The document discusses the evolution of brand strategy, emphasizing that brands should be treated as operating systems that guide decision-making within organizations. It highlights the need for brands to articulate their purpose and align internal culture around it, while advocating for a strategic approach that separates macro brand strategy from immediate creative execution. Ultimately, the document calls for a transformative mindset among brand strategists to embrace emotions, truths, and a robust narrative to drive meaningful impacts in the world.

1. &
GETTING RADICAL
WITH BRAND
March 2017
WOLF WILHELMINE

2. OH HEY
It’s great to be here. Thank you for having me.
I. THE PREAMBLE
II. BRAND AS OPERATING SYSTEM
III. ARTICULATING BRAND
IV. INFUSING BRAND
V. DOING BRAND
2

3. THE PREAMBLE

4. ONCE UPON A TIME
IN A LAND NOT SO FAR AWAY...
After success at FCB New York, Fallon London and
BBH New York, I dropped out and took off. I didn’t
know if I was going to come back.
I spent two years traveling around America in a
truck and freelancing for gas money.
I had a lot of time to think...

5. This was an epiphany day (weirdly I took a picture that day).
On this day I went on a hike and on that hike I realized that,
despite working in a “creative industry”, I hadn’t felt
creative in years.
I also realized that I loved doing brand strategy and that I
believed that brands have tremendous capacity to make
change in the world.
THIS IS MY TRUCK IN WYOMING
5

6. 6
I STARTED RESEARCHING & THINKING
RESEARCH
What are the conditions that
creativity needs to thrive?
THINKING
What is powerful brand strategy
and how do you do it?

7. AND ULTIMATELY, THIS LED TO WOLF & WILHELMINE
7

8. AND ULTIMATELY, THIS LED TO WOLF & WILHELMINE
8
AN ENVIRONMENT BUILT
FOR CREATIVITY TO THRIVE
7/Saturday Rule
Black-out vacations
Non-traditional talent approach
Oxygen philosophy

9. AND ULTIMATELY, THIS LED TO WOLF & WILHELMINE
9
AN ENVIRONMENT BUILT
FOR CREATIVITY TO THRIVE
7/Saturday Rule
Black-out vacations
Non-traditional talent approach
Oxygen philosophy
A RELENTLESS FOCUS ON
PROGRESSIVE & PREMIUM
BRAND STRATEGY
Removed the pain point of AOR
relationships and the dilution of
hitching brand strategy directly
to a creative execution

10. 10
What is W&W?
A PREMIUM BRAND STRATEGY SHOP
that helps companies make
positive shifts in the world

11. 11
We consistently operate from our brand purpose:
DO GREAT WORK
LIVE GREAT LIVES

12. 12
And like every great brand,
W&W has an inherent tension:
FIERCE OUTPUT and HUMAN ETHOS

13. BRAND AS OPERATING SYSTEM

14. 14
BACK IN THE DAY...
Businesses were spiritually and structurally silo’ed.
Brand sat “over there” - away from the operations
and even product.
As a result, brand strategy work got applied
to what the brand was in that era:
the communications campaign.

15. 15
THAT WAS CUTE,
BUT THE WORLD HAS CHANGED
Transparency has exploded, people want to
know what a company is up to and know that it
is holistically operating from a consistent and
positive ethos.
+
Everything has sped up. Brands are in a
constant state of interaction.

16. 16
Your brand is not your
communications campaign.
YOUR BRAND IS WHO YOU ARE AND
HOW YOU MAKE DECISIONS

17. 17
COMPANIES THAT THRIVE TODAY
(AND WILL THRIVE TOMORROW)
TREAT BRAND AS AN OPERATING
SYSTEM

18. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TREAT BRAND AS AN OPERATING SYSTEM?
18
A brand is a codification of what your company believes and how it makes decisions.
It’s bigger than insights and ideas that drive communications.
It’s the ethos that everyone in a company understands and operates from.
It’s the purpose and beliefs that drives all company behavior.

19. WHY DOES THE IDEA OF BRAND NEED TO EVOLVE TO OS?
19
Motivating employees
The emerging workforce wants to work for companies that are driven by common belief that is tangible in every
aspect of the organization. A brand sets that agenda.

20. WHY DOES THE IDEA OF BRAND NEED TO EVOLVE TO OS?
20
Motivating employees
The emerging workforce wants to work for companies that are driven by common belief that is tangible in every
aspect of the organization. A brand sets that agenda.
People are watching
Audiences are looking for saturation of belief and integrity of behavior in everything that a company does. A
brand articulates that agenda for the company and when it’s practiced, ultimately drives audience respect and
loyalty.

