In an era where trends come and go more quickly than the latest viral meme, establishing a brand’s enduring presence in culture has become more crucial than ever.
That’s why Smarts is championing a philosophy we call Cultural Endurance. This approach focuses on understanding what brands stand for, the value they bring to people’s lives, and their deep connections with communities – elements that require more than just short-term tactics.
To mark a year since opening our Amsterdam base and to explore the power of Cultural Endurance, Smarts hosted a thought-provoking panel discussion, followed by a summer lunch at one of the city’s most popular restaurants. The event brought together industry leaders and friends of Smarts to share insights on creating lasting brand legacies.
Colin Corbridge, Group Head of Creative and Strategy at Smarts, kicked off the discussion by examining Cultural Endurance through the stories of iconic figures like Muhammad Ali, Vivienne Westwood, and David Bowie.
Joined by Dio Kurazawa, Co-Founder of The Bear Scouts, the discussion emphasised the importance of consistent values, charisma, and confidence in building a lasting brand legacy.
The panel also featured Christopher di Pietro, Global Brand Director at Vivienne Westwood, Stefanos Constantinou, Brand Partnerships & General Manager at Highsnobiety, Guillaume Schmidt, Co-Founder of Patta, Eleanor Lloyd Malcolm, Co-Managing Director at Freemavens and Lauren Warnock, Head of Analytics at Freemavens.
Conversations throughout the day underscored the necessity of staying true to a brand’s identity and values, especially in a world that is constantly evolving. Purpose, all agreed, is the cornerstone of Cultural Endurance.
The event highlighted Smarts’ commitment to helping clients navigate and influence the cultural conversation, ensuring their brands resonate with people in meaningful and lasting ways. With a team of 200 professionals, Smarts continues to lead the charge in integrating brands into the cultural zeitgeist.
“You do need to have purpose. Because people need a purpose. And I think as a company, you need to be able to cultivate that within your staff, and you also hopefully will communicate that to your customers and your community, even if they don’t buy, right? We actually really want to cultivate a community, and we want to have a deeper conversation about the world that you live in and hopefully change the world for it to be a better place.”
Christopher di Pietro, Global Brand Director at Vivienne Westwood
Christopher’s reflections on the people in your team led to some further insights from the panel on leadership and vision. Patta’s co-founder, Guillaume Schmidt emphasised how he prioritises legacy over trends, personal growth and the importance of building the next generation.
“I’m less interested in trends.
I’m way more interested in legacy.”
Guillaume Schmidt, Co-Founder of Patta
It wasn’t long before cultural relevancy cropped up in the conversation, connected to themes of community building and vulnerability in business. To stay ahead of trends our panelists shared how workplaces need to invest in having diverse teams across age and backgrounds. How are we providing opportunities for young people in our industries?
“It’s key to have the right people empowering and working in your organisations. It’s about your people, making sure that you hire the right people, and they are a part of culture and who you want to talk to. Otherwise, it’s like projecting what you want to do, through a brand book only.”
Stefanos Constantinou, Brand Partnerships & General Manager at Highsnobiety
Healthy debate ensued over data’s role in creativity. How do we balance making data-driven decisions and creative freedom? How does data potentially inform what we do, how can we learn from it, improve, invent and create using those inputs to help us?
Freemavens’ Eleanor and Lauren unpacked thoughts on how we can measure culture using unprompted, unbiased data with five core metrics; cultural alignment, presence, interest, sentiment and advocacy. Explaining our unique Cultural Endurance Model™ and how it draws on more than 700m+ pieces of consumer data to analyse this question for specific individual brands – understanding and measuring a brand’s alignment to people’s values and its resonance in culture, from presence, to interest, buzz and advocacy.
Explore the five metrics of the model in our digital booklet below.
The ‘Make A Mark In Culture’ Booklet
Want to dive deeper? Explore our digital booklet for more insights from the event and interviews with our guests and friends from Lynk & Co, Diageo, Zalando and Booking.com.
Amsterdam event