with the idea of inclusivity, growing frustrated enough to launch her own company dedicated to affordable, vegan skincare designed for all complexions.

The InnBeauty Project regularly works with a vast array of influencers; other beauty brands don’t do the same, she says, because of who they choose to include in their target market.

“Brands will look at who they’re targeting by asking who has the most money to buy their products,” she explains. “If they’re making products for Caucasian women in their 30s or 40s, they’ll go to influencers in their 20s and 30s – you always skew younger – and that’s where it all lies.

“What you see is influencers based in New York or California or Dallas – influencers that tend to be Caucasian and wear designer clothes – getting bigger paychecks because brands are clamoring for them. It comes from where you’re finding your low-hanging fruit, from who’s there to buy your brand. And in the US, in beauty, it’s still more often white women between the ages of 25 and 40. So you’re going out and finding lookalike influencers to match that demographic.”

But the reason many fashion and beauty brands still desire a white, youthful audience (whether or not they themselves realize they do) isn’t just because they have more money to spend. It’s because “dollars of color have been valued less than others” ever since demographics existed, says Coltrane Curtis, the founder and managing partner of marketing agency Team Epiphany.

This affects not just how much influencers of color get paid, but the lackluster and uninformed ways brands try to reach multicultural communities in the first place. And influencer metrics – so beloved by the modern marketer – have not been formulated with the way these communities communicate in mind, says Curtis.

“Communities of color trust people because of consistency,” he says. “When you really look at activating communities of color, it’s not just about one influencer – you need an entire community backing the message. But brands are not consistent in their marketing efforts to reach us. They use us as adrenaline boosts.

“And social is now about a metric. It’s about how many people follow you. That’s not commensurate with trust.”

This means that while a black influencer may boast a strong engagement rate with their followers, they will be overlooked in a dataset if their follower count doesn’t hit the heights of a white influencer. So their price gets driven down, which means fewer black influencers can afford to pursue such a career.

That means there are less creators available to activate the community for brands. So brands simply don’t bother trying to reach it. And the cycle continues.

“We believe that if brands want to resonate with their target audience, they must earn their place in the culture or community they want to be part of,” says Leila Fataar, founder of Platform13. “The most credible way to do that is to add value to that community and contribute to that culture. That doesn’t always have to be worthy. For us, positive impact comes in many forms.

“But it does mean respectful collaboration with the people who represent, create and shape culture from grassroots up. We call these people cultural voices. These people may or may not have a huge social following, but their authority and expertise – who follows them and how engaged their audience is – become the priority, and budget should be allocated accordingly. This truly has nothing to do with color.”

So how does it all end? The answer is simple – stop treating people of color as a way of amplifying your campaign and instead place them in the core of your creative. For Fataar and Curtis, this has meant turning the concept of ‘influencer’ on its head by brokering deals that go further than a sponsored post. Co-creation at the product level means the cultural expertise of an influencer reaches across all marketing touchpoints, while the product itself will likely appeal to the multicultural community on a more authentic level.

Co-creation, however, is an easy distraction from the bigger question brand marketers haven’t been asking often enough: who is my product really for? InnBeauty’s Metzger, a veteran of the beauty industry, has witnessed companies design products with only a white woman in mind. Now though, she says there’s no excuse for building a company in such a way.

“If you’re only looking at one demographic then it’s likely you’ll only work with a few diverse influencers ... but, at the core, you’re missing the point,” she explains. “You have to start asking who your audience really is and then open out that target audience. You have to ask questions like, ‘does this work on people with different skin tones?’ That’s got to start at the chief marketer level.”

Those interrogating questions – among others such as the expanding flavor profiles of African Americans and cultural norms of second-generation Latinxs – are more likely to be asked by an agency or in-house team that is diverse. Hiring and listening to staff of color makes for an organization that can handle a broader demographic and thus value influencers of color as much as their white counterparts.

As Curtis puts it: “It’s not just about having that diversity within a corporate organization, but about encouraging inclusivity and activism. It’s systemic. It’s about how we really utilize the diversity we have to inform our decisions.

“This whole influence thing is basically word of mouth marketing. Word of mouth marketing is the only tool communities of color actually had. We didn’t have ad pages in magazines and out of home until they wanted to start selling cigarettes and alcohol to us. And so, word of mouth is the only thing that is intrinsically true to the African American experience.”

THE DRUM, FEBRUARY 2020

LOVE THIS PODCAST, FEBRUARY 2019

FASHION TALKS, JANUARY 2020

SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL, DECEMBER 2019

SHE SAID SO Alt 100 List, 2019

SNEAKERS MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 2019

D&AD, JUNE 2019

SPECIAL REPORT: CULTURAL CREDIBILITY IS EVERYTHING — HERE'S HOW BRANDS BUILD IT

In October 2017, the impossible happened.

