Culture is your most Underused Growth Engine
The brands pulling ahead — across categories, across trend cycles, across consumer groups — share one thing: they understand the cultural moment they're operating in. They know what their consumers are reaching toward, what's shifting in their lives, and what role their brand can credibly play in that story.
I specialize in that layer.
Past Clients include:
Nice to meet you!
Hey, I'm John — a strategic consultant based in Brooklyn who helps brands grow by understanding culture. I’m a ‘T-shaped’ consultant, bringing deep expertise in cultural insight to every step in the modern brand-building process.
I've spent a career turning cultural complexity into clarity for clients like Google, eBay, LEGO, Diageo, and Nike.
When I'm not doing that, I'm cooking something semi-ambitious, walking my rescue pitsky Ernie, or getting deep into a new TTRPG.
Ways to work together
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Semiotic analysis, cultural insight reports, and strategic foresight frameworks for research agencies and brand teams responding to specific briefs.
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In-house Marketing, Insights, and Strategy for early-stage founders building brand and growth capability from the inside.
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Speaking engagements, interactive training sessions, and long-term learning programs that build cultural intelligence capability inside organizations.
I help brands explore Cultural Ecosystems to unearth deeper insights and early-stage opportunties
We all have slightly different definitions of culture. The challenge: these are all correct in their own way, but the terrain is already muddied.
To get true clarity, we need to think about Culture as a set of interconnections and shared conventions across various ‘Ecosystems’. This includes:
Deep Human Needs
Legacy Infrastructures
Cultural Domains
STEEP+ Macroshifts
Sector or Industry changes
I apply this framework in all of my work, leading to deeper insights, more powerful brand expressions, and longer-term innovation opportunities