Dr. Marcus Collins is an award-winning marketer and cultural translator, the former chief strategy officer at Wieden+Kennedy, New York, and a marketing professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. Marcus knows how to build an enthusiastic culture around brands and products and services. He ran digital strategy for the pop star Beyoncé, worked on iTunes + Nike sports music initiatives at Apple, including Beats by Dr. Dre. He is an inductee into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Achievement and a recipient of the Thinkers50 Radar Distinguished Achievement Award for the idea most likely to shape the future of business management. His strategies and creative contributions have led to the launch and success of McDonald’s cultural resurgence, Google’s “Real Tone” technology, and the “Made In America” music festival. Marcus’ work centers squarely that linkage between brand and culture. In this podcast, we dive deep into highlights from his best-selling book, For The Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be. We discuss: The impact of culture on consumption, and how businesses can leverage this to influence behaviors How people align behaviors with self-identity—making ideological alignment a key factor in brand adoption (think Apple, Nike) Some key tactics—such as targeting fringe groups to create network effects that impact behaviors organically—to reach more audiences The role that beliefs, artifacts, language, and behaviors play in shaping culture _______________________________________________________________________________ Episode Timeline: 00:00 —Highlight from today's episode 00:49 —Introducing Marcus + the topic of today’s episode 03:45 —What's the definition of culture? 05:00 —How and why do brands like Nike use culture as a tool for their customer base 08:23 —The three systems that define culture 12:58 —How organizations can successfully build internal cultural identity 16:31 —Creating an inclusive identity 20:11 —Leveraging network effects and cultural production 23:32 —Finding early adopters for cultural diffusion 25:05 —Brand loyalty vs. transactional relationships 27:35 —Building a cultural movement and avoiding the targeting trap 30:31 —How can people follow you and continue learning from you? _______________________________________________________________________________________ Additional Resources: Personal website: www.marctothec.com Link to book: For The Culture Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/marctothec X: marctothec Thank you to our guest, our executive producer Zach Ness, our editor James Pearce, and the Outthinker team. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, download, and subscribe. I’m your host, Kaihan Krippendorff—thank you for listening. Follow us at outthinker.com/podcast