Supreme, once operated from a single store on New York’s Lafayette Street, had quietly sold half of its business to multinational private equity firm The Carlyle Group for a reported $500 million, valuing the company at a staggering $1 billion. Many of Supreme’s long-time fans weren’t impressed, accusing the brand of “selling out,” believing that with wealthy investors involved, the brand's growth would compromise its authenticity.

Aware of the potential backlash, Supreme boss James Jebbia kept the sum of the deal under wraps for months, afraid it could damage the street cred Supreme had carefully cultivated since its launch in 1994.

Cultural credibility, after all, is the secret ingredient that turned Supreme products into status symbols for youth tribes around the world. In the process, Supreme subverted the definition of “luxury” to a point where high prices and avant-garde designs are no longer the sole drivers of desirability.

Cred is what gives Supreme’s scarce box logo tees $800 resale values and differentiates them from any other white T-shirt on the market. They are 25 years of subculture and narrative embedded in one simple item of clothing. And that is the exact example many fashion brands have tried to replicate, with only a handful succeeding.

But cultural cred is intangible. It transcends geography and demographics and isn’t created by one group alone. It's ambiguous and imbued with nuance, making it hard to define and put into practice. Brands that try to place themselves as authentic to youth culture via strategy alone are indisputably inauthentic.

Cultural cred is made up of various components, many ever-evolving, with specific overarching elements that need to coexist. Without all the pieces in place, a company risks losing resonance and longevity with the influential Gen Z and millennial generations of shoppers, which represent $350 billion of spending power in the US alone. So how do brands crack the code?

Make product responsive
Core to any fashion brand is its product. For consumers, product is the trophy that both unifies them with peers and sets them apart.

“Simply, it’s about making product that young people aspire to wear,” says Sofia Prantera, the Italian-born Slam City Skates alumna and co-founder of London streetwear label Aries.

But what’s perceived as coveted today will have changed by tomorrow, with buyers expecting clothing to be designed, produced, and delivered at the electric speed of Instagram. Streetwear’s business model, rooted in easily churned-out T-shirts, hoodies, and accessories made in limited quantities and distributed through weekly drops, lends itself well to these fluctuations in desirability. For those wanting to keep up with their customers, it's vital to create products responsively.

In 2011, H&M-owned fast-fashion retailer Weekday launched Zeitgeist, a project in which T-shirts and tote bags were screen-printed in its stores. The designs reflected current affairs and spoke directly to the retailer’s Gen Z and millennial audience. Examples included “Love Wins Deutschland,” celebrating Germany becoming the 23rd country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage; “Fight Like a Girl,” in support of the Women’s March against President Trump; and “Make London Europe Again” against Brexit.

But one size doesn’t fit all. Ideally, working with collaborators should be localized to speak to specific regions. Most of all, expansion into new fields shouldn’t be forced on consumers, and brands shouldn’t forget the products that made them authentic in the first place. Think Supreme skate decks, BAPE full-zip hoodies, or visvim’s FBT shoes.

“Someone like Palace has grown very fast but it has also grown organically,” says Prantera. “They’ve retained independence and I think it shows with their output, because some of their releases aren’t necessarily commercially friendly.” In other words, it feels real.

The element of surprise can’t be overlooked either. Collaborations are often used as a tool. Although unsustainable, not only is continuously replenished (collaborative) product good for business and brand marketing, unexpected products are a clever way for fashion brands to see how their community responds to products put out in real time. It’s a way to test how far a brand can push before it strays too far from its authentic core.

Speak through, not to your audience
Relevant product alone, however, won’t be enough to engage today’s fragmented buyer. Today, being culturally relevant means one must know when, where, and how to speak to your audience. For years, traditional messaging has remained the same and, as the use of social media in the fashion industry became oversaturated, consumers have become immune to homogenous, disengaging content.

What differentiates a label is its attitude, tone, and brand activity. Only by having a distinctive voice can a brand generate shareable content that resonates. Companies can no longer put out content for the sake of it and let engagement metrics overshadow narrative-driven marketing.

Problems occur when brands see their communication channels strictly as additional ways to push out new product. This approach is wrong because brands are essentially telling their followers that unless they’re consuming, they can’t fully take part in the dialogue.

Instead, fashion houses should see social media as a tool to inspire, to expand their universe with content that digs deeper into the company’s backstory, product, and community, while acting as a forum for discussion among followers.

“Don’t only speak to your community, speak through and with them,” says Leila Fataar, founder of Platform13, a London-based brand consultancy that specializes in creating and maintaining cultural relevance for companies through on-brand activations and by connecting them with influential industry insiders. Its roster of clients includes adidas, Under Armour, and Beats by Dre.

