Culture-Led Brands - by Leila Fataar

About the Book

Harness cultural relevance to create a resilient brand that can successfully navigate rapidly evolving social and business landscapes whilst remaining resonant and authentic.

Book Synopsis

In a world of relentless change and pervasive uncertainty, brands can only thrive if they become adept at reading and responding to cultural currents and signals. Today, cultural relevance is not just a marketing output, but a foundational element of successful contemporary business strategy.

Brands no longer operate in a vacuum; instead, they are active participants in a global dialogue impacting culture and communities, both geographical and through fandoms. This book equips leaders with the tools to navigate this rapidly evolving business landscape, embracing uncertainty and harnessing cultural relevance to drive growth. Covering everything from marketing to commerce, innovation and creativity, political sensitivity and technology transformations all the way to diversity and inclusion, environmental consciousness and how to credibly leverage the influence of cultural voices, this book enables you to build a culture-led growth strategy and create a resilient brand.

With real-world examples from brands like adidas Originals, Guinness and YouTube, this book provides a practical framework for embedding cultural relevance throughout your entire brand. It encourages leaders to rethink not just their external messaging, but their internal values and operations to create a culture-led branding and business strategy that is adaptive, authentic and accountable.

Review Quotes

"In an era where culture is the currency of relevance, Leila Fataar's work is a bold manifesto for businesses to act with authenticity, empathy, and cultural intelligence."-- "MARTIN RAYMOND, co-founder of The Future Laboratory"

"The MUST READ of 2025 for all CEOs, CMOs and growth leaders. THE comprehensive guide to what, why and how to build Culture-Led Brands. Fataar re-constructs brand building for today's landscape"-- "JULIE BRAMHAM, Managing Director, Diageo Luxury Group"

"This book holds the key to unlock how to credibly use culture to your financial benefit inside and outside the board room!"-- "RACHEL MUSCAT, Co-Founder of Humanrace with Pharrell and formerly of adidas"

About the Author

Leila Fataar is a globally renowned brand-builder and leader in delivering cultural relevance for some of the world's biggest brands. Previously of Diageo and adidas before founding Platform13 - a new generation brand partner. Based in London, UK, she has global experience across lifestyle, FMCG and sportswear companies at both big brands and her own independent companies. A regular keynote speaker at international conferences and a thought leader, she imparts a vision for branding that is as socially conscious as it is commercially successful.