Mar 19, 2024
What makes a truly iconic brand? Few people are better qualified to
answer that question than Neil Barrie, the branding expert behind
household names like Pinterest, Peloton, and Airbnb.
Neil Barrie founded the TwentyFirstCenturyBrand agency in 2018 and works with many of the world's most innovative brands, including Headspace, Bumble, and Depop. From 2021-2023, the company grew revenue by 70%.
Originally a failed rock star, Neil has led the development and growth of top-tier brands including Disney, The Grammys, and Unilever. Throughout his career, he has used his platform to make the advertising industry better and has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Fast Company, and The Guardian.
Landing Your First Client
How did Neil and his co-founder land Pinterest as their very first client? A lot of it had to do with personal branding and the reputation they’d built for themselves in the industry.
From the beginning, Neil was intentional about doing things for free for influential people, with the expectation they would one day recommend TwentyFirstCenturyBrand. He and his co-founder held workshops for venture capitalists and offered to help them with their portfolios.
It also helped that they had a clear mission for their company (to build influential twenty-first-century brands) and a strong point of view on what made an iconic brand: it had to be purpose-led, community-driven, tech-enabled, and narrative-based.
Neil and his co-founder came out of the gate with a clear thesis. They published white papers on their four-part framework that helped companies see the value in branding. Their strategy paid off–Pinterest took a chance on the new agency and TwentyFirstCenturyBrand’s client list has only grown since.
Ingredients of an Iconic Brand
Branding can be broken down into two sides: input and output. Output is your brand reputation or what other people say about you when you’re not around. Input is everything you put into the brand: your vision, your purpose, and the experience you create for your audience.
When asked about the future of branding, Neil says there are three factors entrepreneurs need to consider: profit, purpose, and people. After the turmoil of the last few years, profitability is more important than ever. Purpose is your vision and “people” refers to how you rally your community around that vision. To build a truly influential brand, you need to balance all three factors.
Enjoy this episode with founder Neil Barrie…
Quotes
“Most tech companies are leaving money on the table because they mistrust branding.”
“It’s tough to get business when you’re starting out. From the start, community and doing things for free for influential people with the expectation they would recommend us was a big part of our strategy.”
“Out of the gate, we acted like we’d been around for 30 years and hoped that sense of confidence and conviction would be infectious.”
“Vulnerability is required if you’re going to build a proper brand.”
“You need to invest the time in figuring out what you stand for, what you are, how you’re going to codify that into your experience and so on.”
Links mentioned in this episode:
TwentyFirstCenturyBrand website: https://twentyfirstcenturybrand.com/
Connect with Neil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-barrie-29488aa/
A Colourful View From The Top: https://www.amazon.com/Colourful-View-Top-Twenty-One-Extraordinary/dp/1408715791