Getting the mix right are labels such as Nike, The North Face, and Stüssy, as well as 1017 ALYX 9SM, JJJJound, and BODE. All strike the right ratio and speed when it comes to novelty, product, and honest, value-driven storytelling. It allows followers to become part of the brand's direction.

“Patagonia is also a good example,” says American industry veteran and creative business consultant Julie Gilhart, who has worked with everyone from Amazon, Prada, and Jil Sander to Goyard and Mulberry. “They have really good communication. They don’t really do anything without talking about it first. If they don’t, their customers are going to talk about it and [the company] is going to do something about it. Your community is sort of like your family.”

Embrace cultural voices
It’s true. Brands should treat their community with love and respect. Fostering a community that sticks, however, is a challenge. A strong community means relinquishing some measure of control to the consumer. This is a scary thought for many companies, but it's something that gives a brand meaning beyond product alone.

“Sometimes I say no to nice brands because I feel there isn’t enough energy or attitude to bring them into the market,” says Slam Jam founder Luca Benini. “Immediately after I see the product, I check who’s behind the brand and what their approach is. In the long term, this makes the difference.”

Stavros Karelis, founder of multi-brand retailer Machine-A, explains, “There’s a very big turn in our industry, from bigger is better to being more specific to a core audience, not satisfying every single demand. That way you grow steadily in a safe manner.”

Karelis has proven to be an expert in scouting brands with staying power early on. He names Kiko Kostadinov, Grace Wales Bonner, 1017 ALYX 9SM, and Cav Empt as prime examples of labels that have all-encompassing visions of their clientele and brand.

“Someone like Matthew Williams [of ALYX] kept his brand very specific for the first few years," Karelis says. "There were no shows, no presentations. He communicated his message through specific retailers and through campaigns. It shows that he waited for the right time to build community and educate everyone before it exploded.”

While social media has connected those who are like-minded in their niche interests, it has also meant the death of underground subcultures at the local level, once the foundation of fashion communities, with everything becoming more accessible.

“Growing organically while maintaining your original customer is a challenge,” admits Prantera. Community, she says, is something very difficult to establish and something you can’t manufacture. “You either have it or you don’t.”

Indeed, brands only become authentic by supporting culture, not by hijacking it. At the same time, they need to focus on being anything other than a faceless corporation. And that's easier said than done.

So how can brands, new or established, build, foster, and then leverage their community to grow a culturally credible brand?

“It’s not rocket science,” laughs Fataar, explaining how brands need to focus on people with similar mindsets rather than the same demographics. “They also need to have conversations with the community they’re trying to be part of and see what they can do to add value to that community instead of just talking to them for a PR story. That’s when brands do well and, to me, that’s what creates cultural relevance.”

Fataar highlights Gucci’s partnership with Harlem couturier Dapper Dan as a sincere case study. “How long did that take to do? But look how much it has done for the brand,” she says.

Where fashion brands often fall down, she adds, is when they identify the wrong people to spread the message, often prioritizing popular online influencers new to the scene over those with true influence.

“You’re not a cultural voice just because you have loads of followers," Fataar says. "A cultural voice is someone who’s earned their stripes and not just told a story. They’re the ones who have been part of the change and have helped shape the culture. Some of those people don’t even have social feeds, but they’re the ones making stuff happen. If you want to talk to a community of people, you get these cultural voices in to do it. Hopefully, your brand values are the same and you can come up with something that’s important and relevant.”

For Angelo Baque, founder of Awake NY and former brand director of Supreme, building a community means looking inward first. “Instead of putting all this energy into thinking about how to make a million dollars, I’m thinking about how I can incubate and mentor new photographers and find new talent to contribute to the brand, like I did at Supreme,” he says. “You have to think about the long game. With Supreme, people tend to not understand that it’s been around for 25 years.”

Without values, you stand for nothing
One of the best examples of a brand growing its cultural relevance for more than 50 years is outdoor giant The North Face.

“When our brand was born, there was little competition, so making good product was sufficient," says The North Face's global general manager of urban exploration and mountain lifestyle Tim Bantle, whose team has been responsible for collaborations with Supreme, sacai, and Junya Watanabe. "Then the industry evolved, and then we were great at creating unique content to support the product through photography and stories of incredible expeditions. For a long time that was sufficient.”

But the environment changed in the last decade, says Bantle, who now believes product and storytelling are only half of the work that needs to be put in. “Once you layer in additional values as a brand, that’s when you start getting a complete package,” he says. “You really can’t be the brand you want to be without addressing these [external] dimensions.”

