Internal Agency + External Agency and the work still needs work. Paying 2X and Getting Less Than ½ By Paulo Ribeiro Internal Agency + External Agency and the work still needs work. Why do many clients literally pay TWICE for creative marketing that should be provocative and effective but is often uninspired and category-generic? It is rare to find a client side marketing team that doesn’t have internal creative staffing. At the same time most of those companies ALSO pay for new ideas or execution from an outside agency. Bean counters would expect that double the resources should create at least double the benefit. But the opposite is more often true. 3 REASONS YOUR CREATIVE ISN'T THAT CREATIVE A Tired Brief A business goal is a business goal. An inspiring creative brief that is going to lead to interesting, novel ideas that deliver on that business goal is a totally different thing. So many internal creative teams are briefed on business goals like: “We need people to understand our new technology. So let’s tell them about it.” And that habit extends to the brief that they deliver to the outside agency. This kind of brief hampers thinking right from the jump. A powerful creative brief is built on TENSIONS. Unresolved and contrasting issues give creative people space to play. Things like: The disconnect between a brand that is all about travel and exploration but constantly showcases its home turf. Or a brand built on the notion of innovation when the bulk of its sales come from a single product. Or the desire to build community while bots are plucking up all the limited edition drops. Yes these are real examples which is why they are so specific. Unpacking a very specific problem and then asking creative teams to solve for them is guaranteed to deliver ideas that at the very least don’t look, feel and sound like what your competitor is doing. An uncomfortable truth: your marketing challenges almost exactly match your competitors’. Every footwear company is working on the same problems: fit, traction, cushioning… This consistency of marketing challenge is true in most established consumer categories. It just is. To break through, you’ve got to solve for those challenges in a differentiated way. Leaning into unresolved tension is the best starting point to unlock a breakthrough. Not Enough Contrast in the Team Internal agencies don’t cut costs, but they institutionalize critical product expertise and this tradeoff is worth it. BUT, these internal teams are often made up of the brand’s hardcore fans. And this leads to organizations filled with people that have the same deep, but narrow worldviews values and ideas. They are too close to the thing to have unique or divergent ideas. The formula for interesting ideas in terms of staffing is that you need contrasts in all the ways. Different backgrounds, skill sets, interests and then you mash these people up because they will challenge one another and build different kinds of ideas, tools and stories. Blurred Lines This is the big one. Great creative talent is great creative talent. It’s real and let’s just call that a given. Some people are significantly better at creative ideas than others. But this is also true. The way to get to breakthrough creative ideas isn’t by having a single expert develop the one idea. It is…. By having many ideas. Great ideas are developed by generating tons of ideas and throwing away most of them. Every great creative director, inventor or storyteller will explain this in their own way. Ok, so what does this have to do with this post? back to insights → There is a proven setup that enables this to happen. A team of idea generators and a smaller group (sometimes just a single Creative Director) to edit and shape the best work from the options on the table. And when there are no good ideas on the table to redirect the idea generators. This is a solved problem! It has been solved for literally hundreds of years. Renaissance masters used this setup in their workshops, The editorial department of every great magazine did. Film studios have always sourced script ideas this way. From Pixar to Wieden+Kennedy to Lego the organizations that consistently spit out novel ideas use a version of this system. But a funny thing can happen when agency teams and client-side creatives mix and no one addresses the question. Who is generating and who is shaping? This shouldn’t be a controversy or uncomfortable discussion but if it doesn’t happen early it ends up being uncomfortable and often political. And the work suffers. It can work to mix teams from the agency and client side or have them each play a specific role. But it is critical that the person or team doing the creative directing is assigned and that it is assigned to people with the experience to do that. Too often hierarchy between the buyer and seller gets in the way of the buyer getting what they paid for. It’s ok to let the agency do the creative direction if they are best equipped to do it. It’s also ok for an internal creative director to do it. But have this conversation and have it early. There might be other reasons for stale marketing when there is serious investment being made but these stand out to us. While the playing field has shifted, the rules of the game haven’t. There are ways to make sure you get a solid return on your marketing investment. It's a simple conversation if you have it early. Two things that sum up what we are talking about. “You’ll never stumble upon the unexpected if you stick only to the familiar.” “When it comes to creative endeavors, the concept of zero failures is worse than useless. It’s counterproductive.” Ed Catmull, Creativity Inc

