Sensory multiplicity—having multiple mental states at the same time due to an ever-changing and increasingly complex world—is one of the most common feelings many consumers face today. As a result, brands must do everything they can to improve their processes for more accurate emotional perception and embed them deeper into their brand experience in ways that go beyond a new font or branding. A great logo This includes everything from thinking differently about design.
With all that in mind, I wanted to talk to some people I've come across who can gracefully navigate the worlds of art, marketing, and business. At the launch of his critically acclaimed book, The American Experience , I had the opportunity to discuss the aforementioned trends with Brandon Ralph, as well as his new agency, The Unquantifiable, created to solve today's problems. A very quick problem. Marketing challenges through the strategic mix of critical IQ and EQ.
A leader in the creative industry for more than 20 years, Brandon Ralph has been named a trusted creative collaborator by some of today's most influential people, including Anna Wintour, Ariana Huffington, Lenny Kravitz, Tina Brown, Thomas Mayer and Harvey Weinstein . . . spevak He was the co-founder of Code & Theory, Chief Experience Officer of Equinox, and a brilliant artist. He is currently the founder and CEO of Unquantifiable. Here is a summary of our conversation:
Billy Howard: Tell us about your travels and your American experience?
Brandon Ralph: My journey began in Long Island, New York, where I grew up safely middle class to a single mother. He insisted that he saw America as a land of possibility and opportunity. After losing both parents at the ages of 18 and 19, I was forced to drop out of New York University and pursue a career in marketing. Soon after, I founded Code in Theory in 2001 and it became one of the first creative and digital agencies.
This combination of my upbringing has included personal loss and professional growth, which has greatly influenced my journey into what I call the American Experience, which aims to embrace America's ever-changing culture. My work offers a broad and diverse view of the country and allows viewers to re-examine the many incarnations and everyday lives of patriotism in America. My paintings and sculptures give a sense of timelessness looking to the future and the past. The end result is a collection of moments that are separated, sometimes by years or even by different status lines. Taken together, they provide insight into the landscape and cultural themes of our country at a time when what constitutes an American is highly contested.
His work has been internationally acclaimed and exhibited internationally. In 2022, I became the Leica brand ambassador and the book was recently selected for sale at MMA.
Howard: What have you learned that has had the biggest impact on you as an artist and marketer?
Ralph: It goes without saying that successful art and marketing share the basic principle of the power of the image in any medium to attract an audience. What I've learned is the balance between overt and hidden messages that can sometimes be a tricky dance, causing the viewer to ask a question, feel a certain emotion, or change their perspective.
The art I create and the brands I want to work with, bold imagery or strong design are now board games. As our physical and digital worlds converge, I believe the next wave of big brands will differentiate themselves through integrated and uniquely unique experiential journeys. Brands have many opportunities to reach audiences on an emotional level, overtly and/or subtly, to deliver beautiful experiences across all channels that seamlessly and inexplicably permeate the physical and social worlds of their brand. Digital for the customer.
Howard : Tell me about The Unquantifiable and how you came up with it and what is its purpose?
Ralph: In the summer of 2018, I discussed with Equinox President Harvey Spavack about joining as Director of Experience. That's when I first heard about this title. Honestly, it made me uncomfortable. We talked for hours about how specific innovation roles have historically been limited to traditional assets and how companies can fundamentally and culturally transform the CXO role by bringing these disparate entities together under one goal. For an end-to-end brand experience. .
In 2020, I saw a white space in the market to build an agency driven by brand experience, design and technology. Our vision is to discover all the hidden and unique qualities in a brand's DNA that reinforce commitment, loyalty and love. It combines the inherent tension between rational and irrational consumer behavior at a desire level, resulting in an integrated experience strategy brought to life through unique and engaging storytelling, IP and technology. As a result, the brand is placed between QI and QI in an unverifiable way.
Howard : How do you see Web 3 fitting into The Unquantifiable's vision?
Ralph: Over the past 20 years, there has been an iterative pattern of innovation related to the Web1 (finding information) and Web2 (creating and sharing information) principles. Brands and how consumers interact with the Web3 (data and data ownership).
We believe the next wave of businesses can create fairer relationships with their customers by bringing together the integration of the physical and digital worlds to deliver their digital assets (IP, data, loyalty, currency) to their wallets. . . Our services help us stay at the forefront of innovation and understand how these new technologies fit into our client's strategy and roadmap in a hands-on approach.
That said, while not all brands are thinking about Web3, we are at the start of this next wave and have received a strategic investment from Liberty City Ventures, the largest Web3 venture capital fund. Our partnership provides our clients with over 70 portfolio companies, providing an integrated source of information. It helps educate and inform our strategy, innovation and execution to keep our customers at the forefront of technology.