Whether it’s Nike supporting former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Gucci and Levi’s speaking out against gun violence, Uniqlo parent company Fast Retailing making genuine strides in hiring refugees, or The North Face’s “Walls Are Meant for Climbing” campaign, which took shots at President Trump’s call to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, the brands of the future will be driven by purpose as much as profit. The days of surface-level consumerism are over.

Gilhart argues that, in today’s environment, by not standing for something, you’re at risk of losing the cultural cred you’ve built up with your community. “You may disappoint a few, but it’s worth it,” she says.

Antonio Achille, senior partner and global head of luxury at management consulting firm McKinsey & Company agrees. “Projecting a brand image needs to be based on a very authentic set of values. If there's a disconnect, it’s a boomerang in your face,” he says.

Bantle adds, “The big institutions that people have historically relied on for a sense of identity and belonging simply aren’t as effective as they used to be. People’s choices of where their dollars go need to go to companies that reflect their values and something bigger than themselves.

“We’ve really turned up the dial on the values component in the last couple of years because it’s the right thing to do. It helps us connect to our audience in a way we feel proud of and can stand by at the end of the day, and it will only become more important as we grow.”

Make sustainability and transparency the norm
Values shouldn’t be limited to external messaging. Those wanting to stay relevant need to be transparent about the way they operate, from how a company treats its employees to sustainable sourcing, production, and distribution.

Research by Boston Consulting Group shows that 73 percent of the world’s clothing eventually ends up in landfills. Meanwhile, 75 percent of consumers surveyed by the group view sustainability as extremely or very important. And consumers have the power to make businesses accountable. According to the report, 50 percent of consumers say they plan to switch brands in the future if another brand does more to protect the environment and help society than their preferred one.

From Burberry burning clothing worth millions (a practice it says it has discontinued) to H&M sitting on $4.3 billion of unsold stock, companies will have to radically rethink their approach to the “end” of a product’s lifecycle.

“If you want to be in it for the long haul, not starting a business in an environmentally and socially responsible way is a risk,” says Gilhart, who adds that future investors might be scared off by consumers potentially calling out a brand’s unsustainable practices. “It’s the number one thing. You don’t want to start something that’s unsustainable when you have as much information as we have now. We’re on borrowed time.”

Companies such as Everlane, Allbirds, and Noah understand this. In May, Noah explained to its Instagram followers in great detail why the prices of some of its sweatshirts and rugby shirts had gone up, guiding users through its supply chain with images of its factories and workers, and breaking down the costs of each individual item.

Noah was founded by former Supreme creative director Brendon Babenzien and has become known for its value-driven approach to fashion, raising money and awareness for causes including the Black Lives Matter movement, ocean clean-up, and programs that support LGBT+ communities.

While it has maintained that it's “not a sustainable company,” Noah’s willingness to work toward solutions and put integrity above trends, working exclusively with suppliers and manufacturers that treat workers fairly, has created a template for a modern and culturally credible fashion brand.

“The new consumer is very sensitive about increased transparency,” says McKinsey’s Achille. “Before, the primary source for consumers to get your brand identity was through in-store experiences and customer service. Next came marketing. Now it’s not just about the frontline anymore, but it’s a much more holistic equity that you need to build in terms of brand identity.”

Prantera of Aries agrees. “The more vertical your business is, the better it will do. It might not be the most financially friendly solution, but it’s for sure the purest,” she says. “The way people are paid, where you manufacture, how you treat your suppliers, it’s all about how your business appears. It’s not just about design and PR anymore.”

Altogether, what defines cultural credibility probably can’t be encapsulated in one simple formula, but the fundamentals are detailed above.

“Nobody knows how long it takes to build a successful brand. Some brands happen overnight and some take years,” says Gilhart. “But if you start to build a good foundation, which [includes] sustainability, community-building from the get-go, being direct-to-consumer, knowing what you stand for, and being consistent with it, it’s very good. It doesn’t matter who you are, you just have to be transparent and authentic.”

HIGHSNOBIETY, JUNE 2019

Platform13 founder Leila Fataar was invited to discuss the important subject of creating a space for representation in media at the BuzzFeed UK HQ with ColorComm.


ColorComm, May 2019

Love This Podcast, February 2019

Social Media Week, November 2018

THINK FORWARD 2019: THE KEY TRENDS TO KNOW

To mark the release of our latest Think Forward trends report, last week we hosted an early morning event on the key trends to look out for in 2019. Our Associate Editorial Director, Rhiain Temple was there to absorb and report on the morning’s highlights.