21. WHY DOES THE IDEA OF BRAND NEED TO EVOLVE TO OS?
21
Motivating employees
The emerging workforce wants to work for companies that are driven by common belief that is tangible in every
aspect of the organization. A brand sets that agenda.
People are watching
Audiences are looking for saturation of belief and integrity of behavior in everything that a company does. A
brand articulates that agenda for the company and when it’s practiced, ultimately drives audience respect and
loyalty.
Speed
To keep up with culture, companies need to move quickly. To do that without damaging the company, employees
have to be educated and empowered to work against a common idea, ie the brand.

22. WHY DOES THE IDEA OF BRAND NEED TO EVOLVE TO OS?
22
Motivating employees
The emerging workforce wants to work for companies that are driven by common belief that is tangible in every
aspect of the organization. A brand sets that agenda.
People are watching
Audiences are looking for saturation of belief and integrity of behavior in everything that a company does. A
brand articulates that agenda for the company and when it’s practiced, ultimately drives audience respect and
loyalty.
Speed
To keep up with culture, companies need to move quickly. To do that without damaging the company, employees
have to be educated and empowered to work against a common idea, ie the brand.
Complexity
Brand touchpoints have expanded exponentially. A strong brand becomes a world in which many activities can
live and build upon one another to a stronger whole.

23. WHY DOES THE IDEA OF BRAND NEED TO EVOLVE TO OS?
23
Motivating employees
The emerging workforce wants to work for companies that are driven by common belief that is tangible in every
aspect of the organization. A brand sets that agenda.
People are watching
Audiences are looking for saturation of belief and integrity of behavior in everything that a company does. A
brand articulates that agenda for the company and when it’s practiced, ultimately drives audience respect and
loyalty.
Speed
To keep up with culture, companies need to move quickly. To do that without damaging the company, employees
have to be educated and empowered to work against a common idea, ie the brand.
Complexity
Brand touchpoints have expanded exponentially. A strong brand becomes a world in which many activities can
live and build upon one another to a stronger whole.
Efficiency
When employees are working in the same brand belief system and know how to make decisions, organizations
work more fluidly and efficiently.

24. AND DRIVING FROM BRAND IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS
24
Based on 10 years of empirical research
involving 50,000 brands, Millward Brown and
Jim Stengel developed the list of the world’s 50
fastest growing brands which built the deepest
relationships with customers and achieved the
greatest growth from 2001-2011.
The study establishes a cause and effect
relationship between a brand’s ability to
serve a higher purpose and its financial
performance.
Notably, investment in these companies — the
Stengel 50 — over the past decade would have
been 400% more profitable than an investment
in the S&P 500.

25. 25
A question we need to ask ourselves
as an industry…
ARE WE SERIOUS ABOUT
BEING EXPERTS IN BRAND?

26. 26
If so, our company structures need to evolve.
Our development processes need to evolve.
THE WAY WE APPROACH BRAND
STRATEGY NEEDS TO EVOLVE

27. 27
If we’re serious about being experts in brand,
we need to embrace an evolution of how we
think about brand development:
ADVOCATE FOR PURE BRAND
STRATEGY THAT LIVES AT THE
MACRO COMPANY LEVEL
Which practically means...

28. 28
The way forward:
DECOUPLE MACRO BRAND
STRATEGY FROM IMMEDIATE
CREATIVE DELIVERABLES

29. BRAND STRATEGY and CAMPAIGN STRATEGY
29
BRAND STRATEGY
Lives at the macro level of a
company, built to guide it over
relatively longer periods of time.
BRAND STRATEGIST
Thinkers that articulate the core
brand operating system at a
company level.
CAMPAIGN STRATEGY
Lives at the level of specific
audience engagements against
specific media/spaces.
CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST
Guide the brand in the now,
using brand foundations,
obsessing over how they apply in
the immediate need.

30. BRAND STRATEGY and CAMPAIGN STRATEGY
30
BRAND STRATEGY
Lives at the macro level of a
company, built to guide it over
relatively longer periods of time.
BRAND STRATEGIST
Thinkers that articulate the core
brand operating system at a
company level.
They operate the most
powerfully when engaged in
execution-agnostic assignments.
CAMPAIGN STRATEGY
Lives at the level of specific
audience engagements against
specific media/spaces.
CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST
Guide the brand in the now,
using brand foundations,
obsessing over how they apply in
the immediate need.

31. WHY IS AGNOSTIC SO IMPORTANT?
31
In other words, why can’t this just come out of an advertising process and company?
Advertising companies are largely brought in to do advertising.
Advertising companies are largely filled with advertising talent that thinks in advertising.
Advertising companies start with advertising as the solution.
(As they should, it’s their job)
When it comes to brand, we are living in a post-advertising world.
Advertising is just one part of a brand (as is any other kind of engagement execution).
For companies to operate most powerfully, brand thinkers should start further upstream,
untethered from any kind of execution.

