It’s not enough for a brand to be known. Being in the know is a better connection. Rhian Mason and Elly Brand, former leaders at Clemenger, Emotive, M+C Saatchi and McCann, have launched REALMS, an independent culture consultancy helping brands to seize cultural opportunities that matter.

REALMS connects brand and agency teams around one cultural strategy, helping turn cultural intelligence into coordinated action across disciplines. The new business model understands that marketing has become more specialised, while culture has become more interconnected. That culture is not a series of reactive trends to jump on. And that it moves fluidly across platforms, communities, creators, media, entertainment, experiences and commerce, while brand and agency teams remain organised by discipline.

“Most organisations don’t have a capability problem. They have a connection problem,” stated Rhian Mason. “The opportunity isn’t to undo specialisation. It’s to connect it around the same cultural opportunity, rather than producing separate discipline and channel plans.”

Rather than replacing specialist partners, REALMS plugs into brand teams, agency teams and integrated agency villages to connect existing capability around a shared cultural strategy. Its focus is the disciplines where cultural behaviour is evolving fastest, including social, earned, creators, content and partnerships, while ensuring cultural intelligence also shapes creative, media, experiences and broader brand activity.

The result is one cultural strategy that can shape everything from the creative brief and social ecosystem to creator partnerships, earned ideas, media opportunities and brand experiences. REALMS’ tools are designed to turn cultural signals into strategy, briefs and ideas, not trend reports.

REALMS will remain independent and senior-led. It also represents a different model for senior women in the industry, where ownership, ambition and flexibility can coexist.

The new entity is built on Mason and Brand’s 25+ years experience. Mason’s senior leadership roles span M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, Clemenger BBDO and Emotive. Brand’s include roles at McCann and TEDxSydney. Their client experience includes Google, Amazon, CommBank, LEGO, eBay, Mastercard, Microsoft, Hyundai and L’Oréal.

For Brand, the way companies hire heads of social is a symptom of the wider structural problem.

“We keep hiring ‘culture-obsessed’ social leads, then bringing them into the process after the big decisions have already been made,” Brand commented. “One person is expected to span cultural strategy, community, creators, platforms, paid amplification and content, while somehow championing culture across the organisation.”

“You can’t retrofit cultural relevance at the end. If culture matters to the brand, it has to shape creative, media, earned, creators, partnerships and social from the beginning. Culture should be a shared responsibility, not a final layer applied by social.”

Cover image l-r: Rhian Mason and Elly Brand