Our Head of R&I, Paul Greenwood and Strategy Director Caroline Lucas-Garner welcomed Lululemon’s Manager, Brand & Digital, Europe, Bronwen Foster-Butler, Cameron-James Wilson, the creator of the world’s first digital supermodel, Shudu and Platform 13 Founder, Leila Faatar to discuss their views on the trends to look out for in 2019.

First things first, the headlines from the report:

Social media has made the world an increasingly borderless place. The ultimate representation of globalisation and its gradual blending of cultures, it has allowed people to come together to share similar experiences across cultural divides.

But, what has that led to in 2018? Caroline and Paul put it down to the following three key behavioural changes:

People have found their identities are under threat

Some have rallied against social

Many have taken control back of their data

Some brands have taken these change of behaviours as an opportunity to use social as a platform for change. Take Levi’s firm stance on gun control, Nike’s support of Kaepernick’s stand against bigotry, Diesel’s Hate Couture, Bonobos’ #EvolveTheDefinition of masculinity and Mercedes Tough Conversations campaign.

What a great stat. ⁦@wearesocial⁩ #thinkforward19 pic.twitter.com/CBttyVTV5D

— Ginny Paton (@GinnyPaton) November 21, 2018

But, while some brands have entered the bear pit and succeeded, there are many who are afraid to jump in due to fear. Fears to commit, to have an opinion, to stand up for something and fear of audience alienation and reprisal.

Caroline, however, notes that audiences have reasonable expectations from brands. People expect honesty and proper representation and this is why our 2019 Think Forward report delves into the complex web of consumer identity.

It’s time to get trendy as Paul talks through the six social drivers that were the backbone of the report; certainty, connection, belonging, status, progression and conscience. Now, on to the report itself.

Think Forward 2019: The Nine Trends
Caroline and Paul took us through the nine key trends from the report:

Social Standing
Leading brands have taken a hard line on hate and publicly stuck by their values

Fake Authenticity
Synthetic influencers like Shudu and Lil Miquela prove that deliberate fakeness can be positive

Local Legitimacy
Consumers are doubling down on their local identities in the face of globalisation

Collective AI
Brands are utilising big data and machine learning to tap into trends

New Masculinity
The masculine debate is raging. Some brands have become passive mediators

Memes Go Niche
This branch of memes offers insights into hard-to-reach audience behaviours

Minority Impact
Marginalised groups are driving social’s biggest conversations and defining culture

Democratising Data
Many consumers feel duped and want to retake control of their own data

Right Now Crowd
Live video has left pre-recorded behind and created IRL watercooler moments

With these trends brands need to ask themselves, what are the benefits of tapping into them, what are the potential pitfalls and, finally, how brave and ready are you to get stuck in?

Thankfully, our panel may have some of the answers as Caroline and Paul open up the discussion with them.

Firstly, how has social impacted identity in 2018?
“The question of who are you has never been more prevalent than in 2018. Identity has really blown up”, says Cameron. Social has given us the opportunity to step into someone else’s shoes and it’s important that we do that. Another question that social has asked when it comes to identity, is the difference between roots and community. “What is it to belong and where you come from versus who you choose to be and where you choose to live is a live discussion right now and it’s an interesting one,” says Leila.

For Bronwen, it’s awareness of the echo chamber among your community that has led to a lot of questions around identity. “We have to ask why things caught us off-guard,” she notes.

Identity, authenticity and masculinity in a polarised world – at @wearesocial’s #thinkforward2019. Interesting stuff. Particularly enjoying the revolutionary spirit on stage among the panel (mainly @Leila_Fataar). ??

— Nils (@nils_tomkins) November 21, 2018

Could a brand have different identities?
The general consensus among the panel was yes, as long as the brand had one unified message. Leila says: “It’s about an exploration of truth. You need to deliver the same messages to different audiences, but there always needs to be a truth”.

For Cameron, different identities are key to his work. He says he has one message that he delivers in different ways but it’s always a unified message.

What are the tensions between creativity and authenticity for brands?
Authenticity remains king in the world of influencers. “It’s not about the millions of followers, it’s more about the difference people are making in the world. For brands, Leila says “work with people who are shaping the world, not taking pictures of it”. Cameron adds; “what people want isn’t an authentic end product, it’s authentic intent.”

Finally, what are the big trends around social standing and how do brands enter these conversations?
Across the board, our panel agreed that a brand has to back itself when it comes to discussions around social issues. “It’s got to back up what you stand for as a brand. You have to walk the walk and don’t be afraid to be bold.” To finish the discussion, Leila had a bold comment on her take on things; “brands can change the world.”

Download a copy of our Think Forward 2019 report here.

THINK FORWARD, NOVEMBER 2019

THE FUTURE, NOVEMBER 2018 

What makes Virgil Abloh’s Off-White the 'hottest' brand on the planet?

