LALO

I founded LALO, a brand strategy consultancy with a human-centered approach and methodology designed to provide strategic clarity and creative direction. This enables entrepreneurs to consistently lead and execute in alignment with their brand, unlocking significant momentum for their startups.

We facilitate a mindset shift towards clarity by combining expert facilitation, strategic insights, educational components, and brand management fundamentals. This approach gets to the core of the business, allowing us to understand, frame, and address the challenges startup teams face. By guiding them to embed brand-led thinking into their day-to-day practices, we ensure lasting impact and alignment with their vision.

Startups need compelling strategies to connect with customers and employees in meaningful ways, because people choose brands they care about — brands that make them feel special.

Our foundational philosophy is that leaders must be intentional
in every aspect of the brand from the inside out, as early as possible, to capitalize on the long-term potential of the business.

To achieve this, they must put people at the center of the brand and the brand at the center of the business.

We call it Epicenter™

Founder & Brand Consultant

CUIDARLOS 

I co-founded Cuidarlos, the platform that enables families with elderly loved ones to find caregivers and manage them intelligently. The app is operating in Argentina and we are working to expand our footprint to other Latin American markets.

Co-Founder

40+ League

We are the First League of Experts, Leaders, CEOs, C-Level, and Professionals who are 40+ and want to continously Reinvent Ourselves!
As 40+ League Members, we are seeking to benefit from our years of experience, enhance our talent, acquire new skills, achieve new opportunities, grow our network, get out of our comfort zone, and change our mindset.
Our goal is to unite all of us in one place to accelerate our reinvention. We have created the most complete and specialized Professional Reinvention Platform and Community of Practice (CoP).
As members, we have access to our unique method, and we also offer training and education from the most recognized experts in different subjects. And we also enjoy unique experiences.
Our mantra is, “never stop learning.” We follow it every single day. By doing so, we become relevant, and we increase our competitiveness.
40+ League: Where we reinvent ourselves and become stronger than ever!

Branding & Creativity Expert

The Walt Disney Company

On my last role at Disney I was responsible for the Creative and Product Development teams of the Disney Consumer Products division for Europe, Russia and South Africa. These teams collaborate with hundreds of companies, some of the most important brands and retailers in the world to bring Disney’s stories and characters to life through innovative and engaging products and experiences across more than 100 categories, from toys and fashion, to food and home.

Vice President, Global Product Creation (EMEA)

In my last role at Disney Latin America I was responsible for the Creative and Product Development teams of the Disney Consumer Products division in the region. These teams collaborate with hundreds of companies to bring Disney’s stories and characters to life through innovative and engaging products and experiences across more than 100 categories, from toys and fashion, to food and home.

Vice President, Creative & Product Design

In addition to my General Manager role in the Digital Business I was also responsible for the Publishing business where we collaborated with the most important publishers in the region to launch Books, Magazines, sticker albums and apps.
I also led the new integrated Creative Services team that help every business of Disney develop branded materials, campaigns, Character Art and Style Guides and more.

Vice President & General Manager, Disney Interactive & Creative Services

With the constant evolution of the Digital space we continued expanding the operation across multiple platforms and business models. To the existing businesses and operations we added Digital Distribution (TV shows and movies throughout online portals and broadband operators) and the launch of the Social Media operation in multiple platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and more. We developed the Content Network for advertisers on which we would develop Branded Content for advertisers and partners. We launched Disney Babble, the first Bloggers network for women in Latin America with dozens of influencers in multiple countries and hundreds content pieces that reached millions of users.
We also launched the Social Games and the apps and games local development operations to launch Mobile Games, Social Games, Mobile Apps, Augmented Reality experiences and more.

Vice President, Digital Media

To my existing responsibilities of Online Marketing, Mobile Content Distribution, Digital Advertising, third party e-Commerce and Virtual Worlds I expanded my role to oversee the Gaming Business (Console, Online and PC). We expanded our teams to Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
During this period we launched the Latin American operation of Club Penguin in Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (rest of Latin America), the most important virtual world for kids that engaged with several generations. This launched included the set up of a Customer Service operation, Online Marketing, Content Creation and Distribution in Retail.

