A Corporate Savannah special
One animal, one season. The black leopard, The Brand Visionary, followed day by day through a herd that believes in sales. He hunts alone, mostly after dark, and sees what the herd cannot. Nobody asked him to. Six films about the life of brand and marketing in an organisation that eats first and plans later.
Meet the leopard
The Brand Visionary
If it's you: Slept through the hunt? Tell the story beautifully, then credit the ones who did the work. (We speak from experience.)
The diary
The herd has decided the leopard's spots feel familiar. Three weeks later: a remarkable transformation.
1:46
Most rebrands start when the people inside get bored of a pattern the market has only just learned. The team sees the logo every day; the customer sees it for two seconds a week. Familiarity is the asset, not the problem. Before you change the spots, ask who is actually tired of them.
The caracal builds. The leopard inspects. Nine nests later, everyone is aligned.
1:55
Every designer has built the ninth nest. Feedback that only says what is wrong, never what is wanted, turns craft into guesswork. The first version is often the right one; it simply arrived before the brief did. Say what you want before you ask for the first draft, and keep every strand.
The leopard finds new grass. The pack votes by sneezing. The lion only ever needs one.
1:54
Everybody has a voice. Not everybody has a vote. Most organisations say the first and practise the second, and the gap between the two is where good people burn out. Be honest about whose sneeze counts. And if you have found the new shoot, sometimes the job is to put it under the right nose.
Sales is hungry. The leopard answers with his most beautiful leap.
1:48
Frustration is a function of misaligned expectations and poor communication. Sales needs a lead today; brand builds a signal for next year. Both are right, and each reads the other's signals wrong. A beautiful campaign that tells the buyer you are not worth the chase is still a beautiful campaign. Agree what the leap is for before you leap.
The leopard's best kill waits in the tree for tomorrow. So does the lion.
1:49
The urgent eats the important. Brand work is the kill in the tree: made with patience, meant to feed you for days, always saved for tomorrow. Then the quarter runs short and someone who never climbs comes up to eat it. Protect the long work by giving it a date, not a later.
On the eighty-ninth day the pride takes everything. Next season arrives empty.
1:55
Harvest the whole funnel in one quarter and the next quarter finds an empty plain. The pipeline that looks like a marketing problem in March was usually a sales decision in December. Someone has to watch the calves. Let them.