C A L V I N I N N E S
FANDOM STRATEGY & INSIGHT
Most brands treat fans as an audience to reach. The ones that win treat fandom as an operating system for how they grow. I help global brands, agencies and organisations understand the most loyal, passionate and commercially underestimated audiences on the planet, and turn that understanding into strategy the business can actually act on. Not a trend deck that gathers dust. A clear view of where real fandom already exists around your brand, what's driving it, and how to earn a place in it. This is the core of what I do, and it usually starts in one of two places: you can feel there's a community around your category but can't see it clearly, or you can see it and don't know how to show up without getting it wrong.
What this looks like in practice
I map the ecosystem first. Who actually holds influence, what symbols and rituals carry meaning, where the culture really lives, and where the tensions sit that a brand can either fall into or navigate. From streetwear drops in Tokyo to football culture in São Paulo to anime communities across Europe, fandom doesn't behave the same way everywhere, and the strategy has to respect that. Then I translate it. Insight is worthless if it stays as insight. I turn what the mapping reveals into positioning, opportunities, and a clear point of view on how your brand contributes to the culture rather than borrows from it. The output is a strategy your team can take into a room and defend, not a set of observations they have to figure out how to use.
Who this is for
Brand teams who know their audience has become a community and need to act like it. Agencies who've been briefed on culture and community and need specialist thinking they don't have in-house. Organisations moving into fandom-adjacent territory, sport, gaming, entertainment, music, who want to get it right the first time. I also support agencies through pitches and new-business tenders, bringing fandom-led thinking and a senior strategic voice into the work when it matters most.
Why me?
I've spent 25 years across creative and strategy, and a lifetime as a sneakerhead, ex-skater and comic book nerd. Fandom isn't a research category I picked up. It's how I've moved through the world since long before brands started calling it an opportunity. That's the difference between studying a community and belonging to one, and it's the difference clients feel in the work. I've brought it to Unilever, Sony, Adidas, HBO, FIFAe, and dozens of other brands. Let's talk about where fandom already exists around your brand.