A monthly newsletter wrapping up what's going on in branding, business and bands.
Brand Extra!
What's going on in the world of branding?
O for Odyssey
Storytelling has become the branding buzzword. Suddenly every brand needs one, an origin myth, a hero's journey, from agency decks to boardroom strategy. But is it real, or just fluffy copy stretched thin? Christopher Nolan's Odyssey landed in cinemas this month.
A 12,000 line Greek epic, written around 700 BC, that's kept people gripped for three thousand years. That's storytelling. Most brand messages don't need Homer's mythology or Nolan's budget. They're just trying to sell better coffee.
Story still matters, it's the middle part of my framework, Insight, Story, Engage, but somewhere along the way story quietly ate the other two.
You don't need an epic. You need a clear message, said well, and said like you mean it.
Nigel Davies
Business Extra!
What's going on in my business?
O for Officer
A lot of people are building the same thing right now, an AI system that actually understands their business, instead of starting from zero every time.
I've been bumbling through my own version for eighteen months, first in ChatGPT, now in Claude and Notion. The idea is preparedness. Six project folders, one per business role, each one arriving already oriented to that part of the business. Not deep rules, just a different lens on the same picture.
The second piece is the content itself. Not something uploaded once and forgotten, but your actual words, connected live, website, writing, newsletters, notes. Change something and the system sees it.
You still do the work. You just arrive already knowing what it is.
Nigel Davies
Band Extra!
What's going on on my turntable?
Ö for Ö
Fcukers; Ö (Technicolour/Ninja Tune, 2026)
Get past a name nobody wants to say out loud, and the debut album from New York duo Fcukers is the sound of someone phoning you from a party that's rapidly losing control. Cut-and-paste electro, sped up, played backwards. Bleeps, techno beats, scratches, vocoder mumbling, samba thrown in for no reason. Random speed changes into an Ibiza sunset, then straight back out again.
Recorded in two weeks flat, and it sounds like it. No time to overthink it.
If it sounds like a couple of people messing about with electronic instruments, that's exactly what it is. And that's why it works.
Nigel Davies
Listen to Fcukers; Ö (Technicolour/Ninja Tune, 2026) on Spotify
