Culture never stands still. So why should brands?

Through a deep understanding of your audience’s interests and subcultures, let’s uncover what makes your brand relevant.

Hi, I’m Albert.

I’m a brand strategy director who’s worked in advertising for 15 years. While I have a ton of experience working on gaming and tech projects, I love digging into new categories and learning about new audiences and subcultures.

Send me a note at albert@aokay.co.

Why you should work with me

  • Strategy that everybody gets

    Brand Strategy is for the entire org, not just the marketing team. Presentations are clear, concise, and don’t use buzzwords. (If they do, they are defined.)

  • Marketing tailored to your audience

    Being relevant in culture starts with being where your audience is and understanding the interests and subcultures that make up who they are.

  • An extension of your team

    I work as an extension of your team through frequent checkins, via your preferred messaging app, and stay with you to disseminate the strategy (and/or marketing plan) across your org and to your partners.

Case Studies

Rallying around an important sub-brand

  • The Strategy Behind It:

    • The workshop centered around three scenarios that allowed leadership to see how each decision affected their product architecture. Each included marketing ideas that brought each scenario to life.

    • Along with cultural insights, every stakeholder informed the workshop scenarios ensuring we had a strong dialogue that resulted in a final decision where every voice was heard.

Embracing Gaming Subcultures

  • The Strategy Behind It:

    • Cross-category insights revealed that GamePass had the freedom to show up as a content creator, inviting a more human (and less corporate) voice across all of its content.

    • While they play, most Gen Z don’t consider themselves ‘gamers.’ We gave GamePass a more inclusive tone that connected gaming to outside interests like pop culture, music, & fashion.

    Role: Senior Strategy Director | Agency: Reach

Warning IT Pros with a Cybersecurity Thriller

  • The Strategy Behind It:

    • The IT desk had changed from an annoyed, reactive department, to a younger, proactive group of tech lovers that had major influence on tech decisions. They also love entertainment and geek culture. Whitepapers and webinars? Not so much!

    • IT Pros love to make fun of what Hollywood gets wrong about cybersecurity. (Think Hugh Jackman hacking into the CIA in 60 seconds in Swordfish. “Hack faster!”) To that end, the attacks and vulnerabilities were 100% accurate, down to the code displayed in the films.

    Role: Senior Strategist | Agency: Giant Spoon LA

Introducing Hot Pockets to Gamers

  • The Strategy Behind It:

    • We vetted streamers to ensure they were fans of the product and reached the right gaming subculture– in this case, our audience leaned heavily on shooters so we tapped Shroud to promote the program.

    • Every single touchpoint was meticulously thought through– moderators were even shipped product so they could wax poetic on Hot Pockets in chat.

    Role: Senior Strategy Director | Agency: Reach

Cracking the Cult of Microsoft 365

  • The Strategy Behind It:

    • Using GWI Research, we built a lookalike of 365’s biggest audience to inform the content strategy.

    • Our audience valued brands that helped organize their lives, but the category was stuck talking about product features. Our strategy would show how 365’s apps can make life easier and more organized.

    Role: Senior Strategy Director | Agency: Reach

Building Gaming Street Cred

  • The Strategy Behind It:

    • Serious esports players will all tell you: the grind never ends. So our team built a northstar that all products, content & community events served: to play better than yesterday. 

    • Competitive gamers love streetwear, and it was making gaming culture cool. Our creative team boosted the brand’s coolfactor by turning our product shoots into street fashion shoots.

    Role: Strategy Director | Agency: Giant Spoon LA

Services

Working as an extension of your marketing department, we build out your marketing strategy before your advertising kicks off resulting in smarter media & agency briefings.

Brand Audit

Reviewing your current strategy and the category at large in an effort to uncover opportunity.

Cultural Discovery

A deep look at who your audience is beyond demographics, diving into key subcultures.

Strategy & Ideas

Brand or campaign strategy with initial creative ideas to bring it to life.

Marketing Planning

Developing a core marketing plan
& agency RFP.

Got an assignment? Send me a note at albert@aokay.co.