I work on brand, media, culture, and most things orbiting around them — from ads to innovation. Across scopes, markets, and ambitions. That might mean developing signature cultural IP for a government entity. Injecting main character energy into an online presence. Or simply helping to construct a deck that convinces stakeholders to loosen the purse strings. The brief doesn't need to be perfect, just honest.
ABOUT [CONTEXT]
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don't die in A deck.
current FEED.
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khalilah joel.
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Some call us professional over-thinkers, as if that’s a liability. But strategy is expansive. It's thinking that builds momentum. A creative force that locates where and how to win and generates great ideas in response. It's the practice of making solutions real-world proof so they don’t die in a deck.
I always aim for strategy and creativity that lands simply and works hard.
APPROACH [METHOD]
tune in.
see clearly
observe.
collate.
interrogate.
pressure-test assumptions
frame.
piece together patterns define meaning
render.
form
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theory
question everything!
FULL-STACK STRATEGY [MODES]
The core modes and disciplines I operate in and move between.
campaign development
comms planning
brand strategy
creative strategy
cultural marketing
experiential
Brand & Marketing
innovation sprints
Creative Technology & innovation
speculative strategy
blockchain + emerging tech
AI experimentation
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trend forecasting
opportunity mapping
strategic foresight
Imagination & Emergent
possibilities
Futures THINKING
scenario planning
quant+qual research
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cultural insights
market analysis
decoding human behaviour
Research = Truths
personas are professional horoscopes.
stick to humans!
talk to people
branded content
content programming
narrative design
channel strategy
media & storytelling
audience development
partnerships
ARCHIVE [PAST PROJECTS]
A snapshot of selected past work that shaped brands, opened new markets, or made people care.
[PERFORMANCE MODE]
CHALLENGESpeedfactory was a major operational win.
It promised hyper-reactive production with faster turnaround, less waste, lower costs, and better margins.
That kind of corporate efficiency excited shareholders, but what about consumers?
The challenge was to make the wider Speedfactory story feel like something made for people, not just profit.
CONTEXT
Sneaker hype was everywhere. Every brand had a new drop, a new collab, and it came packaged with the same fashion-forward influencers for roll outs.
INSIGHT/OBSERVATION/TRUTH
You don’t trust someone’s opinion on tech because they have good style.
You trust them because they know what they’re talking about.
STRATEGY
Turned to tech creators as product translators not the usual fashion or lifestyle storytellers.
They decoded the design and tech in a way that felt informed, useful, and exciting, not performative.
SCOPE
Research, audience analysis, creative strategy
[ACCESS > ARRIVAL]
CHALLENGEBritish Airways were gearing up to launch a direct route from San Jose (the heart of Silicon Valley) to London.
The kind of route built for the kind of people who expect high yield returns on their time and effort.
The challenge was simple, leverage media to amplify the launch and find a logical way to demonstrate its value.
CONTEXT
Successful founders, investors, and top execs hack everything from their inbox filters to their glucose levels. They obsess over and measure everything that matters.
INSIGHT/OBSERVATION/TRUTH
They value flights because of where it leads...the conversations, opportunities, and outcomes on the other side. Access was the product BA really offered.
STRATEGY
Transform the route from transportation into opportunity infrastructure.
Make SJO > LHR a bridge to the deals, partnerships, and networks that truly pay off. Achieved through on-ground activation and content.
SCOPE
Research, audience analysis, creative strategy
[NEW EDITION]
CHALLENGEDubai World Trade Centre had physical real estate to activate and a cultural moment to claim.
One Central sits in the heart of the city, surrounded by business hubs, hospitality, and lifestyle venues, but it lacked a signature IP.
The challenge wasn’t just to create a “thing to do.” It was to transform square footage into cultural currency by building a recurring draw.
CONTEXT
Many markets and pop-ups follow the same formula, swapping names, themes, or locations but offering near-identical experiences. When everything feels familiar, the search for something actually new becomes the reason to go out.
INSIGHT/OBSERVATION/TRUTH
If your offer doesn’t evolve, people will keep looking for the next thing.
STRATEGY
Create a destination built around the mechanics of a drop. It would act as a curated IP for vendors to sell only exclusive or limited-edition items, from F&B to fashion and home goods. The space would become an ever-changing showcase. Every visit could truly promise something different.
SCOPE
IP development, market research, audience segmentation, cultural insight, creative strategy, destination marketing
[MULTI-PLAYER]
OPPORTUNITYIGN had built strong credibility and cultural capital with gamers, but monetising at scale meant reaching new audiences and non-endemic advertisers, without alienating the core fan base or diluting the authenticity that made it popular in the first place.
CONTEXT
Gaming was no longer a niche, it was mainstream culture. But that didn't stop advertisers treating gamers as one-dimensional.
They overlooked the fact that the same person playing The Witcher might also be a parent, a commuter, or a coffee snob.INSIGHT/OBSERVATION/TRUTH
1. Audience numbers have more value when they come with relevance not just reach.
2. Brands can't just insert themselves into culture. Think Pepsi gate. They need liaisons to help them integrate, understand the codes, context, and the communities.
SOLUTION
Reframed the importance of ad media as entry vs. inventory by repositioning IGN as cultural entry point for engaged and passionate audiences with crossover relevance. This meant connecting gaming behaviours to broader lifestyle signals and helping editorial with programming that extending to other adjacent interests like collectibles, anime, tech, etc.
SCOPE
Custom audience research, go-to-market strategy, positioning, advertising sales enablement, sponsorship development, creative solutions, product marketing, commercial storytelling
[HEARTS DO MORE THAN RACE]
CHALLENGEToyota had a problem most brands would kill for. Everyone knew them. The trouble was, most people knew them the way you know that one friend who always orders the same thing. You're comforted by their consistency but exhausted by their predictability.