Two Things | Mevo | Evolved from a single product offering into a multi-product brand. See how we used consumer insights to carve out market space. It was clear that there was an appetite for this product, with increasing hunger as new creators arrived on the scene. Mevo approached us to evolve their single product offering into a multi-product, highly realized brand—in 4 months. This included positioning, branding, naming their new product, developing the website, and completing the launch rollout. Beyond the sheer speed of the scope, a new challenge quickly emerged: how do you shift Mevo from a single product offering to a brand with a myriad of offerings, services, software, and—of course—products? Mevo, one of the pioneers and first creators in the livestreaming video space, launched their first product, the Mevo Plus in 2017 and quickly took over the market. High-quality, compact, and relatively affordable, Mevo allowed creators, organizations, and conferences to reach broader audiences. While it seems straightforward, good/better was not enough to define product positioning or distinguish the product in the growing creator market. Instead, through research and insights we dug into the consumer behaviors to carve out adequate space for both product offerings of Mevo: Plus and Start. Identifying new cohorts through our research stages, we turned our positioning to a broader set of audiences that would potentially tap into the emerging category of video streaming. Coupled with this, we developed an identity system for Mevo and their brand. The new product, Mevo Start, rolled out with a minimal, integrated, and friendly identity backed by a complete website overhaul, product intro videos, and extensive social content. We laid the groundwork for a compelling market offering and then, COVID-19 hit. Client // Mevo Assignment // Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Messaging Framework, Product Launch, Advertising From a product into a brand umbrella with many products. What they need today, is a new chapter in their story. One that is true to their adventurous spirit. But can speak to a broader, wider, more diverse audience. As shelter-in-place orders swept the globe, video streaming needs rapidly increased as did an urgent need for connecting groups, gatherings, families, offices, houses of worship, and creators. It was a rare opportunity to witness a moment where the core vision of the product (connecting others) met the needs of today. Additionally, Mevo donated 100+ camera bundles to NYC public schools and other organizations at the onset of the pandemic to help teachers and organizers continue their work despite challenging circumstances.

The biggest opportunity for outdoor brands is to create bridges to the outdoors and to start with what is at hand. The Urban/Rural Boundary is the Opportunity By Paulo Ribeiro Cities hold a key to unlock the outdoors. Why is this massive opportunity so often ignored? So many of the brands we work with have a desire to be more inclusive. More and more frequently they have a stated mission to share the outdoors (and sport and breathing fresh air) with a wider group of people than those that have historically have had access. Corporate social responsibility is often behind this. Just as often it's straight up business that motivates: growing the size of the market a brand serves. This post isn’t going to get into litigating values. For the record we are supportive of both of those motivations. This post is focused on an opportunity the size of the Empire State building that is constantly missed. We’ve been asked to think a lot about how we might grow the audience and user base for multiple brands, in multiple categories with different brand histories, challenges and capabilities. All of this against a backdrop of the massive population growth of cities. For decades cities have been growing as a rebound from the growth of suburbs that the Boomers drove. While there has been a lot of noise recently about cities like NYC, SF and Chicago losing population in 2022 that is already starting to reverse with people coming back to offices (slowly). Los Angeles, San Jose, and Washington, DC all experienced migration gains in 2022. TL;DR, cities keep growing. The Gen Z and even Millennials are much more likely to be renters as compared to their parents and grandparents at the same age. They are less likely to own a car, or even have a driver’s license. Their work often involves staring at a screen for hours on end. The pitch to move their bodies during their downtime shouldn’t be that hard as evidenced by the radical growth in almost every sector of outdoor activity since the pandemic. If we really want to encourage movement and be inclusive in the outdoors. The most powerful tool we have is to rethink what the outdoors can be. What are the easy local “onramps” to the sports that are best done on massive fields or above 10,000 feet? So many heritage outdoor brands are stuck showcasing the most remote, world class edge of the world environments. Those spaces can inspire the hell out of many, but they are often disconnected from someone who hasn’t grown up in a culture of mountaineering (or skiing or insert any pursuit that requires travel and piles of expensive gear). When a brand exclusively leans into that world, the door is closed to starting a relationship with someone new to the space. Why are brands missing this? There is such a lack of creativity by active lifestyle brands in the places that have the biggest concentration of human