Case studies: creativity x business

Examples of how cultural influence strategy uses creativity for business results

A cultural hit is an idea, an item, an experience, or entertainment that a large number of consumers pay attention to, share, and talk about. Once cultural hits turn into market hits, by lifting brand popularity or driving product sales, they yield a strong financial return for a company. As the second part of my analysis on how to turn culture into business’ superpower, I looked into example of how brands used culture for a specific growth path, through strategic combination of cultural contexts, audiences, retail channels, products and cultural products.

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On June 10th, I will be part of the inaugural COLLINS invitation-only salon series with my dear friend, COLLINS CEO, Leland Maschmeyer. In our conversation, Lee and I will challenge the traditional growth script—sell more, cut costs, scale—and zero in on the question every business needs to answer: how do you increase the value of a company? Place is a private lounge in Chelsea (address on confirmation), there will be cocktails and light fare, salon is held under Chatham House Rule, seating is extremely limited, so APPLY HERE to attend. Looking forward to seeing you there!

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The other weekend I returned from a whirlwind trip to Australia. After a two-day stopover in Tokyo, where I became deeply traumatized by the new tourist scene (I did not expect ‘I love Tokyo’ t-shirts) and faux yakitori alley scenario, I found myself in Sydney. In organization of Kate Dinon and her team of Character+Distinction, I had a pleasure of speaking about Hitmakers: How Brands Influence Culture with Lauren Sams of Australian Financial Review. The crowd was warm, substantial and engaged. The next day, I was guest of Rationale (cannot say enough good things about their products, check them out here), Lucy Folk, and Vow (I saw the future and it works), which I am excited to share more in the post coming soon. The rest of my time in Sydney was spent walking around, enjoying farm-to-table food, seeing some art, and admiring both the local fashion brands and the laid-back lifestyle.

Next stop was Cairns, the home of the world’s oldest rainforest, as we were informed upon landing. Cairns is also curiously pronounces as Cann-es, but that’s just how some things are. I was ushered to News Australia dinner, full of characters, the least not being his Excellency, the King of Palau, who has an impressive environmental record. The next day, I was a keynote at Cairns Crocodiles conference (named after the abundant number of deadly crocodiles swimming in the waters around Cairns) and was on a panel at Travel DAZE. Thank you Pippa Chambers for having me.

Next day I flew to Melbourne and the newly opened Melbourne Place and another book event, this time hosted by Bullfrog and their lovely team, and again in organization of Character+Distinction. The conversation was led by Katya Wachtel of Broadsheet, and was again in front of the great crowd. Bonus was spending time with Grace Gordon, and being a guest of Sense of Self and E Nolan. Now is back to my beloved clients and great things ahead.

p.s. If you have a chance to go to Australia, do it.

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