Consumers flat-out said they found Toyota dull, even though their lives didn't exactly resemble high dopamine thrill-seekers either. Contradiction? Maybe. But on closer inspection, it signalled that Toyota was overlooking what excitement and interest actually looked like in their world. How could Toyota express excitement in a way that felt true to itself and relatable to its customers?
CONTEXT
Toyota’s longstanding rational strengths had become category hygiene. Plus, mainstream models like the Yaris had become fixtures in rental fleets while the Camry filled taxi ranks. This did nothing to help.On the flip side, halo models like Land Cruiser and Supra reigned supreme. They were exciting, aspirational, and culturally relevant. But they operated as standalone brands with little halo effect on the rest of the portfolio. This also, did nothing to help.
INSIGHT/OBSERVATION/TRUTH
Toyota is the kind of choice a financial advisor would applaud and an insurance company would reward. The kind of car you take to the same café every Sunday, where they know your order and spell your name right.
STRATEGY
Adrenaline wasn’t the answer. Equally, trying to credibly turn the brand into a spectacle or status symbol would be disingenuous. And no, overwhelming emotion wouldn’t work here either. No one was going to exhaust emotional labour or get the violins out over a Corolla.
To find where emotion and excitement authentically lived, meant looking inward. Toyota’s internal philosophy of heart-thumping anticipation offered a compelling starting point. But hearts do more than just race. They flutter. They ache. They’re fragile and egotistical. They passionately beat to their own drum, even if a little off-beat. They get excited about the oddest things.
Relating to the heart this way, would help Toyota own the glossed over, unpolished, yet relatable renditions of the exciting, weird, embarrassing, delightful, and quietly electric day to day rhythms that shape an actual life.
While competitors focused on cinematic life moments like waiting eagerly at arrivals, Toyota's excitement lied in zooming to departures so you could get back to your real playlist and move the plant back from where your in-laws relocated it.
SCOPE
Qualitative research, brand strategy, positioning, brand platform, creative platform, social strategy, brand book, visual identity system
[THE FABRIC OF IDENTITY]
CHALLENGEBleach removes stains and makes garments white, but it comes at a cost. It weakens fibres and creates discolouration albeit after some time.
Yet, when it comes to keeping Thobes white, bleach is what mothers use, and their mothers that came before them.
So, how do you convince a nation to abandon a habit that feels less like a routine and more like valuable inherited wisdom?
CONTEXT
Thobes are part of the national identity, worn just as much on a holy day as they are to the office. They're a presentation of modesty and a symbol of pride.
INSIGHT/OBSERVATION/TRUTH
Taking something as sacred as a Thobe and soaking it in the same chemical you use to scrub toilets, isn't just harsh...it’s kind of disrespectful.
STRATEGY
Some things don't deserve to be passed down. Frame the use of bleach as too antiquated for the modern Saudi Home.
Position Vanish White as the more honourable upgrade and companion to their increasingly progressive life.
SCOPE
Research, brand purpose platform, ad campaign development, comms plan, partnerships
[MODEL CITIZEN]
CHALLENGEThe EV market had some pretty big personalities. Tesla dominated tech disruption, Polestar was flexing top tier performance, and Chinese newcomers were promising more car for your money. Even legacy brands were working overtime to green their image and vehicles.
Everyone was performing their version of electric virtue. But Volvo was never built to posture. It was a brand of restraint, taste, and Scandinavian design.
What should a brand like that communicate about electrification?
CONTEXT
EV adoption was still in its early phase, which meant every brand, regardless of heritage or values, was reaching into the same small pool of early adopters. And for these buyers, going electric wasn’t just about emissions, it was about identity.
INSIGHT/OBSERVATION/TRUTH
Volvo drivers are quietly principled. They don’t seek applause, they seek assurance. They choose safety over speed, substance over show, and doing what’s right over being seen doing it. But even values can make a statement.
STRATEGY
Positioned Volvo's EV range as "Model Citizen”. A platform that reflected how Volvo drivers already move through the world. It reframed responsibility as aspirational and offered the category a new kind of status symbol. Not about being seen as smart or successful, but about being the kind of person who does the right thing.
SCOPE
Consumer research, brand positioning architecture, proposition development, messaging framework
[A BRAIN YOU CAN TRUST]
CHALLENGEUBS wanted to feel more human by coming across less like a traditional stiff upper bank and more like a brain you could trust. Their global rebrand came with a new tone of voice and messaging that needed to be introduced to a new generation of consumers who were allergic to performative brands and financial jargon.
CONTEXT
The brand’s existing media thought leadership series, UBS Nobel Perspectives, was built on ideas from Nobel laureates. Smart, but grand. Their latest target, HENRYs (high earners, not rich yet) were an audience fluent in internet speak, inspired by social impact, and preferred more humble bragging.
INSIGHT/OBSERVATION/TRUTH
HENRYs weren't scared of complexity, they were just selective with their attention, which they gave to things that helped them do well and good.
STRATEGY
Using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a framework, we showed how sustainable investing wasn’t charity in disguise, but a smart money move with real-world return. Maintained a distinct narrative voice that complemented UBS’ additional executions across The Wall Street Journal and CNBC.
SCOPE
Research, audience insights, creative strategy
WORK IN PROGRESS [ACTIVE CLIENTS & PROJECTS]
Right now, I'm independently contracting with agencies, contributing to think tanks with research and trend forecasting, and helping blockchain platforms with creative campaigns and speculative projects. Additionally, I’m training in Design Thinking and Innovation to bring even more range and rigour to my practice.
NOTES [OBSERVATIONS, TOOLS & REFLECTIONS]
A growing collection of thoughts, half-whims, questions, and obsessions that sit somewhere between research, guesswork, reflection, and daydreams.
