Dare to build a world, not just a brand - Mike Perry (Tavern Agency)

Mike Perry is the founder and chief creative officer of Tavern, a branding and packaging agency based in Brooklyn focused on food, beverage, hospitality, and sports. ~ With over 15 years cutting across NBC Sports, Hendricks Gin, Budweiser, TikTok, and beyond, Mike has developed a philosophy as richly layered as the brands he works on — one rooted in subculture, source material, and a relentless pursuit of what he calls "modern heritage."

In this episode, Radim and Mike explore what it truly means to build something timeless in an industry obsessed with trends. From his punk-poster origins to floating an inflatable pigeon down the Hudson River for New York City Football Club, Mike reveals how chaos, curiosity, and hospitality form the connective tissue of great brand work.

Key Takeaways:

• Subculture is the source of all icons. You need the chaos of punk rock, the feral physicality of real-world experience, to fuel brand work that actually resonates, and Pinterest boards will never replace it.
• Modern heritage is a philosophy built on tension. Holding heritage and modernity in productive conflict — never resolving it too neatly — is what creates brand work that lasts beyond the next trend cycle.
• The MAYA principle (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) applies to branding as much as architecture. Push far enough to surprise, but stay grounded enough to be understood.
• Designers are the true brand guardians. Brand managers rotate every two to three years; agencies stay for decades. That longevity is a responsibility, not just a relationship.
• If you're chasing trends, you're already late. By the time an activation is built around a trend, the trend is usually over, leaving brands looking worse than if they'd never tried.
• Brand worlds should become universes. The goal isn't a rebrand every two years. It's a platform so strong that every new person who touches it can only build outward, never backwards.
• Three equities and a truth. Not trends. Find what the brand genuinely owns, ground it in something real, and build from there.

Daring Creativity. Podcast with Radim Malinic

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