SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — In this insightful interview, Chad Song, CEO of Crack the Nuts, engages with Brian Collins, a distinguished advertising icon and co-founder of the acclaimed independent strategy and brand experience design company COLLINS. As the Jury President at the prestigious 2024 D&AD Awards in London, Brian shares his profound understanding of branding, emphasizing its role as a promise that must be consistently fulfilled over time. Their conversation delves into the essence of branding, the importance of community, and the evolving landscape of creativity in a world that often conflates purpose with brand identity.
The beginning of COLLINS
Chad Song: COLLINS was named by Forbes as one of the companies transforming the future of branding. What inspired you to start the company, and what philosophy drives it?
Brian Collins: There were three reasons we started COLLINS: First, we began with just four desks, two laptops, and an idea: Design would not be what we make — design would be what we make possible.
My co-founder, Leland Maschmeyer, and I saw design as an agent of change. We wanted to expand our profession’s obsession with craft and output to include an equal obsession with transformative impact and outcomes. We see no contradiction between those ambitions.
Second, as a young designer, I couldn’t find a company that produced the kind of work I aspired to create. Today, many young designers will view the exceptional ideas at great shows like D&AD and expect this to be the industry standard. But their own daily reality falls far short.
Leland and I wanted to build a new community of uncommonly ambitious, imaginative people to bridge that gap, creating an environment where you could build a strong career while working to produce insanely unique, effective ideas.
Third, we wanted to prove that it’s possible to run a successful business consultancy without pitching.
Pitching? Not our way.
Chad Song: You don’t pitch at all? That’s quite rare in the industry, especially when many agencies are called to compete for the same project.
Brian Collins: That’s right. We categorically refuse to do speculative work for free. There was only one exception. It was about ten years ago for a global airline we really admired. We didn’t win. And that was the very first and very last time we pitched.
Speculative, unpaid pitching wastes enormous time and energy. Worse, your current clients pay for all of it. Even worse, it distracts you from the real work you’re already doing for your current clients who trust you—and who hired you to focus on them in the first place.
Also, an agency’s expertise should be respected. And we should respect ourselves. Happily, we engage new clients through good, sincere conversations and good, comprehensive proposals. We never do spec work.
Sadly, this spec problem is equally self-inflicted as it is imposed. Advertising agencies agreeing to offer free work for years have conditioned many clients to expect it—even demand it. It’s up to all of us to bring this outdated habit to an end.
Interestingly, we’ve seen the smartest companies no longer request such foolishness. So, there’s hope.
The secret behind COLLINS’ success
Chad Song: What has made COLLINS so reputable and successful?
Brian Collins: Oh dear. Thank you, Chad, but we never assume we’re “successful” at all. Every day, we have to prove our value. Every day we try to stay consistent, meet our deadlines, pay our bills on time, and prioritize the development and growth of our people and clients.
But if there’s any real secret, it’s probably persistence. Our clients depend on us, so we never, ever give up. Ever.
Work-life balance? It’s a myth.
Chad Song: Millennials and Gen Z often emphasize work-life balance. How do you approach this at COLLINS?
Brian Collins: The expression “work-life balance” is a seductive but ultimately unworkable trap. Trying to separate work from life does far more harm than good. I’ve never seen anyone build a meaningful, healthy life by chasing some illusion of “balance,” as if life itself were only a relentless, up-and-down see-saw.
More life means less work? More work means less life? That’s illiterate, reductive, unsophisticated nonsense. The key is integration—your work should be a meaningful part of your life, and vice versa. It’s not easy, but it’s a far more forgiving idea than simplistic, binary “balance.”
That said, we work to ensure our people have enough time to rest and take care of themselves. We avoid work on weekends. Also, we’ve created a five-acre retreat deep in a forest by the sea on Cape Cod. The big main house, built in 1879, is filled with light and too many books. Anyone can go there alone (or with a group) to recharge or just work there for a week at a time.
Creativity beyond purpose
Chad Song: What does branding mean to you?
Brian Collins: A brand, at its most potent, provides meaningful differentiation. Our definition is “a promise performed consistently over time.” Great brands create compelling, evolving stories and deliver on them, again and again. The very best ones build and support communities around the products and services they create. The way we see it, you can no longer talk about brand building without community building.
That all said, as a profession, we need to finally move beyond this weird obsession with ridiculously elevated brand “purpose.” Too many brands today feel the need to lift everything up to some mushy, inflated, ginned-up ideal that all ends up sounding like some version of “making the world a better place” or “living your best life.”
But few good ideas stem from such self-important, gassy “purpose” clichés.
Sure, sometimes a grand mission can help. My team at Ogilvy helped launch The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, one of the first, and still most successful, higher-order “purpose” brands in the world. Dove forcefully challenged outmoded, damaging views of feminine beauty for 20 years—and did so while selling millions of bottles of soap, shampoo, and moisturizers. That differentiating brand idea helped drive massive growth and value in their business. Consumers love it. And for Dove and that category, it makes sense.
But, for example, a great candy bar should just be able to be a great candy bar. It shouldn’t need to pretend it’s an enlightened, self-esteem-enhancing Bodhisattva covered in peanuts and milk chocolate.
The Purpose Police will arrest me for saying such things, but enough already.
Keep creating
Chad Song: Finally, what advice would you give to young creators?
Brian Collins: Keep making things. This industry begins and ends with creation.
Learn from every project, stay curious, and value the relationships you have. And build them. Those early relationships will sustain your career.
Here’s advice I wish someone had told me in my 20s: When someone disagrees with you, do not, not, not defend yourself. Instead, listen. Ask them to explain, validate their concern, expand on it, and affirm their point of view. Only then will anyone listen to anything you have to say.
Try it. It works.
I’ll leave you with this last thought. It’s from Leland: “Make the future so irresistible it becomes inevitable.”
That’s as good a definition of design as any I know. Use it.
A new beginning
Chad Song: Thank you for this inspiring conversation, Brian. I imagine you’ll continue tackling new challenges every day.
Brian Collins: You bet. Every day is a new beginning for us, Chad. And it’s only made possible by our good people and good clients. Well… that, and an enormous amount of good luck.
To close his thoughts on this piece, Chad recalls that the conversation with Brian was an inspiration in itself. With sharp insights and a keen sense of humor, he wasn’t just a conversation partner but someone who left a profound impact—a true embodiment of “Humorously Heavy”, a blend of humor and depth.
Among the many words he shared, one stood out and deeply resonated with him:
“Branding isn’t just a task; it’s a promise woven into life itself.”
“This one sentence made me reflect on the essence of branding once again. It became clear that Brian’s philosophy was not just theoretical—it was something fully integrated and embodied in his life,” Chad shared.
