Graham Robertson is a Canadian‑born brand‑strategy veteran who has spent his whole life in Canada, yet now trains and consults marketers worldwide. Robertson, the founder of Beloved Brands, is a globally acclaimed brand strategist with over 20 years at Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, and Coca‑Cola. He is also the bestselling author of “Beloved Brands,” “B2B Brands,” and “Brand Leader,” all celebrated for practical, actionable frameworks that help marketers turn insights into results. Over the past decade, he has delivered workshops in more than 30 countries, gaining first‑hand exposure to a kaleidoscope of cultures while uncovering the universal threads that bind marketers everywhere.
Currently, he is in Nepal and is one of the speakers at Marketing Vision 2026, which kicked off on March 9 and runs through March 10, organised by the Nepalese Marketing Association at Aloft Kathmandu, Thamel. Through his workshops, he empowers marketers to build emotionally resonant brands, master omnichannel execution, and adapt strategies to local markets like Nepal.
He says the real thrill lies in spotting the “similarities and differences” that emerge when marketers from disparate markets converge. Across continents, Robertson repeatedly hears the same refrain: marketing is undergoing a dramatic transformation, yet the discipline often lacks the professional respect it deserves. Too many “non‑marketers” feel entitled to dictate marketing strategy, much as a passenger would try to pilot an aircraft or a patient would try to treat a doctor. This paradox, he notes, is a constant, no matter the country or culture.
Here Robertson shares his insights about the global marketing scenario, AI’s influence in marketing, what can be learned in the workshop and more:
- What inspired you to start Beloved Brands, and how did your career path lead you there?
So I spent 20 years in marketing in big companies. And when I went on my own. Honestly, it was a bit of fear. I didn’t know what it would be like. I never thought of myself as being on my own. An entrepreneur. I didn’t think that way. Many marketers feel tied to a corporation at safety of that. And then when I went on my own, it was a bit of a leap for me. It’s sort of a second career as well because I was used to running brands and doing the marketing. And now I’m trying to teach and inspire the marketing. As I’m older as well, it’s kind of fun to be engaged with younger professionals and help them on their journey as well.
- Can you share the key moments in your 20‑year journey with Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, and Coca‑Cola that shaped your approach to brand strategy? Also, what universal principles of brand building have emerged across industries?
The best brands have a relationship with their consumer, and they know that the consumer is better than anybody else. And that’s one of the things that I stress, it always starts with the consumer. The best brands are also built on an idea that can describe the brand in five or 10 words in 7 seconds. Because it needs that simplicity. And once you have that simplicity, you need to stretch that idea out across every touch point, whether it’s the store, advertising, digital online, the bottle itself or the package. People need to be able to understand and explain that brand. That’s the universal theme around.
- In your workshops, you focus on practical tools for marketers. What is the most common challenge participants face when applying these tools? What measurable results have you seen from companies that have implemented the workshop’s strategies?
Well, a lot of times, like anything in marketing, you’ll likely have to try it five to 10 times before you get good at it. So, I found it funny, but when I was in marketing, and I was managing people, and I’d send off one of my people, I noticed I started to actually say it might screw it up the first five times. Keep going. You know, like if you’re going to do a creative brief, the first five are really hard to do. If you’re going to, you know, give criticism to an ad to a creative person, the first five times, you’re going to suck. And so part of it is that we need to take these tools, try them out five to 10 times, and you’ll get better and better at it. It’s a weird discipline that way.
- Can you explain what tools? What are these practical tools?
Yeah, so a creative brief is a tool. That’s how we summarise our strategy to an art director or somebody who’s going to make a video or whatever. And so those are that’s one of the big tools. We provide some thinking tools as well. Get people to think and debate, whether it’s on their own or with a little mini team. The debates are essential. You know, positioning, we do exercises and positioning, how to define your customer to make them interesting, and then how to make your brand interesting. If we can make the customer interesting and the brand interesting, we can make interesting work. That’s one big thing I stress.
- How do you ensure your training translates into actionable results in the real world?
Yeah, so a lot of times, because the results hopefully are going to be long-term for the businesses they manage. But the results we look for are feedback. Feedback from the participants and we usually generate some pretty good feedback. Some people have told us, we’ve had executives who have worked 30 years who say, “I wish I had this on the first day of my job.” You know, and that’s what makes me happy. When people put the ideas into their jobs and tell me that they’re using them, that’s what makes me the happiest. I’ve just got back from China. And the work that they were doing was some of the best work I’ve seen.
