Brand archetypes, pillars and experts

+ our brand workshop tour starts next week

Jan 08, 2026

In lad news… Oren is extolling the values of Swiss Poster Design, Clayton is continuing to visit all of the most tasteful stores in Europe.

Our in person brand workshop series with Air starts next week! Miami, Toronto and New York dates are all on the calendar, you can apply to attend here.

Let’s get into it.

The short-form brand playbook in 2026

If you’re a brand trying to win on short-form in 2026, and you either haven’t cracked it yet or feel lost, this is the playbook.

Step one: pick an archetype

You need to choose a core archetype, a style your brand will consistently execute on.

If you don’t pick and stick to one, you end up with a hodgepodge of unsuccessful bullshit.

Yes, brands eventually become a blend of archetypes. Most mature brands land somewhere around three. But at the beginning, do one.

Here are the four:

1. The Expert

Position a team member or credible creator to tell intricate stories that educate people on your brand’s world, everything from cybersecurity to dermatology. Authority-first.

2. The Artist

Social-optimized, creatively directed content that’s conceptual and visually exciting. Lo-fi or immaculate production, doesn’t matter. The ideas comes first. This works best if you have a one-of-a-kind social or creative talent on your team

3. The Wild Card

Humor, memes, skits, unexpected choices. Attention-first content designed to catch what falls through the funnel.

4. The World Builder

Your core feed matters less than enabling creators, affiliates, and influencers to tell your story at scale. Earned Media Value over owned content. Distribution beats organic.

Pick one. Execute it until it works, add more later.

Step two: lock in pillars

From there, define recurring content pillars.

What are the 3–5 types of content your brand can do repeatedly, test, and improve?

If you can’t name them clearly, your audience definitely can’t recognize them.

This video covers planning and executing a pillars system

Phase 2 brands: what’s next

If you’ve got traction—pillars are working, growth is real, wins are happening—this is the next layer.

1. Get an expert on screen.

No matter your archetype, put a real expert on camera 2–6x per month. Start building recurring personalities now—you’ll thank yourself later.

One starts working? Add another.

Have them collaborate.

If it’s too much for one feed, spin up a second account.

2. Build a signature series.

Episodic social show or recurring format—either way, people should know what to expect from you.

This isn’t just for creators. Brands need this too.

Strong series share a few things:

repeatable format
clear narrative
easy association
batch-able production

Think: BAPE inviting guests in-store.

Alexis Bittar running a serialized drama.

Bilt building a sitcom.

Opal launching a whiteboard self-help channel.

Alex breaks this down here:

3. Expand the world.

Collaborate more. Get new people on screen. Enable everyone you hire: photographers, stylists, creators, to post BTS. Your experts and UGC creators should like the brand enough to naturally build it into their lifestyle.

This is how worlds scale.

And most importantly, zone in on your campaigns and use them to maximum efficacy with teasing, debuts, sustainment, collaboration and full social planning. Full breakdown here:

Closing wars: maximizing ROI

If you actually want to turn attention into revenue, welcome to the closing wars.

Implement ManyChat.

Brands are finally doing this. You should too. Comments → DMs for guides, drops, downloads—it compounds fast. Just don’t rush it before you have content-market fit.

Weaponize the comments.

Comments aren’t for emojis. They’re for selling. Ask questions. Make recommendations. Start conversations that turn into DMs.

Close in the DMs.

Customer acquisition is war. DMs are your best weapon. Answer questions. Proactively message ideal customers. Drop alerts, discounts, invites. This is CRM with personality.

For any service or higher-ticket product especially, where else do you get true 1:1 access to your audience?

You need to be DM-maxxing.

It’s fitting to close with the close, so that wraps up what we’re looking at ahead. We’ll see you on the inside.