Leila Fataar, the founder of Platform13, deconstructs the allure of Off-White, which was recently named as the 'hottest' brand on the planet by fashion search platform Lyst.

It comes as absolutely no surprise to me that five-year-old Off-White is the world’s hottest brand.

That’s because Off-White comes courtesy of Virgil Abloh, one of the most influential and relevant people in the world today (Google him, seriously). He has succeeded in bridging the two worlds of streetwear and luxury together in a way that feels totally authentic, aspirational and inspiring.

Cutting his teeth as an intern for Fendi in 2009 with Kanye West resulted in the start of an incredible artistic collaboration, with Abloh becoming creative director for Ye’s agency just as Kanye became a global superstar. He is also the first African-American artistic director of Louis Vuitton, a role he took up in March.

This has caused a huge shift in how the storied fashion house’s products are created and presented and, importantly, how this brand is becoming desirable to a new audience. He is an outsider, a true disruptor, the breaker of barriers (walls and glass ceilings) who has deconstructed the old establishment’s way of doing things from his first label, Pyrex, in 2012.

Abloh
“When I studied engineering... it was the humanities classes that I had put to the side that ultimately started me on this path of thinking about creativity in a much more cultural context,” he once told the New York Times. “Not designing for design’s sake but connecting design to the rhythm of what’s happening in the world.”

For me, this ‘rhythm’ is culture, the stuff of life – it’s lifestyle, it’s politics, it’s issues in the community, a reflection of people’s reality, it’s emotional. It’s what we see, what we do, what we wear, what we listen to, how we act, how we communicate.

And when your brand is able contribute to the community you want to be part of, it will be a relevant, authentic and influential part of culture.

Culture, like a good brand, is a living and breathing thing, requiring constant monitoring and evaluation and work to adapt and change. To succeed in this space, brands need to work to a timeline that matches culture – not traditional advertising campaign media buys.

Abloh really understands how to do this. Famous for not having an office, travelling relentlessly and working through his phone means that he is constantly aware of what’s happening at ground level. The age-old clichés of ‘ear to the ground’ and ‘finger on the pulse’ ring very true here – he represents a generation whose side gigs are becoming industries and working remotely is becoming the norm.

nike off white
This is why Abloh calls Off-White his ‘laboratory’, a place where insight is what is happening in culture before that data has hit big brand research agency levels, where product is created and adapted dependent on the ‘now’. The use of his friends, audience and an ever-evolving network as collaborators in all parts of his work has opened the door for this new generation.

Co-creation with brands such as Ikea, Nike, Levi’s and Moncler has helped to expand the label to new audiences and territories, while simultaneously giving kudos to these more established brands.

Additionally, his communications around his work rarely feel like ‘advertising’. They are much more akin to how this generation communicates at the intersection of URL and IRL [in real life] – something that we, who have worked in these cultural areas for years, have always done differently to the traditional advertising world.

So, it comes as even less of a surprise that few people within traditional advertising and branding would have ever even heard of him. To be honest, he simply does not fit their cookie cutter mould, so identifying someone like him would not come easily.

I launched Platform13 just over a year ago, with ‘RIP influencer marketing, long live influence’ as the tagline. If there was ever an example of who the latter may be, Abloh would be the benchmark.

Leila Fataar is the founder of Platform13. She Instagrams at @leila_fataar.

THE DRUM, OCTOBER 2018

BUSINESS OF FASHION, AUGUST 2018

The moment I decided to launch platform13 by Leila Fataar

It’s funny. I don’t think there was an actual moment I decided to start Platform13. It simply felt like the next phase in my career.

I have been surrounded by creativity my entire life. My uncles were and are famous musicians, who have broken boundaries in apartheid South Africa since I can remember, my grandmother designed swimwear, and my mother was a pattern cutter and clothing designer. I, myself, never had that type of craft creativity, rather a keen sense of what resonates in terms of culture and the like. I can’t codify it, but it is a skill that has followed me throughout my life and career.

Culture, for me, is the stuff of life – it’s how we communicate, what we wear, eat, see and listen to. It’s how we behave and what influences us. It's living and breathing and changes all the time. Reading and analysing the signs as culture shifts, and flexing plans (in a way that makes sense for that brand), is how I keep the companies I am working with relevant.

And so, it is in everything I do – launching an independent boutique publicity agency at 26, running it for 10 years, and spending the last five years working at global companies in cultural roles. The HUGE societal, political, cultural and technological transformational shift we find ourselves in means all parts of the creative, communications and marketing industries are trying to find a new path.