beings: Cities! Most cities sprouted up because of their proximity to some amazing natural feature: The ocean, a river, a lush valley. And just because it started to fill up with buildings those features are still there if you know where to look. The biggest opportunity for outdoor brands is to create bridges to the outdoors and to start with what is at hand. [Mont Royal, Montreal] [Willamette River, Portland, Oregon] [The Hudson River Valley which leads to Manhattan Island] Creativity is the art of combining two things in an unexpected way: If your brand history is in climbing - what could you climb downtown? If you have retail outposts in cities - how can they become knowledge centers for what is within a few miles and accessible by public transportation? If you have a rugged brand what could you build in an urban area that lasts? How might you spend your brand dollars on improvement projects that last for decades rather than ads that last for days? When we talk about inclusion in the outdoor category the most potent way to think about it is by relooking at what we include as outdoor exploration. If we want people to move their bodies on a progression of challenges that might end up in the backcountry…then might we use our platforms physical (stores) and digital to help them start? EVO hotels are a rare example of experience innovation for active lifestyle brands as an urban outpost of trial and community. Please share examples of doing something (anything) innovative and we’ll be sure to compile and share. The city of LA set the bar really low with La Sombrita . If the bar is this low then what are you waiting for? Physical Retail locations might be the single most underutilized marketing tool. They are a literal toe-hold in the largest markets. These true stories of Next Gen trail lovers is only the beginning. In the months to come, we'll be exploring activations that actually help people discover their trail. In the meantime, thanks for listening and see you out there. back to insights →

Two Things | Brookfield | The Wishing Forest | Developed a strategy to transform a B2B business into a B2C consumer experience. Experience our modern solution. Our challenge was to help transform a typically B2B business into a B2C consumer experience, attracting quality visitors from a variety of demographic cohorts: adults, young families, teenagers. Success was measured by a variety of metrics using the interactive elements as the playing field, including but not limited to: time spent at each activation, repeat visits, and dollars spent across activations. Regardless of holiday traditions, there are universal emotions that come with the season: Magic, Connection, Tradition, and Peace. Strategically, we took these and shepherded them into a simple, user experience brief: make moments of magic. Brookfield Properties, a behemoth of asset management, real estate, and infrastructure, primarily focused on B2B relationships and clientele in their shopping malls. The problem? Malls don’t exist to just serve the businesses and food courts, but rather the busy and excited shoppers stepping through their doors. And, malls at holidays? Overrun with decor and crowds only there to see Santa. A non-denominational, inclusive, and modern solution was needed. Client // Brookfield Properties Assignment // Innovation Strategy, Experiential Design, Digital Production, Retail Experience Design, Measurement Strategy A strategy to engage all ages during the busiest season. What they need today, is a new chapter in their story. One that is true to their adventurous spirit. But can speak to a broader, wider, more diverse audience. The interactive experience piloted in Holiday 2019 in two premium locations—Sono Collection outside NYC and Natick Mall in MA. Of the six installations proposed, four were used for the pilot with plans for national scaling in subsequent years. While the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately slowed the rollout, the rollout began again in 2022 across the US. Both the pilot and future installations included unique “groves” full of AR experiences, animatronic games, and interactive soundscapes. Though the experience and installations looked analog and nostalgic at first first glance, their embedded tech created organic moments of joy, laughter, and play. Highlights included the “Wishing Tree” for visitors to place wishes inside pinecone ornaments and have them whisked away to a huge LED chandelier; the “Holiday Bells Grove,” a 24 foot central bell where movement unlocks a symphony; and the “Whispering Wishes Grove” where dreams and hopes are whispered to the forest and transformed into sound and light. The interactive experience piloted in Holiday 2019 in two premium locations—Sono Collection outside NYC and Natick Mall in MA. Of the six installations proposed, four were used for the pilot with plans for national scaling in subsequent years. While the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately slowed the rollout, the rollout began again in 2022 across the US. Both the pilot and future installations included unique “groves” full of AR experiences, animatronic games, and interactive soundscapes. Though the experience and installations looked analog and nostalgic at first first glance, their embedded tech created organic moments of joy, laughter, and play. More than aesthetics, the Wishing Forest transformed how Brookfield could shift their lens toward their consumers rather than wholesale businesses, and arm their vast marketing team with the tools to drive quality, long-lasting engagement and impressions.

