Brand Makeovers: John Malozzi Of Coley Porter Bell US On The 5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand and Image

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Brands need to be as obsessive about their brand identity as they are about their product or service.

As a part of our series about “Brand Makeovers” I had the pleasure to interview John Malozzi, Group Creative Director — USA.

John leads creative at global branding and design agency Coley Porter Bell’s US office, building the design team and creative culture in New York. He has more than 25 years of experience helping global clients bring their brand and business strategy to life through powerful, purposeful visual storytelling. With a wealth of knowledge in corporate and consumer branding, John draws inspiration from the world beyond the office, creating unexpected insights surrounding himself with people of different interests, cultural perspectives, and expertise.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Growing up I had no idea what graphic design was. As a kid, I wrote graffiti, made my own t-shirt, skateboard and record cover designs — mostly to express some social responsibility message to improve “things in society”. Sometimes it was just simply to create something cool that my friends and I could call our own. I’d use words and pictures because I couldn’t draw as well as I wanted to.

My high school art teacher recommended FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology, part of the State University of New York) for graphic design. It was in-state, affordable, and I got to live in Manhattan. I pretty much got accepted to the program with a portfolio full of tags and collages. What was great about FIT — besides being in great location — was that the design faculty was either still working in the field or were masters in their own right (Eli Kince!). While in school, working on projects, I was able to create a good logo from time-to-time and had an aptitude for typography (most likely born from my graffiti days). So, my professors pushed me into the corporate identity world (branding had not become a practice yet). That was over 25 years ago.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

In my early days, I was arrogant enough to think that every branding challenge should be addressed with an academic, Swiss design approach in typography and a rigid grid. Although that worked for some clients, it didn’t work for others.

At that point, I was too focused on what “design should be” rather than what “design could be”. I didn’t take the time to truly understand the personality of the client or respect the language of their audiences (even if I knew it). To a certain extent, I think that’s how design became a commodity and bland — with a universally set aesthetic. Mostly, everything looks and feels the same — a restaurant brand looks like a beauty product that looks like an identity for a fashion label. Without empathy and understanding, there is no real connection being made — no emotion, no soul.

I designed an album cover for a hip-hop group that literally felt like a design manual. It was a wasted opportunity.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

CPB is not afraid to be daring; not afraid to push the client into unfamiliar territory. There’s not one particular story, it’s just our approach. Of course, there may be pushback from the client, but we always take the opportunity, especially in the initial stage of our creative, to introduce ideas that responsibly provoke and challenge the expected.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes, I’m working on a few. One is something I’m passionate about personally and I feel honored to be a part of it. Another is a project that will hopefully help to change the perception of a category that some may see as controversial.

Ok let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?

It’s simple — branding is the creation of a product’s/company’s/organization’s DNA that creates associations and informs experiences. Advertising is one of the vehicles that helps energize and deliver the brand.

Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?

Brand is the foundation. With anything that is built, you need a strong foundation to weather and adapt to changing patterns, trends, and perceptions. A well-equipped, thoughtful brand will prepare you for that — near and long-term. You can’t compromise on that.

Can you share 5 strategies that a company should be doing to build a trusted and believable brand?

Create an internal design theme that informs all your creative decisions — for example, American Airlines:

• While brand strategy is always a filter for design, having a design theme informed by the brand strategy moves you closer to creative space that designers (agency and internal) can process quicker — and be a bit more inspired to challenge a conventional creative approach.
• The theme was NOT used externally and informed everything from color to shape and form, materials, lighting, and construction.
• This theme also worked when briefing outside resources such as sign fabricators, architects, interior designers, and onboard designers.

Don’t assume one visual cue means the same thing for your brand that it may mean for another brand — for example, Budweiser/Black Crown:

• Budweiser wanted to expand its portfolio with a more premium product.
• In 2012 the Black Crown was introduced.
• The original idea was to simply swap the red on its iconic label to black.
• The solution was a completely new label design that used “premium” design elements, such as silver metallic inks, condensed typography and die-cuts that were inspired by the points in a crown.
• None of these design characteristics were inherent to the Budweiser brand.

Craft matters

• Brands need to be as obsessive about their brand identity as they are about their product or service.
• This mostly happens with brands that are built on product reputation.
• Apply the same level of craft and thoughtfulness in your color palette and typography as you do for your product.
• It will not only help you to differentiate within your category, but it will also strengthen the reputation of your brand.

Involve the right people

• Always involve people who truly understand the communication challenge.
• Involve people who have first-hand, real world experience.
• Research can only get you so far.
• We worked with employee resource group (ERG) communities for a major tech brand to develop its own unique and meaningful visual identities within the company.
• Each community (including Women, Disability, Military, LGBTQIA+, LatinaX) had a team of representatives that validated the authenticity of the language and imagery that was being used, including what colors accurately represented each group (in real time).
• Nothing was left to people outside of these communities making assumptions.

Your personality should come to life in all your visual assets and experiences

• So many times, when activating the brand, the client wants to use all its assets in concert because it feels it tells its complete story.
• A strong brand is a kit of parts, experiences and associations that could be used independently well as in harmony.
• Thoughtful choices when creating a logo, selecting color, type, imagery, and brand experience principles should all embody the personality of your brand — whether nuanced or deliberate.

In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job building a believable and beloved brand. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?

HODINKEE (always all caps) — a blog and e-commerce site for watch enthusiasts. What impresses me is that this company was created from the passion and personal interest of one person — and it is now regarded as the standard-bearer in horology. The brand is maintained so meticulously.

To replicate what HODINKEE has done, you need to recognize that it came from a place of genuine interest and love for a category — that’s what creates authenticity. And it also had a unique and calculated purpose — changing the view of the “perceived pretension” in the watch industry. No one in the space was thinking that way.

In advertising, one generally measures success by the number of sales. How does one measure the success of a brand building campaign? Is it similar, is it different?

Brand should be measured by the collection of positive associations and experiences one has with that product or company.

What role does social media play in your branding efforts?

Besides DTC exposure, it forces the creative to rethink how the branding needs to effectively function and present itself in such a chaotic environment.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Just to listen people, especially those who do not share your life experiences or interests. You will learn a lot if you allow yourself to.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Stay uncomfortable.” Most of my growth and learning — personally, professionally, and culturally — I attribute to putting myself in uncertain situations or environments.

We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have a lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them.

I wish Anthony Bourdain and Tibor Kalman were still alive. Tina Fey?

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Yes, Instagram @john.malozzi

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

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Brand Makeovers: John Malozzi Of Coley Porter Bell US On The 5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.