Director, Digital Media

Since 2004 I expanded my role. Apart of managing all online marketing efforts and operation, I started to develop digital businesses such as Mobile Content Distribution, Digital Advertising and Virtual Worlds.

Senior Manager, Digital Media

In this role I was responsible of the first Online Marketing operation of Disney Latin America including the launch of Disneylatino.com, the first website for Latin America in the history of the company. Then we expanded the digital presence of several businesses: Movies, Radio, TV and more.

Manager, New Media

I started ad Disney as a Creative Designer. My main role was to Art Direct and Localize all Marketing materials that supported the launch of every Theatrical release (Movies): Posters, in-Theater materials, Flyers, Campaigns, Ads, Banners, and Websites.

Supervisor, Creative

FIRST Global (International FIRST Committee Association)

FIRST Global is an international nonprofit that organizes an international robotics competition for high-school students from more than 160 countries that create robots, team up and compete for a cause. In 2018 I had the honour of representing The Walt Disney Company and delivered this incredible award.

Judge “Walt Disney Award for Imagination and Creativity”

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

I had the privilege to judge hundreds of digital content pieces from around the world for several years in a row.

Judge - International Emmy Awards Digital

University of Buenos Aires

As an ad honorem teacher at the Graphic Design arm of the University of Buenos Aires I was part of Silvia Gonzalez's Typography team in different roles throughout the years and taught to thousands of students in different levels.

Typography Teacher

RGB Entertainment

I created the visual identity system for Popstars Argentina, a reality show that selected talented artists among thousands of contestants. I developed the logo, the communication materials, competition assets, and led the on-air graphics design.

Art Director, POPSTARS ARGENTINA (Reality show)

Ezequiel Abramzon

I worked for Design studios, Advertising agencies, Publishing and Entertainment companies.

Freelance Designer and Illustrator

Bridger Conway

As a Graphic Designer I worked in hundreds of projects for well known companies, magazines, TV shows and Production companies.

Senior Designer

"99% of startups fail". Want to be among the 1% that succeed?

Then you need to master branding, and I’ll tell you how ↓

By aligning everything and everyone behind a strategy that puts your brand at the heart of your startup and ensure all decisions are guided by it.

When you do this, you can:

→ Manifest your differentiated position
→ Inspire and engage the right customers
→ Influence a higher perceived value (and gain pricing power)
→ Improve your bottom line exponentially
→ Enhance your team's focus and motivation
→ Strengthen creativity and innovation across the board

As a consultant, I have the freedom to question your assumptions, discover hidden truths, and identify overlooked challenges and opportunities.

Through a human-centered methodology and my Epicenter✷ strategy framework, I get to the core of your business to understand, address, and reframe these insights, providing the direction needed to establish an indisputable position in your market.

I've successfully implemented the framework with dozens of startup teams worldwide who were able to raise millions in funding, make millions in revenue, and reach millions of people.

Here's what leaders like you said:

Dimo Yanchev, CEO & Co-founder, Almacena ↘
“We had a vague, confusing idea of our direction but now we understand our goals and actions for both the short and long term. Ezequiel’s a brilliant strategist and an amazing person.”

Juan Esteban Zuleta, CEO at Kin Analytics ↘
"Ezequiel goes beyond just knowing about branding. It was a breakthrough experience that led to transformative discussions that changed how we see our company and our brand's essence."

Guido Stefani, CEO & Co-founder, Extendeal ↘
“Ezequiel excels at interpreting situations to optimize them effectively. He guided us to think long-term and to question everything with intelligence.”

All of my work is rooted in my experience as a Disney executive for over 22 years, where I led award-winning teams in Latin America and Europe, and played a key role in shaping iconic brands like Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars for the digital age.

