Charlie Smith: The in-demand CMO creating something from Nothing

Fashion designers are no longer the all-powerful figures that they once were. As labels engage with global clients, teams are growing and roles are being revised – meaning that it’s increasingly important to tell the stories behind the clothes through attention-grabbing campaigns and brand ambassadors.

This is where marketers come in and Charlie Smith is among the most in-demand chief marketing officers of his generation. Working alongside Jonathan Anderson, he helped to transform Spain’s Loewe from a sleepy leather house into one of the most desirable brands of the moment through initiatives such as the yearly craft prize and campaigns featuring Maggie Smith. Now he is off to Nothing, the UK headphone and smartphone maker, to help it embrace the zeitgeist. Here, he talks to Monocle about building cultural brands, breaking the rulebook and his ambitions for his new gig.

Why do so many luxury brands want to connect with culture? And how do you make those connections in a way that feels genuine?
To be a cultural brand in today’s world you have to behave like a publisher in your own right. If Nothing takes on this role of music publisher, how can we give back to the music community? How can we create events, publish materials and build a community around the brand? That’s what we did with Loewe very effectively – beginning with craft and the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, our sponsorship of Studio Voltaire and different artists around the world. We then connected to the craft of filmmaking and art – and that, to me, felt very different to what other brands were doing, especially French ones, where it’s about the brand image.

The way I see it, modern-day brands can be patrons of the arts and help support artists, musicians and filmmakers. That’s when the creative community can see that you want to engage in a dialogue and not just take from them.

How do you keep up with ever-evolving marketing trends?
One of the things that I love about my job is that no matter which category you work in, whatever you did a year ago becomes irrelevant. I’m always asking friends and colleagues what’s inspiring them; I’m always looking online to keep up with the zeitgeist; and I find inspiration everywhere, from the Marty Supreme campaign to painters such as Rachel Jones. The way that we communicate will continue to evolve.

What opportunities do you see with Nothing?
I can’t think of a single tech brand that has recently done something cool, unless I go back to Casio in the 1990s. It all feels a bit corporate and awkward. The way to do it is by collaborating with amazing, up-and-coming creatives. I really want to create strong connections to fashion and also to music culture. This idea of collaboration and co-creation feels very modern to me.
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