Brand New World

When you think of banking, chances are your mind doesn’t immediately scream "amazing brands!" Of course, there are major banks with strong brands, but certainly not in the same way we think about those in categories like fashion, beauty, or sports.



And, look, there’s a very good reason for that. Banks mean money, and money is a very serious issue for many, many people. Which means treating a banking brand like Doritos or Budweiser maaaay not be the best vibe to convey.



That said, let’s talk about Chime. The fintech digital bank has invested heavily in culture to build its brand—through partnerships with athletes like Cooper Flagg, Deion Sanders, and Jaxson Dart, episodic social content series like “Mama I Made It” and “Ballin’ on a Budget,” a jersey partnership with the Portland Fire, a league-wide Major League Soccer deal, and more. Last September, it even launched its own in-house branded entertainment arm called In The Green Studios.



CMO Vineet Mehra has said that Chime aims to be in the same cultural zeitgeist as brands like Sephora or Liquid Death. On this episode of Brand New World, I spoke to Mehra about the brand’s cultural ambitions, the impact this strategy has had on its business, and more.

This episode also features an interview with Accenture Song chairman and former CEO David Droga, as part of Fast Company’s “Creativity at Work” series in collaboration with Accenture Song.

This episode of Brand New World features an interview with Accenture Song creative chair Nick Law as part of Fast Company’s “Creativity at Work” series in collaboration with Accenture Song.



What if the healthiest social platform is the one encouraging you to log off? Pinterest has built its brand around a simple but surprising idea: The best thing you can find online is a reason to go offline.



Host Jeff Beer sits down with Pinterest's chief marketing officer, Claudine Cheever, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to discuss the company's latest brand campaign, how Pinterest is differentiating itself in an AI-driven social media landscape, and why inspiration—not endless scrolling—is at the heart of its strategy. Cheever also shares how Pinterest approaches AI, creator partnerships, in-house creativity, and cultural moments ranging from the WNBA to The Devil Wears Prada 2.



The episode also features Accenture Song creative chair Nick Law, who breaks down the company's new research on "applied creativity" and argues that great ideas alone aren't enough. From creative leadership to organizational design, Law explains why the companies that consistently turn creativity into business growth are the ones building systems that allow ideas to survive—and thrive.

This episode of Brand New World also features an interview with Accenture Song CEO Ndidi Oteh, as part of Fast Company’s “Creativity at Work” series in collaboration with Accenture Song.

One in six American mortgages is now serviced by Rocket. That massive market share encompasses almost 10 million borrowers and $2.1 trillion in principal balance. But it wasn’t that long ago that Rocket was lagging in brand awareness.



CMO Jonathan Mildenhall has had a storied, award-winning career across brands of all stripes, from Coca-Cola to Airbnb. Now with Rocket, he’s aiming to build the company’s services into the world’s first "AI-fueled home ownership platform.”

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity recently went down in the south of France. It's basically the biggest annual gathering of advertising, marketing, technology, entertainment, and brands on the planet. It’s also what many consider the Oscars of advertising.



Just as the ultimate Oscar is for Best Picture, the Cannes Lions equivalent is the Titanium Grand Prix. This award honors the industry's best ideas—those combining innovation, ingenuity, and results to serve as the pointy tip of the spear for where creative brand thinking should be headed.



When you think of the world’s most successful brands, you hear Apple, Google, Nike, Adidas, Coke, LVMH, and AB InBev. But this year’s Titanium winner was the Australian insurance brand Suncorp, for the work it did with the agency Leo Burnett Australia on a campaign called "Haven."



On this episode of Brand New World, hosts Jeff Beer and Grace Snelling are digging into how a company many of us have never heard of before just won the ad industry’s biggest prize, as well as highlighting some of our other favorite overall brand work right now.

The World Cup is just about to kick off and, of course, Nike was going to go big. Last week, the brand rolled out a chaotic and fun six-minute meta whirlwind through a Hollywood set of … a World Cup commercial shoot. The collection of global soccer stars, celebrities, and other cultural icons is pretty insane, but not unprecedented for the Swoosh company.

 

In this episode, hosts Jeff Beer and Grace Snelling are digging into this Nike spot, as well as some of our other favorite overall brand work right now, from WhatsApp to J.Crew and beyond.