If you want to get serious about your brand and building your legacy, send me a DM!

See you soon!

Ezequiel Abramzon ✷

Did you know this about LinkedIn?

↓

Before we get to the numbers, a quick story.

LinkedIn is the app I spend the most time on.

It’s my digital HQ.

So walking into their Madrid office last week felt special.

The place where I “live” online, suddenly… real.

When I worked at Disney, people used to ask me with a dreamy smile, eyes glowing, and their hands as if wishing for something: 

“So… what’s it like to work in a Disney office?”

I could feel them imagining magic spells in elevators, talking pets in meeting rooms, and flying coffee cups around my desk.

So I can picture how you might feel right now hearing that I’ve been to LinkedIn’s office.

Yes. It’s pretty cool.

And, no. I didn’t see The Algorithm, sorry.

But I did learned this:

LinkedIn is not just a social network.

It’s 3 marketplaces in one:

1) Talent Marketplace: connects job seekers with hiring managers
2) Knowledge Marketplace: connects creators with audiences 
3) Product & Services Marketplace: connects buyers with sellers 

Three inseparable layers of our favorite digital lasagna:

We look for work. 
We sell our work.
We have conversations in the middle.

Right now, there are:

→ 1,300,000,000 user profiles
→ 69,000,000 company profiles
→ 42,000 skills declared
→ 14,000,000 jobs created

And in a single minute:

→ 5,000,000 profiles are changed
→ 17,000 connections are made
→ 50,000,000 platform fixes are shipped

A massive, mind-blowing powerhouse that started 23 years ago in Reid Hoffman’s living room, built to help people connect, share opportunities, and grow their careers.

And f*ck yeah it delivered.

Big time.

- - 

Thank you Maria Eugenia Renaldi for hosting us and Aranzazu Echezarreta for bringing IAE Business School alumni together one more time.

- - -

If you found this post helpful:

❤️ → Give it a like 
💬 → Share your thoughts in the comments
♻️ → Repost it to help others
🔔 → Follow me for more insights on brands and strategy
📩 → DM me and let’s fix your brand narrative

Fix your startup’s sh*tty brand narrative | Own a solid market position, win better clients, convince investors, and attract rockstar talent | Strategy consultant | Ex-Disney

CEO: “We need an ad at the Stockholm airport”
Marketing: “Say no more. Hey Frank, open ChatGPT! We have work to do…!”

😂

Shit work is what’s going to kill your job.

Not AI.

- - -

If you found this post helpful:

❤️ → Give it a like 
💬 → Share your thoughts in the comments
♻️ → Repost it to help others
🔔 → Follow me for more insights on brands and strategy
📩 → DM me and let’s fix your brand narrative

No alternative text description for this image

Your marketers are melting.

↓

I’m sensing an authentic marketing crisis.

But not the one you’re thinking of.

We’re all talking about the next big AI thing, new workflows, more tools, the “future of” everything, but we’re forgetting something so basic it’s almost embarrassing to admit.

Marketers are exhausted.

→ Always putting out fires, with no time to stop and think
→ Given endless to-dos, but nobody helps them prioritize
→ Expectations are 10x bigger than the budget they get
→ Everyone pulls them in every direction: founders, sales, product
→ Juniors are doing everything, without the skills to do it all well
→ Seniors are stuck executing, without the team to back them up
→ They push content everywhere, but nothing really engages
→ New tools keep popping up, but results keep going down

I see it first-hand in the faces of marketers I collaborate with every week, and it goes way deeper than we think.

And if you look at the data… it’s not pretty:

↳ 73% of marketing departments report pressure to “do more with less.”

↳ 1 in 5 social media managers functions as a “one-person social media department.”

↳ Nearly 60% of CMOs say their resources are insufficient to meet strategic goals.

↳ 63% of CEOs rate their marketing teams as “average or below.”

More workload, less focus.

More stress, less creativity.

No wonder why 90% of the ads we see are CRAP!