D&AD, AUGUST 2018

CAMPAIGN, MARCH 2018

APA, MARCH 2018 

D&AD, MARCH 2018 

THE DRUM NEW YEARS HONOURS, JANUARY 2018

BRITISH FASHION COUNCIL, JANUARY 2018

Leila Fataar joined Dapper Dan to discuss Cultural Appropriation with Tim Blanks at BOF Voices. 

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BOF VOICES, DECEMBER 2017

BUSINESS OF FASHION, OCTOBER 2017

ADE, OCTOBER 2017

Former Diageo marketer Leila Fataar wants to help global brands find their cultural sweet spot

Leila Fataar, the outgoing head of culture and entertainment at Diageo and former marketer at Adidas and Edelman, has seen marketers claim to have influencers when they’ve really just bought an online audience, brands trying to manufacture authenticity to appeal to millennials, and industry-wide struggles to link cultural influence with brand growth. Now, she’s hoping to help brands avoid those pitfalls when she launches her own company this month, Platform 13.

Platform 13 isn’t an agency but a freelance network of creative pioneers from the worlds of fashion, music, art, design, sports, food and drink. (Fataar wouldn’t provide names, but it’s fair to say they’ll resemble people like WAH Nails founder Sharmadean Reid and Boiler Room founder Blaise Bellville, whom she’s worked with over the years). For example, if a brand wants to wrap itself in music culture, Fataar would find a credible way for the brand to do that, then line up the right creators to help, paying them a share of the client’s fee.

What she says sets Platform 13 apart is that her network will comprise established figures such as DJs, artists and up-and-coming fashion directors rather than unproven social media influencers. Her approach is designed to make it easy for companies to use these people in their marketing campaigns, Fataar said. Similar businesses like The Backscratchers, which was founded in 2012, are becoming more common in the race to find the so-called “agency of the future.”

“It’s hard to be a global brand and stay authentic, and I think there’s an opportunity to offer real expertise in this area,” Fataar said. “If a brand wants to be part of a culture, then they need to positively contribute to it.”

Former colleagues cite Fataar’s ability to straddle the creative, culture and corporate worlds. Till Jagla, global senior director at Adidas Originals, noted Fataar’s “long experience in the streetwear market, a deep understanding of product/concept activation and an exceptional network.”

Last year, Fataar led a campaign that started as a Twitter conversation between Diageo’s Captain Morgan rum and Leicester City Football Club captain Wes Morgan, and ended up being what the brand called its most successful social media campaign in Europe.

It’s that experience that persuaded Diageo to become Platform 13’s founding client. “Leila made a big impact during her two years at Diageo, helping to move the ‘brands in culture’ agenda forward,” said Ed Pilkington, Diageo’s marketing and innovation director for Europe. “Leila has a real vision for Platform 13, intent on helping to bring brand purpose to life working with and through cultural voices.”

Diageo is like many high-profile brands trying to figure out where social responsibility, authenticity and inspiration should fit in their advertising message. These are the questions Fataar will try to answer as she attempts to turn business objectives into creative plans.

The London-based Fataar grew up in apartheid South Africa, where she was so eager to leave that her mother bribed her to finish the science degree she was working on with a plane ticket to the city. Fataar showed up (with her head shaved, “my Sinéad O’Connor phase”) during the early ’90s rave scene, a time when the capital city was experiencing a renaissance in fashion, music, art and design. Fataar landed a job as a receptionist at the salon Toni&Guy. Eventually, she ran her own agency, Spin, for 10 years before becoming a senior marketer at Adidas and Diageo.

Fataar faces plenty of challenges with Platform 13. There has never been greater demand for outsider points of view on how to change their business, said Fataar, but there also is no shortage of competent agencies offering integrated, specialist services. Clients who increasingly want an agency that understands their business but they don’t want to commit long-term to an agency.

Fataar acknowledges that the bulk of an ad budget will go to tried-and-tested strategies, making Platform 13’s experimental proposition tricky for marketers to consider.

“But no brand will have any meaningful impact in culture to drive a business forward if they’re not willing to spend a certain amount on innovative projects,” she said. “This is how brands maintain their category leadership and drive their industry forward.”

DIGIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2017 

CAMPAIGN, SEPTEMBER 2017

Would the world really miss you if you didn’t exist?

Would anyone care if brands just disappeared? Four judges from the WARC Awards on what brand purpose is and what, at its best, it can achieve.

Aligning a brand to a purpose caught the zeitgeist long before attempts were made to understand its effects, or even its meaning. Put simply, it is the why behind a company’s actions. But some of these are more sincere than others, and some derive more commercial value than others.

