Issue 107: A Bulletin for Big Ideas and Better Business

How the world’s biggest brands navigate crisis: Nick Tran on why creativity is the only real advantage.

The Crisis CV.

Why creativity is the only recourse in moments of brand crisis – with Nick Tran, President and CMO of Cîroc and Lobos 1707, formerly Global Head of Marketing at TikTok...

“Your job is to make us cool. Just don’t get us sued.”

My boss, the CMO at Taco Bell, didn’t realise it, but he’d just given me the red thread that would run through every job I’ve had since. The intention behind it is simple. Make the brand ‘cool’, which means relevant in culture, driving conversation, engaging with communities. But at the same time, not doing anything that will ever damage it.

Make the brand ‘cool’, which means relevant in culture, driving conversation, engaging with communities.

That clarity has enabled me to progress at an exponential rate. I’ve been helped along by a few crises, too.

Firstly, at Taco Bell. In 2011, the company was alleged to not be using real beef. While the claim was false, the publicity was bad. We responded by evolving the brand to a new approach under the tagline Live Más.

Then, at Samsung, I was flung into the problem with Galaxy Note 7 – phones were catching on fire. We pivoted from product marketing to more of a brand-driven company. In the midst of recalls, we cultivated love for the actual brand. After a couple of years, Samsung was the seventh largest brand, according to Interbrand.

In the midst of recalls, we cultivated love for the actual brand.

After that, to Hulu for a more existential type of crisis. The brand was acquired by Disney, and we were threatened with being absorbed, unless we could show we were differentiated and distinct from our parent company. I focused my efforts on building edgier campaigns than would typically run at Disney. Even in the midst of the integration and launching Disney Plus, we ultimately decided that the Hulu brand was so strong in the US that we were going to keep it independent.

Then it was to TikTok, to battle the Trump administration’s executive order to ban the platform. And finally in my string of career-forming crises, it was Farfetch. I met the founder, who joked about my record as a jinx. “There’s no crisis on the horizon for us,” he declared. Sadly he was wrong.

In the midst of all these crises, creativity is the only recourse. Driving at being more progressive and innovative, and thinking how you can leverage that shift in consumer behaviour to your advantage as a marketer. To this day, I’ve still never gotten a brand sued.

In the midst of all these crises, creativity is the only recourse.

We asked Nick a couple of questions on how he personally relates to creativity, here’s what he had to say…

TBOC: What is your creative North Star?

NT: Build brands that move at the speed of culture while staying anchored in strategy. Creativity is only valuable if it drives relevance, preference, and long term brand equity – not just attention for attention’s sake.

TBOC: What has inspired you lately?

NT: I have been inspired by how the most effective brands are rethinking where and how they show up using real world moments, community behavior, and cultural signals as media not just channels. It is a reminder that the most efficient growth today often comes from earned relevance not increased spend.

The most efficient growth today often comes from earned relevance not increased spend.

Nick Tran is the President and CMO of First Round, a joint venture between Diageo and Main Street Advisors – Scaling Cîroc & Lobos 1707. Before that he was Global Head of Marketing at TikTok and CMO at Farfetch. He is also an angel investor in consumer disruptor brands.