We live in an age of unlimited tools and channels, where anyone can reach the world almost for free and it's probably the best moment in history to do marketing.

Yet, it has never been harder.

Because behind every campaign, every post, every dashboard, there’s a person trying to make sense of it all.

Every day. For your business.

And to be fair, most founders aren’t marketers or don’t have marketing experience.

You might not know how to lead them, how to measure their work, or how to protect them.

So if you’re a founder, stop for a minute.

Call your marketing person, your team, your agency or partner.

Ask them:

→ How are you doing?
→ What’s working and what’s not?
→ What would you do differently if you had the space to think?
→ How can I help you do your best work?

Who knows, maybe that conversation changes how you see your business, and reminds your team why they believed in it.

You know…

Better to melt hearts than marketers. 😅 

- - -

If you found this post helpful:

❤️ → Give it a like 
💬 → Share your thoughts in the comments
♻️ → Repost it to help others
🔔 → Follow me for more insights on brands and strategy
📩 → DM me and let’s fix your brand narrative

Don’t treat your customers like Vecna treats Hawkins.

[NO SPOILERS BELOW]

Advertising tries to take something from you.
Branding tries to give something to you.

Yes. I know. 
It sounds exaggerated.
But the difference is important.

We don’t want to be chased by brands.
We want to feel understood by them.

Branding builds the relationship.
Advertising activates it.

You need both working together so that when you finally ask for something, you’re speaking to someone who already cares.

So, don’t be Vecna.
Build a brand they’d actually choose to follow, not run from.

- - -

If you found this post helpful:

❤️ → Give it a like 
💬 → Share your thoughts in the comments
♻️ → Repost it to help others
🔔 → Follow me for more insights on brands and strategy
📩 → DM me and let’s fix your brand narrative

Every startup thinks their brand narrative is clear.

Until they open their mouth…

After working with hundreds of founders, I’ve learned the friction rarely comes from one place, it usually shows up across the business, from the complicated issues to the (embarrassing) simple ones.

I’m curious to see where you struggle the most.

So I’m running a quick poll below.

What’s the hardest part of putting your brand narrative into practice?

→ Getting your team aligned
→ Turning your narrative into content
→ Keeping it consistent everywhere
→ Other (leave it in the comments)

PS: Your answer will help me shape upcoming posts and trainings.

- - -

If you found this post helpful:

❤️ → Give it a like 
💬 → Share your thoughts in the comments
♻️ → Repost it to help others
🔔 → Follow me for more insights on brands and strategy
📩 → DM me and let’s fix your brand narrative

What’s the hardest part of putting your brand narrative into practice?

I wish I could build a machine that gives you clarity with one click.

But hey… bad news, that machine doesn’t exist.

Most people want that instant “now we have a strategy” feeling, as if it were a button you could just press, but strategic clarity doesn’t happen overnight.

Strategic clarity can’t be treated as an event, a 2-hour workshop, or a 3-day strategic retreat.

It’s a habit that compounds.

It builds through daily decisions and alignment, and strengthens every time a team slows down enough to think, question, define, and choose.

It’s very rare to see a startup behave like that.

The way I see it, a startup without a strategy is like a small boat in the middle of the ocean without GPS, stormy weather, and a crew rowing in different directions.

A catastrophe in the making.

And I see this lack of clarity every week.

Here are a few examples of how I helped startups gain clarity:

A startup’s messaging was aiming at “anyone” in their sector, so we defined their four core target segments, divided them into primary and secondary, and clarified what to say to each.

They ended up spending less and getting better results.

Another startup had never mapped its category, sounded identical to competitors, they even used the same colors as the leader. So we defined a differentiated point of view to set the right context for the value only they could claim, and built an attractive, more distinctive identity to help them own their own space.

Prospects started to understand them better, and sales conversations started to move faster.

Two co-founders were giving two different versions of the company in every pitch, and their website and social profiles looked like they were from different companies. So we built one narrative the whole team could stand behind, and unified how the brand showed up everywhere.