32. THE UNTETHERING OF BRAND STRATEGY FROM EXECUTION IS MAGICAL
32
Brand strategy is too powerful to only be tied to specific creative output.
Brand strategists, in their investigations, often think at the cultural level.
We are often rabidly curious about how a company functions.
We get in deep with audiences and people.
We are conditioned to live in a more macro space.
Companies need what we offer.
Companies need narrative.
Companies need purpose.
Companies need beliefs.
This is what brand strategists do.
Give companies relevant, provocative and positive versions of these and companies can be
better, operate better and make real impact in the world.

33. ARTICULATING BRAND

34. 34
PRODUCT/BRAND CULTURE
COMPETITIONPEOPLE
What greater cultural
movements does the brand
align with?
Who are the believers and
what does this brand answer
for them that is both modern
and primal?
What makes this brand
unique from the
competition?
From the inside out, what
is powerful and true
about the brand?
FIRST, START WITH A
THOROUGH INVESTIGATION
FRAMEWORK
The four quadrant framework is
not proprietary nor rocket
science, but it works. It ensures
that we’re interrogating all
aspects of the world within and
around a brand when figuring
out the brand foundations.
The trick in using the quadrants
is to get ferocious in the
investigation.
BRAND
FOUNDATIONS

35. 35
NUMBER ONE RULE:
DON’T BE BORING
Boring strategy leads to boring brands.
In a world hungry for points of view,
boring is utterly ignorable.

36. 36
BE BRAVE

37. BE BRAVE WITH LOVE
37
In every investigation, hunt love.
You might find love in how the core user feels about your product… or your competition’s.
You might find love in the founder’s ambition for the world.
You might find love in an interaction at retail.
You might find love in the long-lost DNA of a legacy brand.
You might find love in your audience’s hope for the category.
There is love in every investigation.
Find it.

38. BE BRAVE WITH PAIN
38
The pain is real. Honor it.
There might be pain in the way your audience feels about the world today.
There might be pain in the way your audience is treated by other brands.
There might be pain in how your client is interacting with the world.
There might be pain in the category, how it’s not serving people.
Pain is important.
(It can be difficult or tricky to acknowledge sometimes.)
Great brands embrace pain.

39. MOST OF ALL, BE BRAVE WITH TRUTH
39
It’s pretty simple.
The days of brand as mechanism to slap lipstick on the proverbial pig are over.
Audiences reject liars.
Don’t lie.
Don’t make shit up.
Don’t overestimate your ability to keep your promises.
Don’t overestimate how much people care about your brands or product.
Don’t shy away from client pain, even if your client doesn’t want to hear it.
Truth rules.

40. AND THEN FIND SOME WICKED TENSIONS
40
You’ve got your love, your pain and your truths.
Find the push and pull between the forces of your investigation.
List them out.
Work with them.
Figure out the play between love and pain.
Find a space in the tension where your brand exists that’s deadly true and slightly scary.
(Slightly scary usually means you’re doing something right)

41. 41
LOVE, PAIN, TENSION, TRUTH
Take the elements and weave them together
into a provocative and relevant brand story for
your brand that culminates in a brand purpose.

42. GREAT BRANDS HAVE GREAT STORIES
42
A brand story articulates where a brand fits into and how it leads culture.
Love, pain, truth, tension. These are your ingredients.
Now the creativity of strategy comes in.
Weave it. Work it. Tell the story of your brand.
Create a narrative that tells the the company and its audiences why it must exist in the world.
Like any good storyteller, think challenges, heroes, villians, triumph.
Keep it simple.
Keep it clean.
(Strategy is sacrifice after all)
Show your clients how they are going to rock the world.
Culminate the brand story into a brand purpose.

43. A BRAND PURPOSE IS THE NORTH STAR
43
It’s an organization’s reason to exist in the world.
It’s the constant thought that the organization and brand consistently pivots from.
It’s why everyone show up to work everyday.
It’s the relationship that the company and brand has with the world.

44. POWERFUL BRANDS ARTICULATE THEIR PURPOSE
44
Inspire and develop
the builders of
tomorrow.
Make people believe
they belong anywhere
in the world.
To make the world
more open and
connected.
To create a better
everyday life for
the many.

45. A BRAND PURPOSE IS THE CENTER POINT FOR ALL COMPANY ACTIVITY
45
These prongs are illustrative - each
organization will have their own
operational priorities.