During a panel session at the 2017 WARC Awards presentation evening in London, Tom Knox, Chairman of MullenLowe London, invited a selection of Awards judges to speak about their attempts to isolate, understand, and reward the most effective instances of brand purpose. Knox is a well-known name in the field: in a previous incarnation as president of the IPA, he brought to the institute a new agenda, one that set out to prove a guiding idea.

“It’s my strong belief advertising can be a noble profession and what we do is fundamentally of great value and good,” he said in his inaugural speech. “It’s no longer good enough to say we merely reflect society – we should set ourselves a higher goal and realise a more progressive ambition.”

That was back in 2015. Two years later the conversation continues. Andy Last, CEO of PR and strategic comms agency MullenLowe Salt, offered a simpler question by which to judge purpose. “Would the world really miss you if you didn’t exist?”

This is admittedly rare. Glib examples of purpose have become something of an industry joke, exemplified by the Cannes Grand Prix generator.

“Purpose isn’t tactics, and purpose isn’t cute creative stuff,” said Laurence Green, founding partner of 101 London. When done properly it is a “deliberate, planned, commonly understood commitment”. The emphasis is on both the longevity and the sincerity of a company’s commitment.

While charities will always have a purpose to their existence, many companies have none other than making a profit. Part of the potency, then, is the coming together of a profit-driven enterprise with a broader societal need – in short, an understanding of context.

Agencies have a role in observing the world, finding and illuminating to brands what matters, and leveraging it as creative influence, the panel agreed. But with some limitations.

“One of the problems with purpose,” Green said, “is that it can be boring.” The agency’s role, he contended, is to identify not only the appropriate alignments for a brand, but those that are truly original.

The ability to identify externalities points, perhaps, to a need for agencies to define their own priorities, suggested Jonathan Wise, of the Comms Lab. “Most big agencies are value neutral,” he said. “They just do what clients tell them; that’s what most agencies would say – their mission statement is: to help their clients grow.”

He pointed to the necessity of more nuanced accounting for both clients and agencies. Unilever’s adoption of sustainability at the core of its business is instructive, not just for other brand owners, but for the agencies themselves. By accounting for a broader set of metrics, the triple bottom line, an agency’s capacity to do purpose-led work becomes far more potent, Wise added.

Finding an original purpose requires experimentation. Yet original campaigns often take leaps and brands have to allow for a degree of uncertainty if they wish to experiment. At the same time, the effects have to be allowed to play out over time; the financial year, after all, is not the natural rhythm to which audiences form ideas and attachments. Leila Fataar, Founder of cultural influence business Platform 13, contended that being different is what matters.

“Purpose doesn’t have to be worthy,” she said. Sometimes it can just be fun, but it has to run plausibly through each of the brand’s activations, ringing true the whole way through. For instance, at Diageo, Fataar worked on an activation for Captain Morgan rum, a brand whose purpose is to inspire through fun. It was around the time Leicester City had won the premier league with their captain Wes Morgan at the helm.

The activation felt sincere. But it also required experimentation. After all, where are you supposed to find a case study showing how a brand partnered with a serendipitously named footballer whose typically mid-league team has just won the national title? 

It goes back to commitment. Asked about long-term purpose, Fataar didn’t think this could be achieved simply within the fiscal year. “Everyone has to come out of the fiscal year.” Measurement, necessarily, must look at the long-term.

Does anyone care?

Sometimes, London can be tone deaf; and within the city, Soho and Clerkenwell can be even more detached from reality. Some events may appear significant from within the M25, but not so much elsewhere. As Knox pointed out, Volkswagen was recently found to have lied systematically and over a long period about diesel emissions, but people are still buying their cars – lots of cars.

With regards to Volkswagen, Jonathan Wise noted, the brand’s 50 years of powerful advertising may just have kept the company in consumers’ good books. But the challenge is bigger: advertising should acknowledge and drive toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, he argued, not least sustainability of production and consumption. “Corporates and insurance companies know that if you don’t sort it out, there’s not going to be much business,” he added, and so should this industry.

Despite the “vomit-inducing” mentions of purpose in briefs, a commitment to an idea, when done well can drive retail preference. What’s more, Green added, there is evidence that is galvanises employees in their work. Thirdly, the impact on regulators and legislators is similarly important, in maintaining a licence to operate.

Optics are themselves important. “Brands are businesses’ contribution to society,” noted Jonathan Wise, meaning that a brand’s interaction with its externalities is a crucial part of a business’s visible output.

At the same time, Fataar pointed out, none of this is particularly new. Powerful brands have often tugged at heartstrings and made people (and retailers) feel good about a product. Good brands have always had some sort of unifying idea or principle to bring it all together. The difference, she said, is that now we are measuring it.

Our thoughts and commentary in LEADING PUBLICATIONS, PODCASTS, PANELS AND KEYNOTES.