They closed a big brand client right after.

None of this happened by accident.

And none of it happened without leadership.

It took full commitment from their leaders, months of research, deep dives, workshops, cross-function discussions, and lots of creativity and hands-on work.

And the best part was seeing these teams smiling, more motivated and energetic at the end.

Like a big weight was lifted off their shoulders.

This is the part most founders underestimate, the belief that a rebranding, a repositioning, the whole idea of investing in a better strategy is “for customers”.

But the reality is that it’s also an investment in their teams.

If you want a company that moves with confidence, clarity isn’t optional. 

It’s your job as a founder to make it a priority, a common practice, and visible at all levels.

And you know exactly which button to press for that.

It’s not the ON button.

It’s START.

- - -

If you found this post helpful:

❤️ → Give it a like 
💬 → Share your thoughts in the comments
♻️ → Repost it to help others
🔔 → Follow me for more insights on brands and strategy
📩 → DM me and let’s fix your brand narrative

Dear founder: THIS is HOW you recruit rockstar talent 👇 

Take note.

Co-Founder, Evidenza | Synthetic Research

We are hiring our very first marketer at Evidenza!

We are a team of 17 now, but we’ve waited a long time to hire a marketer.

It’s not because Jon and I don’t think marketing is important.

On the contrary, it’s because we think marketing is so important that we refused to let anyone do it other than ourselves. It’s where we try to spend most of our time, since brand is the deepest of moats. 

But we have reached the limits of our abilities as marketers, and the time has come.

We are searching for a "full-stack" marketer who can:

1)   Increase the mental and physical availability of Evidenza. 
2)   Scale distribution through paid advertising on LinkedIn.
3)   Turn founder-led thought leadership into a well-oiled content machine.
4)   Manage a sprawling network of vendors and freelancers.
5)   Teach us the dark arts of “conversion optimization.” 
6)   Learn at least three words in Italian.
7)   Use AI for literally everything.

I can promise you this: you will never need to prove the ROI of marketing here. You will never need to explain to us that marketing costs money. You will never need to tell us to make the logo bigger. You will never be treated like a sales-support function. You will exist at the cutting edge of marketing and the cutting edge of AI, at an (insanely!) fast-growing start-up.

Marketers who have never heard of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute or Binet + Field need not bother applying. Sadly you won’t make it past the first interview question (“Have you read How Brands Grow?!”).

Doppio points for any alumni of Mark Ritson’s Mini MBA Program.

We’re also hiring more sellers, more engineers, and more researchers, BTW.

But the marketer will have a very special place in our hearts!

All roles are based right here in paradiso, AKA Brooklyn Heights.

Reach out or apply on our B2B marketing platform of choice, LinkedIn…

unmtchd.

unmtchd. is the IP engine of culture. 
we help creators and founders turn their ideas into structured IP, brand ecosystems, and scalable assets that grow with them, not just because of them.

through strategy, community, and education, we empower the next generation of entrepreneurs to stop chasing visibility, and start building ownership.

unmtchd. is more than a platform... 
it’s a blueprint for brand equity, creative control, and long-term impact.

→ our collective is a membership for those building brand universes, not just businesses.
→ our frameworks turn story into strategy and content into IP.
→ our belief? IP ownership is the new influence.

if you're building something bold, join the waitlist: www.theunmtchd.com

Founder & CEO

Cupsly

Brand Architect & Advisor

The Unmtchd. Podcast

Founder and Host

PUMA Group

Marketing Director Accessories & Licensing

Teamhead BU Marketing Accessories & Licensing

Teamhead Licensing (Motorsport & PUMA Brand Licensing)

Senior Licensing Manager

Manager Sports Licensing

GRUPO CORTEFIEL

International Marketing Manager Springfield 

Viacom

Category Manager Softlines 

Warner Bros. Entertainment

Retail & Licensing Manager 

NEOMEDIA

Senior Account Executive 

RETAIL SALES & MARKETING

IP is the new influence. 