Two Things | Novella | Private Equity investors asked for help in developing a modern footwear brand and we responded by building the company from the ground up. Client // Novella Assignment: Research & Insights · Brand Strategy · Global Advertising Campaign · Photography · Film · Messaging & Campaign Toolkit Designing a footwear business from the ground up Sneakers are a 100 billion dollar market worldwide. In recent years, there has been a tidal wave of Instagram DTC starts trying to tap into this burgeoning market. For most, the story has been exactly the same: high craftsmanship at a lower price. Beautiful but boring. The Challenge The sneaker industry is a $100B global market—and in recent years it has been flooded with DTC upstarts following the same playbook: premium materials, minimalist design, heritage-inspired craftsmanship, all delivered at a slightly better price. Beautiful, yes. But indistinguishable. The category had become saturated with brands that looked different but behaved the same. There was no emotional differentiation. No narrative. No reason to believe beyond the product itself. We saw an opportunity to build a brand that didn’t just enter the market—but reimagined how a sneaker company could connect with people. In recent years, there has been a tidal wave of Instagram DTC starts trying to tap into this burgeoning market. For most, the story has been exactly the same: high craftsmanship at a lower price. Beautiful but boring. Most of the energy in the market today comes from big, iconic sneaker brands doing limited edition drops and generic collaborations with other established brands or artists. It’s an approach badly in need of a refresh. The Insight Every sneaker brand was selling the shoe. None were selling the story. But consumers—especially creators, makers, and cultural tastemakers—crave brands with depth, meaning, and a point of view. We identified a simple but powerful truth: there is a limitless appetite for human stories of craft, purpose, and creativity. What if a sneaker weren’t the end of the story, but the medium for telling it? Novella was born in the depths of the pandemic. Amidst the darkness, we tried to find light. Not just through the creation of our shoes. But through the stories of these uncommon artisans. And all the joy and inspiration they were putting out into the world. At a time when we needed it most. What We Did Investors with a vision asked Two Things to build what became Novella from the ground up. 1. Defined the Brand Strategy & Architecture We positioned Novella around a radical concept: each drop would be a collaboration with an extraordinary creator—barbers, poets, textile artists, comedians—and each sneaker would visually express their story. No celebrity hype. No trend-chasing. Just authentic creators whose craft brings joy. 2. Developed the Footwear Platform Organized the product team - from footwear designers, to product developers, the manufacturing partners and the systems and processes to stitch all of this together. We also designed the systems to identify the creators that would inspire each of the shoes and worked with them to put their fingerprints (literally) on the designs. 3. Built the Go To Market Strategy and Toolkit Global photography and film systems Messaging structure and storytelling framework A scalable drop architecture (“Chapters” and “Verses”) Guidelines enabling every future release to feel distinct yet unmistakably Novella 4. Designed the Launch & Brand Experience We crafted Novella’s inaugural introduction as both a brand launch and a proof of concept. Each limited edition release (2,020 pairs per story) was individually numbered—turning every pair into a collectible artifact of human creativity. The Result Novella entered the market not as another DTC sneaker brand, but as a creator-driven storytelling platform. The brand differentiated itself in one of the world’s most crowded categories by offering something no one else was offering: a sneaker brand with a soul. Novella didn’t just launch a sneaker. It launched a new way of thinking about the relationship between creativity, craft, and footwear. The impact is clear: A completely original footwear brand and business model brought to life A narrative-led product architecture now used across releases A creative foundation that established Novella as a distinct, premium, culturally resonant entrant in a saturated space See more at novella2020.com

