NORTH STAR INTERVIEW: Will Poskett, multi-award winning brand strategist + Co-Founder of Defiant
I have not been drinking with Will Poskett (Linkedin), but he reliably tells me he doesn’t always wear a beret when he does. The photo just represents “one of those Paris things, after one too many Merlots”. Will is a super smart cookie in branding and advertising and has won awards/worked for Droga5, Wieden & Kennedy and Saatchi & Saatchi. Will identifies most as a truth bomb-dropping phoenix as it “often feels like I am trying to rise above fires, daily.” In 2022, he set up Defiant, a strategy and creative studio that helps brands transform faster. His newsletter, ‘Future Famous’, is a must-read. I spoke with Will about the industry and where it’s going. Enjoy.
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You have spent over 100 hours researching which brands are thriving, what did this process teach you?
Ok, confession time. That figure is probably closer to over 15,000 hours. I have been working as a marketing strategist for over fifteen years. It would take too long to list all the learnings I've spotted, but here are three big themes that might prove useful.
First, stop rushing to tactics. What separates great brands from forgettable ones? They take the time to figure out who they really are. They take the time to craft their brand strategy & purpose before rushing into creative executions. Whether a startup, scaleup or bigger brand I stand by this. It's what all the most famous and successful brands are doing right now. Brands such as Liquid Death, Oatly, Nike and many more.
Second, stop worrying so much. Brand owners spend far too long worrying about what consumers will think about their brand communications. Honestly most people are too busy worrying about paying their mortgages or looking after the kids and won’t spend more than a few seconds thinking about your brand. In light of that you have one simple aim at all times, when it comes to brand building. Aim for fame (ie get noticed & get talked about).
Third, avoid the hype. Too often marketing people become distracted by the latest trend or fad. Whilst it's important to keep an eye on the future, never forget the basics of proper brand building. There has been a lot of great research of late, that proves what works and what definitely doesn’t when it comes to marketing. Two books I highly recommend on this topic are ‘How Brands Grow’ by Byron Sharp and ‘The Long & Short of It’ by Binet & Field.
Ok, the ‘one thing’ question(!), what’s the one thing that connects successful brands right now? What’s the non-obvious insight that’s the thread between them all or is it just right tweety, right time?!
Can I cheat a little here? I think it's less of insight and more of an attitude. The thing that really connects successful brands is their fearlessness. They don’t follow the tropes of their category. They don’t give a damn about the rules. They walk their own path and redefine the way things are done.
This is as true today as it's always been. Apple has fearlessly redefined the technology category, positioning itself as a tool for creativity. Nike believes that ‘everyone can be an athlete’ in a category too often obsessed with high-performance sports stars. More recently, we see this with brands such as Liquid Death, who fearlessly broke all the rules of the bottled water category.
One of your issues was around Ryan Reynolds and his being a master of marketing. You mention speed and authenticity as keys to success - are approval processes killing marketing success?
Love this question! Honestly, the greatest enemy of great and effective marketing…is a slow process. Clients don’t want it, and agencies hate it. Taking too long increases bureaucracy, adds in too many check-ins and often costs a fortune. It's far more effective to sprint at brand strategy or creativity in weeks rather than many months. Get everyone on board early and get to the answer quickly. That is exactly why we set up Defiant.
What’s your best tip(s) for getting edgy campaigns approved fast - especially during a rough economic climate?
There is no perfect answer to this question; however, from experience, what I found works best is the power of empathy. You need to ensure everyone feels listened to. You need to take the time to really figure out what really needs to be done. To help with this, I advise getting all your key senior stakeholders in a room at the beginning of the process. Ask all the important questions. Leave no stone unturned. Really take the time to understand what they want and need. This helps the sign-off process be much quicker, and there are (hopefully) no nasty surprises when the work returns.
You wrote about community recently. The fallout was mainly that it’s hard, and not all businesses should or need to build communities. All this said, what do you consider the cardinal rule (or few rules) when it comes to building a community that benefits a brand?
As you know, community building has become a bit of a buzzword. Whilst I think some people have become too fanatical about its potential, others verge too far on the side of cynicism. Whilst not every brand should not aim to build a community, there is great merit in doing so if you are a scale-up or challenger brand that is massively outspent. There are no hard or fast rules here, but here are three things to consider.
First, be authentic. In the era of transparency, people can spot bullsh*t fairly easily. The best community builders are their authentic selves. They are open and honest. They celebrate their high points and are brutally honest about their low points. A brand that has done this particularly well, in terms of community building, is Mid Day Squares.
Second, stop selling. It seems everyone is attempting to grow a following these days (especially on Linkedin!). However, far too often, they sell too fast, pushing their course or product or paid slack group from day one. This honestly turns people off. I personally think it's far more important to put value out into the world first and build trust.
Third, listen. Building a community is very different from building a following. The former involves actively listening to your community and building alongside them. The latter is where personal ego takes over a little too much.
What three companies are just about ready for primetime that people are sleeping on right now? What are they getting right?
I wish I knew this because my investments would be doing much better! The obvious but important answer is there will be many interesting companies built on top of OpenAI. I just wish I had more time to build one myself! Beyond this, it's awesome to see a bunch of interesting creator-led brands being established. Everyone has heard of Logan Paul & KSI’s Prime energy drink, but one other I've got my eye on is Jacksepticeye's Top Of The Mornin Coffee. Fantastic creator, with a huge community and brilliant branding. And finally, a brand we personally have been working with, and that is close to our heart, is the startup Play Hydrated. Fantastic founder and product…much more to come.
A helpful segue! What’s your take on AI’s impact in the marketing and branding world? Do you think OpenAI will be the downfall for many brands? A boon? Are they about to be sold a lot of snake oil? How do they avoid that?
I honestly hate to predict the future, as it’s a guessing game. However, I do have two thoughts. On the other hand, I think there may be a bit of a race to the bottom in the short term. Many brands will jump to cost savings by outsourcing their creative content to OpenAI. However, I think they risk falling into a sea of sameness. We are already seeing a daily Tsunami of AI-related content, most of which is far too similar and fails to cut through. The stuff that really stands out still utilises human creativity. Like any tool, the output is only as good as the input. A great example is the recent Harry Potter x Balceinga fake collab. The second, bigger point, is around job displacement. This goes far beyond marketing, but I do think there need to be big questions asked about the near future economic implications of AI on the job market.
As a Founder, how do you focus on culture to create/maintain standards and create norms for a distributed workforce?
Be nice to people and work hard. Life’s too short to work with bad people.
Short, sweet and solid advice! Apart from subscribing to the newsletter, what’s the best recommendation for C_NCENTRATE readers to have a more successful 2023/2024?
Spend a little less time online and get your daily 10,000 steps in. Daily walks have worked wonders for me!
For more information and to engage Will, drop him a line on LinkedIn.