After two decades inside entertainment, fashion, and sports - Disney, Puma, Warner - I saw the future of brand-building shifting.

It’s not about chasing followers. 
It’s about owning your story.

Owning your method.
Owning your IP.

So I founded unmtchd. as a future-facing IP engine helping creators and founders turn their ideas into brand equity, structured ecosystems, and legacy businesses.

Through education, frameworks, AI tools, and growth strategy, we give individuals the power to create brands that scale like universes- across products, content, licensing, and culture.

I work with visionary entrepreneurs, creators, and brand leaders who want more than just a logo - they want impact, clarity, and legacy.

This isn’t branding as usual.
This is creative infrastructure.
This is ownership as a growth model.

The future?
Ecosystems of IP, products and platforms that outlive algorithms. A system that grows without you having to be the driving force behind every post, that allows you to build not just a drop, but a legacy.

This is the IP ownership movement.
You in?



💬


Work with us.
Book a workshop.
Join the Unmtchd. community.

Learn more here: www.theunmtchd.com
Speaking & Media Inquiries: hello@theunmtchd.com

______

I use my other channels to inspire and motivate. Follow me 😉

Instagram: www.instagram.com/oanaoleonte
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@oanaoleonte

Oana Leonte 💬

MTV is shutting down this month.
Warner Bros is being acquired by Netflix.

And suddenly, half of my entire career timeline feels like a case study in how fast culture rewrites itself.

I worked for Warner Bros and MTV in the years when these brands were still defining global youth culture.

MTV launched in 1981 with a provocation:
“Video Killed the Radio Star.”

It wasn’t just a song,  it was a warning.
A signal that technology would always reshape attention faster than anyone expected.

Four decades later, the pattern repeats.

Only now the headline looks different:

“Streaming Killed the Cinema Star.”

Because when Netflix acquires Warner Bros, it’s not just a business move.

It’s the collapse of one era and the birth of a new one, the shift from studio power to platform power.

Attention has always chosen the next winner.

The difference today is this: 
Consumers rewrite the rules in real time.

They don’t wait for premieres.
They don’t wait for channels.
They don’t wait for gatekeepers.

They choose what feels relevant, immediate, and personal.

That’s the evolution of time, and of preference.

Technology compresses both.
Culture accelerates both.

Brands either adapt to that compression, or they get archived with the logos we grew up with.

Working inside Warner Bros and MTV taught me this early:

no brand is too big to be disrupted,
and no brand is too small to become the next cultural force.

The question for every founder and creator today isn’t “How do I get attention?”

It’s:
How do I build something that survives the next shift in attention?”

What do you think the next “video killed the radio star” moment will be?

Oana  Leonte 

Scaling brands through IP strategy and ecosystem design | Founder at unmtchd. → In this era, IP is the new influence.

I am so f--king tired of the podcasts, panels, and posts saying:
“People don’t burn out because of hard work.”

This is the most entitled take in the industry, and I’m soooo done with it.

Because the only people who say this are the ones with:
assistants, teams, nannies, trainers, chefs, co-founders, editors,
and the privilege to “work hard” inside a fully supported life.

Try building a business alone.
Try raising kids and running a company.
Try starting from zero in a new country.
Try carrying financial pressure, family pressure, cultural pressure —
and then tell me it’s “not the hard work” that burns you out.

It is the WORK.

But it’s also the weight.
The invisible labor.
The missing resources.
The emotional load.

The pressure to keep showing up because your livelihood depends on it.

Burnout happens when the output required to survive
outpaces the support available to sustain you.

And pretending otherwise only gaslights the people actually carrying the load.

If we really want to help people, let’s stop glorifying “more”.
And please, please, please... stop copy pasting these posts on the internet.