Two Things | Novella | Private Equity investors asked for help in developing a modern footwear brand and we responded by building the company from the ground up. Client // Novella Assignment: Research & Insights · Brand Strategy · Global Advertising Campaign · Photography · Film · Messaging & Campaign Toolkit Designing a footwear business from the ground up Sneakers are a 100 billion dollar market worldwide. In recent years, there has been a tidal wave of Instagram DTC starts trying to tap into this burgeoning market. For most, the story has been exactly the same: high craftsmanship at a lower price. Beautiful but boring. The Challenge The sneaker industry is a $100B global market—and in recent years it has been flooded with DTC upstarts following the same playbook: premium materials, minimalist design, heritage-inspired craftsmanship, all delivered at a slightly better price. Beautiful, yes. But indistinguishable. The category had become saturated with brands that looked different but behaved the same. There was no emotional differentiation. No narrative. No reason to believe beyond the product itself. We saw an opportunity to build a brand that didn’t just enter the market—but reimagined how a sneaker company could connect with people. In recent years, there has been a tidal wave of Instagram DTC starts trying to tap into this burgeoning market. For most, the story has been exactly the same: high craftsmanship at a lower price. Beautiful but boring. Most of the energy in the market today comes from big, iconic sneaker brands doing limited edition drops and generic collaborations with other established brands or artists. It’s an approach badly in need of a refresh. The Insight Every sneaker brand was selling the shoe. None were selling the story. But consumers—especially creators, makers, and cultural tastemakers—crave brands with depth, meaning, and a point of view. We identified a simple but powerful truth: there is a limitless appetite for human stories of craft, purpose, and creativity. What if a sneaker weren’t the end of the story, but the medium for telling it? See more at novella2020.com Novella was born in the depths of the pandemic. Amidst the darkness, we tried to find light. Not just through the creation of our shoes. But through the stories of these uncommon artisans. And all the joy and inspiration they were putting out into the world. At a time when we needed it most. What We Did Investors with a vision asked Two Things to build what became Novella from the ground up. 1. Defined the Brand Strategy & Architecture We positioned Novella around a radical concept: each drop would be a collaboration with an extraordinary creator—barbers, poets, textile artists, comedians—and each sneaker would visually express their story. No celebrity hype. No trend-chasing. Just authentic creators whose craft brings joy. 2. Developed the Footwear Platform Organized the product team - from footwear designers, to product developers, the manufacturing partners and the systems and processes to stitch all of this together. We also designed the systems to identify the creators that would inspire each of the shoes and worked with them to put their fingerprints (literally) on the designs. 3. Built the Go To Market Strategy and Toolkit Global photography and film systems Messaging structure and storytelling framework A scalable drop architecture (“Chapters” and “Verses”) Guidelines enabling every future release to feel distinct yet unmistakably Novella 4. Designed the Launch & Brand Experience We crafted Novella’s inaugural introduction as both a brand launch and a proof of concept. Each limited edition release (2,020 pairs per story) was individually numbered—turning every pair into a collectible artifact of human creativity. RESULTS RESULTS Novella entered the market not as another DTC sneaker brand, but as a creator-driven storytelling platform. The brand differentiated itself in one of the world’s most crowded categories by offering something no one else was offering: a sneaker brand with a soul. Novella didn’t just launch a sneaker. It launched a new way of thinking about the relationship between creativity, craft, and footwear. The impact is clear: A completely original footwear brand and business model brought to life A narrative-led product architecture now used across releases A creative foundation that established Novella as a distinct, premium, culturally resonant entrant in a saturated space Novella entered the market not as another DTC sneaker brand, but as a creator-driven storytelling platform. The brand differentiated itself in one of the world’s most crowded categories by offering something no one else was offering: a sneaker brand with a soul. Novella didn’t just launch a sneaker. It launched a new way of thinking about the relationship between creativity, craft, and footwear. The impact is clear: A completely original footwear brand and business model brought to life A narrative-led product architecture now used across releases A creative foundation that established Novella as a distinct, premium, culturally resonant entrant in a saturated space

X? Twitter? The debate rages on. So what does this have to do with brand value and creative strategy? Find out how marketers can use X as a cautionary tale. Brand X's and O's By Paulo Ribeiro X marks the unforced error. And, what can we learn from it? What the hell does this have to do with the Active Lifestyle Business? Nothing. And everything. This spectacular implosion has everyone talking about ‘Brand’ and this gives us an opportunity to break down what a powerful brand is (and isn’t). From Linda Yaccarino, CEO of Twitter (really?!? Does anyone believe Elon’s ceded control of anything?): [Tweet from Linda Yaccarino] Um, ok…. First, let’s establish what we mean when we are talking about ‘brand’ An intentionally strategic focus that guides the services, experiences and messages from a company. The purpose of that strategic focus is to form