Nov 11, 2019
Ana Andjelic is a strategy executive with wide-ranging
experience on the agency and client sides. Recent roles include
Chief Brand Officer at fashion retailer Rebecca Minkoff and SVP, Global
Strategy Director at Havas LuxHub. Past
agency experience includes time at Droga5, HUGE, The Barbarian
Group, and Razorfish.
Ana also has a PhD in sociology and has published dozens of articles about luxury and
fashion branding, the experience economy, social influence, content
strategy, and more. Her writing has been published in The
Guardian, Fast Company, AdAge, Adweek, LeanLuxe, Luxury Daily,
Glossy, Campaign, and Form Design
Magazine.
In 2018, she was listed by Forbes as one of the
top 50 Chief Marketers in 2018 who "serve as models of a
new, emerging and disruptive chief marketer." She's been recognized
as one of the "Luxury Women to Watch" by Luxury
Daily and one of the top 10 digital strategists
by The Guardian.
I kicked things off by asking Ana about her PhD-why she chose to
pursue it and how it's impacted her career. Then we talked about a
term she writes about "social currency." I asked what it means and
why it's important. Next, we talked about how she defines "brand
experience" and what brands should do to create compelling brand
experiences and social influence.
Ana says, "These days, the strength of the brand is how
successfully it can defy the strength of the algorithm." To do so,
she suggests brands must exhibit at least one of her 4 Cs of the modern
brand:
Throughout the interview, Ana lists quite a few brands she's
interested in because they're "trying something new,"
including GOOP, Casper, Net-a-Porter, The Upper House (a luxury hotel in
Hong Kong), Rapha (cycling clothing
and accessories), Tracksmith (running
gear), Away (luggage), Glossier, and MUJI.
Wrapping up the conversation, I asked Ana for book recommendations.
She likes Value Proposition
Design (by the authors of Business Model
Generation), This is Service Design
Thinking, and a series called Brand. Balance., which she
describes as "little booklets [that explore] what iconic brands
have done right ... a deep dive into the brand aesthetics,
identity, and then the brand expression." She also recommends books
in the field of behavioral economics, such as those
by Daniel
Kahneman, Amos Tversky, and Bruno Latour.
Lastly, Ana offered some advice to young and/or junior people in
branding and marketing:
"I overall believe that people need to think more. They're too
trusting of ideas-they just adopt ideas without critical thinking.
Whatever can inspire junior people, or advance their critical
thinking ... I would advise that. And then, ... I cannot underscore
[enough] the importance of observation and being very aware that
one's own perspective is limited. So, that means travel, expose
yourself to other cultures, observe how people behave, observe
obstacles, how they overcome obstacles in their behavior, and just
be very open."
To learn more about Ana, visit her website or find her on Medium, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.