Scaling brands through IP strategy and ecosystem design | Founder at unmtchd. | ex Disney, PUMA, Warner Bros. | On a mission to build unmatched brands: distinct by design, scalable by IP, and made to lead culture.

Content vs IP 🤔  What’s the difference??

Every brand or founder I work with faces the same challenge:
they have a business, but they want to scale.

And almost every time, they think the answer is:
“we just need more content.”

But the content isn’t the issue.
The consistency isn’t the issue.
Even the creativity isn’t the issue.

The lack of IP is.

There’s no core message.
No signature system.
No world the audience can grow inside.

That’s where most people get stuck,
they mix up two completely different things:

→ Content
→ IP

And when you confuse them… you end up optimizing for visibility instead of value.

⚡️ Content is the moment.
🏛️ IP is the meaning.

⚡️ Content gets seen.
🏛️ IP gets remembered.

⚡️ Content is fast.
🏛️ IP is foundational.

⚡️ Content shows up on feeds.
🏛️ IP shows up in decisions.

⚡️ Content attracts.
🏛️ IP compounds.

Content helps you be seen.
IP helps you scale and build legacy.

And to be clear — you do need content.
But know that content is distribution for whatever the IP is.

When Simon Porte Jacquemus launched Le Valérie a few days ago, he wasn’t just launchign a new bag.

He was launching memories that you can carry with you.

The bag (named after his mother) is a love letter, not a product.
An artifact of meaning. 

And it says everything about why JACQUEMUS has built one of the most emotionally resonant brands in fashion today.

Every collection, campaign, and runway show connects back to one thing: his story.

The South of France. His childhood. His mother.

It is nostalgia intertwined with product and marketing strategy, and it works.
A living universe that makes meaning his biggest competitive edge.

In the latest edition of The Brand Lab, I break down how Le Valérie encapsulates the full Jacquemus blueprint, and how building from memory can become the most powerful brand play of all.

🔗  Read the full piece it here.

In the business of scaling meaning | Founder and Editor-in-Chief at unmtchd. | Brand Strategy (→) Media • Advisory • Membership

This issue of The Brand Lab is sponsored by Planable, the social media management tool where teams actually collaborate, not just pass feedback around

Open article: Forget being authentic. Focus on creating meaning. by Oana Leonte • 5 min read

Forget being authentic. Focus on creating meaning.

Stephen Curry and Under Armour  have officially split.

And this is probably one of the biggest sports–brand stories of the year.

Here’s why everyone is talking about it:

For the last decade, Curry wasn’t just an athlete on UA’s roster.

He was part of Under Armour’s modern heritage.

His rise reshaped basketball.
His style rewired youth culture.

And for years, his signature line was the closest UA ever got to true cultural relevance in footwear.

This wasn’t a typical endorsement.

It was the core narrative UA anchored its identity to as they were “building a basketball era around the most influential player of his generation.”

Now that era is over.

And the implications are big:

UA loses its strongest long-term story
➜ The brand’s cultural link to modern basketball weakens
➜ Signature footwear momentum becomes harder to sustain
➜ The “Jordan moment” UA hoped to build around Steph ends before it became legacy

From a heritage perspective, Curry was not a chapter.

He was the entire brand book.

The split forces UA into an identity reset:
What does the brand stand for without its defining hero?

The way I see it, there’s a risk and an opportunity:

❌The risk: sliding back into “performance gear” territory without cultural weight.
 
➕ The opportunity: architecting a new era, new IP, new stories, new athletes instead of relying on one.

If you’re a brand leader in sports, fashion, or culture, the takeaway is this:

Human IP matters.
Your story is only as strong as the identities you anchor it to.

For modern brands that human IP can be the founder, but not forever. 

You’ll always need more stories and faces to anchor the brand for the long term. 

What do you think this means for Under Armour’s next decade?

I have a YouTube channel, pls follow 🥲

taplio

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taplio

The Battle

Ezequiel Abramzon ✷

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ezequiel Abramzon ✷'s LinkedIn Performance

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