an emotional connection in a consumer’s mind of what the brand’s values are. People align with brands that share their values. That emotional connection delivers real monetary value to the company. Actions speak louder than words (or images, no matter how well designed) Exhibit A: Many Nike sneakers and smaller brands are made in the same factories using the same materials with often very similar form factors. When the Nike sneaker is sold for $175 and a comparable Saucony sneaker (made in the same factory) goes for $105, that $70 difference is the real value of the Nike brand. The thing that makes the boneheaded Twitter to X shift so damn fascinating is that it was made by an absolutely legendary brand innovator: Elon Musk. Exhibit B: Every single move by brand Tesla, particularly in the early days, served as a master class in how to build a focused brand through consistent ACTIONS instead of through say advertising impression for example. Instead of car lots, Tesla’s were hyped in small ~1,000 sq foot footprints in malls. Forget test driving, many could barely hold a single car you could sit in. This yielded the amazing benefits of saving money on real estate and showing up in a completely differentiated way from the competition. Customers used iPad screens where they virtually designed their car, or signed up for a waitlist. Potential customers logging in from home had all the same tools and soon learned they didn’t even have to go to the mall. The waitlist highlighted scarcity (which is Luxury’s playbook to increase margins). They gave everyone on the waitlist sneak peaks and special content—allowing customers to feel special. And we all heard about it. The waitlist spawned rabid, vocal fans who snowballed the company’s marketing through word of mouth. They were not just buying a car, they bought into a movement. Elon as Founder leaned into even more audacious pursuits like designing the HyperLoop to ferry people between SF and LA in minutes and then gave away the plans (hello, PR mentions). He built a real rocket company, SpaceX, which generates endless PR, this in turn delivers credibility back to Tesla. The Tesla brand now has permission to enter into a range of businesses including some very expensive and technically complex ones such as home and corporate energy storage. All of this because of a singular brand focus: delivering the future of transportation. I could write for a month and not be able to adequately convey how good the bird logo is and how bad the X is. Full disclosure, I’m biased. My friend and former collaborator Martin Grasser Designed it. And Jack Dorsey co-signed with this. Agreed. Exhibit C: Twitter is a communication platform. A tweet is (was?) a short burst of information first 140 characters and over time added a bit of imagery and/or video. But always short, focused, timely communication flying around the internet. With this it's easy to see how that focused brand position provides permission to grow into sharing other types of timely information…or connections…or moving money. All of this focus was encapsulated in that elegant blue bird. Prof G estimates the current value being thrown away to be in the range of $10B (or more). Conversely, what is X? Well, it's everything they say. Right but what is it for? Everything. Ok, cool. When I need everything I’ll make sure to use that. For the next decade or so though, I’ll use products that have PROVEN their focus and expertise to me over time. I’ll make decisions faster where I don’t have to think too hard about their values or what they do well. In the outdoor arena brand identities (name, logo, etc…) like Patagonia and The North Face were intuitively appropriate (good enough for those demanding environments) AND over time they were imbued with meaning and carried that value. Dave Lane has a nice backstory about why the Dead Bird became arc’teryx’s logo. But he’ll be the first to say that they initially chose it as a logo because it was unlike anything in the market. But now… Well the dead bird is completely imbued with the credibility of intensely tested products with high design. Nike was an academic choice (and a bit obscure) choice when it came out, but it is now imbued with decades of performance and empowerment proof. Whereas, On Running’s proof of cushioning as good as running on air is more recent. In all cases these brands have value PRIMARILY because of the actions taken by the companies to prove their credibility in a focused way. And now, well let’s just say none of those organizations are dumb enough to throw that value away. A brand can launch with the advantage of a thoughtfully designed and wordsmithed brand identity and/or campaign (like the blue bird was for Twitter). But regardless of whether a brand got a headstart or not, the real value is created over time by consistency of actions. Brand equity is built and proven by a focused brand strategy. Recently, there hasn’t been any focus from the brand formerly known as Twitter. This will be fun to watch because if we all learn from mistakes, then we stand to learn quite a lot from a dumpster full of them. back to insights → [Retweet from Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square]