This was a two hour lecture to students of the famed NEXT MBA program worldwide, delivered alongside marketing industry legend Philip Kotler. Excellent feedback received and follow on dialogue with the student participants, whom remain in contact. NEXT MBA is world leading with teachesr including Seth Godin, Philip Kotler and more. NEXT MBA makes world-class education affordable all around the Globe. NEXT MBA provides practical and professional knowledge in Leadership, Digital Marketing, and Technology-related fields by highly qualified experts via live lessons online. https://nextmba.com/

1. Themes in
brand leadership
NextMBA
@ Hubert Grealish

2. We’ll cover in this hour
● Intro and perspectives
○ Practical principles that work for me in marketing
● Hard Times - to fathom
○
● Brand Leadership themes
○ People
○ Spaces
○ Culture
● New Storytelling themes
○ Corporate and Bad Boy learnings
○ Earth Matters further reading.
● In Short
○ Take outs and Q&A DMs

3. Hi, I’m Hubert …
● Love good business (not poor marketing), 20 yrs+
● Change agent committed to creating value.
● Global brands, CMO carsharing to electronics brands, Ubeeqo,
Philips, TomTom, Diageo and Niimaar.
● Teaching lecturer, Mscs digital marketing.
● Notable others: Studentpassengers.com, Journeybid.com,
multiple others
● MC and content host, Wonderland AI global summits.
Finds joy in testing assumptions and limiting beliefs.
'Build Business, Make Money, Find Fun'
An outdated mission of sorts. Get conscious.

4. SOME VIEWS
“Hard times make strong men, strong men make easy times, easy times make
weak men”. - JOE ROGAN
‘We don’t need more data! We can’t even manage the data what we have!’’
- GARY VAYNERCHUCK @ THE NEXTWEB AMSTERDAM
‘Stay Free!’ - RUSSELL BRAND
And …
‘Lies, damned lies and… A.I.s?

5. Marketing fun

6. ROLE OF ALT MEDIA
● Independent media - We need it. We will have it, always was there are long as
the ‘coffee corner’. Free speech and democracy requires it. Marketing also
depends on creative free will to express and sell.
● Mainstream media has fallen partisan, it’s the cycle of life.
● Local business need sell local without mainstream filtering.
● Villages and local communities of the past all had their sales and marketing
means.
● Testimonial is still the grapevine. Alt media can play a role in telling it like it is.

7. WE TALK OF COMMUNTY ...
… BUT WHERE DO WE BELONG
Society is individualizing and polarising into groups we call digital ‘communities’
But we can see impact post Covid and otherwise on wellbeing and mental health.
Social media, community management, lack of.. BELONGING?
Sad fact: In US currently 1 in 7 men say they do not have a single friend.
In UK 50% of male deaths under 50 year are due to suicide.
WHAT IS WRONG HERE?

8. Fun Fact?

9. LIFE HAPPENS FAST - FASTER.

10. Practical principles that work … value point for brands?
Culture as a connector - create longer term brand business. Can go wrong too(!)
Digital as enabler - means to an end - tools and not only ‘hacking’. Experience!
Strategic reviews & strategy - revisitilize business with data.
Reputation is a core asset - don’t outsource yours for poor leadership.
Do good work, produce quality products - sell it, tell it, go back and do it better.
Give a bit more than you take - invests in the relationship, service.
Listen to the fringe voice - it’s the future mainstream. Everyone has a voice.

11. CORPORATES & BAD BOYS PLAY CULTURE TOO
● Category management - The
Story of Ciroc and Diageo
● Smirnoff to Ketel One to
Ciroc.. And talent.
● Bad Boy talent and the
Corporate.
‘This shows the importance of
managing relationship, brands
ecosystems in Corporate cultures
and ego-systems.’

12. YOU’VE ALL COME ACROSS DATA, YET …
“Our values will
check our egos and
guide our hearts,
minds and marketing
mixes.’’

13. WHO OR WHAT WILL WIN ?
● Strategic minded - yet open minded ‘corporate mindset’
● Diversified, sure, unified.. Vision. A must for a brand.
● Networked brands and individuals - ecosystems work, less ‘ego’
● Climate conscious - activist brands
● Accountable brands - a very good thing! No more or less BS.
● Grounded activists - testimonials and humble brags
People - Reverse ‘HR’ to ‘Resourced by Humans?
Spaces - ‘Offices’ of the recent past now ‘hubs’ and coworkings. Also hybrid.
Culture - Belonging feelings over ‘loyalty’? Brands and cultural role models, entertainers?

14. We have a unique opportunity to nowadays develop powerful strategies that
transcend traditional boundaries.
Customer Experience is the heart of the matter - not tech, nor anything else.
By understanding how users perceive us and fueling our growth through engaging
campaigns, we can establish the go-to option in our markets. But how?
‘STORYTELLING CULTURE X CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: LOUD,
PROUD & CLEAR.’
‘CONSCIOUS MARKETERS’ NEEDED

15. IN SHORT
Content will be the currency but how will we know to trust it?
Regulation of social media and AI remain topics of importance.
In Marketing and Brand Leadership:
Customer Experience x Values Enhanced = Customer retention.
Across society as Conscious Marketers:
We need to talk about wellbeing and BELONGING. Men.
We need a conscious society more than conscious AI.

16. Earth Matters - DM for a copy.
‘Educate yourself’ - John Lydon
Seek truth and validate facts
WE NEED A CONSCIOUS SOCIETY, OVER AI
Trade in truth. Products and services reflect values...
Play, collaborate, organize and communicate.

17. Thank You.
Q&A and DMs open.
@hubertgrealish