And that’s exciting to me, that takes smart people, applies these tools, and then you see really smart ideas come out, and you’re just in shock at how good they are. I think a lot of times, marketing is a practical career. Yes, we can get an education. Yes, people have MBAs. But we need this practicality to it as well. It’s like running a business. And that’s what I think makes you know marketing a bit different from some of the other career choices. Yeah, so I tell people that every tool should be used on the job. I don’t teach theory; other people do. I don’t teach you rules. I teach ways of figuring it out and thinking. And I’d love for people to take these away. Go do some serious thinking, reorganise your brand, reposition your brand and see if that puts you on a new path. Theory, you know, I’m not a professor.
- You highlight omnichannel execution in your workshops. How do you advise brands to maintain consistency across all touchpoints?
So Omni Channel is following the consumer wherever they go. You know, every consumer in a sense starts at the awareness stage. We become familiar, we search, we buy, we repeat, become loyal, become a fan and become an advocate. What Omni Channel does is try to understand where the consumer is and then give them the right media or write a creative message at that point to move them along the journey. So, as the marketer, you should be happy to move a given group of consumers from one stage to the next. And over time, the consistency, a couple of things on consistency, is that you have to understand the creative assets you have. What’s your, you know, what like some of the basic simple things of colour, font, and slogans, but even some of the visuals that tie into it. We need to build out those assets that we own as a brand. We need to transform those into memory cues for the consumer.
- These days, AI is in the news everywhere. How do you think AI is going to inspire or take over the marketing aspect? What do you have to say about that?
I am going to give you a weird answer. This is the first time I’ve ever had a time in my career that I can’t predict what the next five years are going to look like. AI is getting better every month. Maybe that should scare us. But I do believe brains plus AI is going to be better than AI alone. And so I would encourage every marketer to jump into that AI as much as they can.
Be the smartest and understand how to get the most out of it. Don’t be afraid of it. You know, I’m sure when we started getting elevators, people were afraid, “What’s going to happen to the guy, you know, guy doing the job, you know, we’re going to have self-serve elevators.” Well, that’s just the reality. Nobody struggles with that anymore. So, I think AI is here. It’s going to get better. People have to learn, jump in and adjust. But I don’t know what it’s going to be like, I don’t know how good it can get. It might really get good. That’s what I’ll say for the next five years. I’ll be eager to watch. So it will say that wasn’t a very beloved brand, like, and I’m like, “I’m the beloved brand. Who are you talking to?” Right? And it can catch you, and it was right. And so if it can learn, learn who I am and be who I am. That’s a little scary. Yeah, I guess we should all be scared of it, but let’s jump in and see where we can get.
- How have you adapted the functional emotional positioning framework to reflect Nepal’s cultural nuances and consumer behaviour?
Our emotions and functions are set up to be universal. But we allow people to be flexible within the given cultures. So I will never understand the Nepali culture as much as a local would. Take the tools and start to figure out how these work for Nepal. And it’ll be interesting to see. As I say, I’ve done this now in about 30 markets, and the tools work, but they need to be adjusted, I do believe, you know, out of all this global marketing, I think local is still king.
For marketing to humans, we have to understand humans. That’s what makes them interesting. Curiosity and starting to understand the people is what it’s all about. I think the psychology and behaviours and watching them and seeing how they show up and seeing how they buy and what kind of ad they’re at, it’s surprising sometimes what works and doesn’t work, and that’s because humans like, you know, there’s a phrase, the customer is the boss.
- If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring brand strategists, what would it be?
Be curious. That’s it. Copy a summary. Curiosity should show up everywhere. Be curious about how the consumer thinks, curious about the new media choice. There’s going to be 10 new media choices in the next two to three years. Dig in. Try them out.
- What single quality do the world’s top marketers share that makes them stand out above all others?
I think they’re curious to find out about that consumer. They love to observe. They love to ask questions. They love to figure out the puzzle, love that consumer. Trying to understand the behaviours of what makes them tick and what motivates them, and then how to engage your brand in that. To me, it always starts with the consumer, more so than starting with the brand.