46. 46
Brand story? Check.
Purpose? Check.
TIME FOR THE ARCHITECTURE

47. BUILDING A BRAND ARCHITECTURE
47
A brand architecture is a toolbox to make decisions and keep all activity, across the org, aligned.
Some tools get used daily. Some get used sporadically.
The trick is making the toolbox broad enough so that its useful across the company but specific
enough that it corrals ideas and actions.

48. A FEW TOOLS THAT THE WOLVES LOVE
48
Brands will always need specific tools based on their unique company needs, but here’s a few
tools that we find are especially useful...
BELIEFS
Five to ten statements that talk about what you believe and how you behave.
VIBE
The manner in which a brand interacts with the world; the brand’s personality.
PRIMAL NEED
The human need, that transcends culture, that this brand answers.
ENGAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
Drivers of behavior that guide all interactions.
SPIRITUAL ENEMY
What you’re opposed to or up against as a brand. This isn’t your competition, this is spiritual. In the past
we’ve identified enemies such as fear, retreat and walls.

49. 49
IN THE END, BRAND FOUNDATIONS HAVE THREE CORE COMPONENTS
The narrative that explains why the world needs your brand.
It provides the context for your brand’s existence.
The single lighthouse statement around which an entire org
orients. It articulates a brand’s relationship with the world.
Your toolbox for engagement. Some tools will be used daily.
Others will be pulled out sporadically. All are necessary and
useful and should be used by all who touch the brand.

50. ARTICULATING: THE BRAND STRATEGIST IS THE STORYTELLER
50
This is the bulk of our job.
We investigate, we dream, we challenge, we push.
And then we tell a truth and a progressive story that leans the brand forward.

51. INFUSING IT

52. 52
SO WE GO MAKE SHIT NOW RIGHT?

53. 53
NO.

54. 54
The key to successful modern companies
and brands is the process of
PROGRAMMING THE
ORGANIZATIONAL INSTINCT

55. 55
“Knowledge is only a rumor until
it lives in the muscle.”
— Asaro tribal proverb

56. 56
KNOWLEDGE vs KNOWING
Knowing aligns people, it eliminates the
“I think” in favor of “we know.” When there’s
knowing, the organization moves together.

57. KNOWLEDGE VS KNOWING
KNOWLEDGE KNOWING
Understanding what
purpose means
Applying purpose to day-to-day
duties and responsibilities
Recalling beliefs and
vibe words
Acting on those beliefs with the
vibe, creating ideas, messaging and
experiences that manifest them
Hiring people that are smart Hiring people who are smart AND
“get” the brand in their bones
Receiving Creating
Following rules Liberated by principles

58. THE INFUSION OF KNOWING HAS TO HAPPEN IN MULTIPLE DIRECTIONS
Great business leaders
often need to adopt the
skills to also be great
brand leaders.
TOP DOWN BOTTOM UP LATERALLY
The culture leaders of a
company, no matter what
level, need to feel
inspired by the brand.
Everyone needs to know
how to work through the
brand and support
others.
KEY ENABLERS
Consistency and
tangible proof of
commitment
KEY ENABLERS
Ownership and
pathways to lead
KEY ENABLERS
Filters for
decision-making and
room for creation and
experimentation

59. INFUSION: THE BRAND STRATEGIST IS THE TEACHER
59
It’s imperative that the brand strategist infuses the organization with the thinking and instinct of
the brand foundations.
Some common techniques are:
Coaching
Workshops & Creation Sessions
Classes
Brand materials
Ongoing check-ins

60. DOING IT

61. 61
SO WE GO MAKE SHIT NOW RIGHT?

62. 62
YAS KWEEN.

63. 63
If we’ve done our jobs right
THE VIRUSES HAVE INFECTED THE
ORGANISM, REWRITING THE CODES
OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM

64. DOING: THE BRAND STRATEGIST IS THE HERDING DOG
64
At this point, the organization should start to infuse all its decisions with the brand.
Our role is to nip, guide, suggest, help and also hone if needed. Brand can be iterative.

65. TO SUM IT UP

66. 66
Your brand is not your
communications campaign.
YOUR BRAND IS WHO YOU ARE AND
HOW YOU MAKE DECISIONS

67. 67
COMPANIES THAT THRIVE TODAY
(AND WILL THRIVE TOMORROW)
TREAT BRAND AS AN OPERATING
SYSTEM

68. 68
The way forward:
DECOUPLE MACRO BRAND
STRATEGY FROM IMMEDIATE
CREATIVE DELIVERABLES

69. 69
BE BRAVE:
EMBRACE LOVE, PAIN,
TENSION & TRUTH

70. 70
PROGRAM THE
ORGANIZATIONAL INSTINCT

71. 71
GO CHANGE THE WORLD.

72. THANK YOU