The Hidden Branding of John Summit (Art Direction Playbook)

John Summit's Brand Breakdown: 8 Creative Direction Principles You Can Steal

In this video about artist branding, creative direction, and music marketing, Chris Alba breaks down John Summit's rise as one of dance music's biggest artists to show Dance Music Producers, DJs, and artists how to build a brand that people genuinely connect with. By analyzing John Summit's career like game footage, you'll learn what worked, why it worked, and how to apply the same branding principles to your own music project.

You'll learn how to:

• Build an artist brand like a movie with an origin story, villain, archetype, and evolving storyline.
• Create a recognizable visual identity and signature style.
• Develop creative direction that makes your content instantly recognizable.
• Use candid photography, iPhone crowd videos, and live-show moments to make your brand feel authentic.
• Design marketing campaigns that fit into a larger brand story instead of random content.
• Understand why John Summit is evolving from the "everyman" archetype into the hero of his own story.
• Package your music project to build a loyal audience and long-term career.

Whether you're an electronic music producer, DJ, independent artist, or music marketer, these branding principles will help you create a project people remember, not just another artist releasing songs.

Chapters
00:00 Summit Brand Breakdown
01:31 Branding Principles Setup
01:37 Movie Not Person
03:40 Origin Story Villain
04:54 Archetypes & Superpowers
06:11 Story Keeps Moving
07:31 Signature Look & Styling
09:07 Consistency & Boundaries
11:06 Label Alignment Lessons
12:24 Art Direction & Visuals
14:46 Campaigns as Scenes
16:25 Evolving Into Hero
18:55 Packaging Test
19:31 Final Thoughts

If you're interested in working with The Cult Creatives, email us at info@thecultcreatives.com

Connect with Chris Alba

Transcript

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Today we're gonna talk about John Summit and the creative direction behind his brand. Most people look at Summit and just see a successful DJ producer, but I see a branding pattern, a clear system and path that he took to the top, and today I'm gonna help you see it too. Over the last 15 years, I've been a creative director for some of the more well-known brands of music. We've worked in many different styles of music, but specifically in dance, we've worked with artists like Chris Lake, James Hype, Max Styler, Cassian, Sidepiece, Austin Mills, Blondish, Valentino Kahn, and many, many more. In this video, I'm gonna break down John Summit's brand from the lens of creative direction. I want to show you how to look at this almost like sports game footage and analyze the plays that worked well and why. And I'll be adding in tactics and repeatable strategic moves you can steal for your own brand. Learning how to see brands this way is almost like seeing the matrix. When you understand the coding and architecture of how things are built, you can see how they can be used to grow a massive audience. Over the last 12 years at our agency, the Cole Creatives, I've seen artists' career change almost overnight after properly launching a new brand identity. If you want to build a cult following, tour the globe, and create the highest level in today's world, you're going to need to understand branding and storytelling on the steep level. And once you understand it, you'll then need to organize it. We actually have a free art direction playbook with blank slides that you can use to art direct different contractors for your own brand. If you want that, comment cult playbook and we'll send you the link to the playbook for free. The power of presentation is everything. It doesn't matter how great the product is if it's packaged wrong. I'll actually give you some tips more towards the end of the video to make sure you avoid your packaging being wrong. And I'll also show you a single branding principle that allows John Summit to become one of the biggest artists in dance music. But first, let's talk about identity from a high level and the principles for creating a brand like Summits at this scale. Principle one, an artist brand is a movie, not just a person. A lot of artists think that their brand is just them, their face, their personality, the clothes they wear, and the music they make. But when it comes to music, most artists are entertainers. They're entertaining and stimulating an audience with the things they make. So in the modern landscape, an artist's brand is closer to an entertaining movie or show than just another creative person. The audience watches the artist's movie and is either entertained and interested or not. Now the artist may be the main character inside the movie, but they're not the entire thing. And in building John Summit's world and movie, it started with him as just another DJ producer in his bedroom making music. John made songs, shared those songs, and shared his experience of the process. He was extremely candid and real and showed his audience his life on a daily basis. The brand in the beginning was almost like a social media reality show. If he was working on music, he posted. If he was in a funny mood, he posted. If he was drunk after a party, he posted. Ultra extreme realness, full transparency, but from a defined perspective. He's your fun friend, John. And this is one of the most important foundational pillars of the John Summit brand is that it feels accessible. It feels relatable. It feels real. For his fans, he seems like a good guy and a good hang. He didn't position himself as the cool guy at the party who is way too cool to go up and talk to. He feels more like your buddy from college who somehow is becoming one of the biggest artists in the world. And for that reason, his fans are stoked for him. They subconsciously think, This is awesome. One of us is making it. And this is why fans started to feel bonded to him. Of course, there's the social proof and the music also comes into play here. But if you want to play at the pro level, your music does have to be good. That's just a barrier to entry. But a great soundtrack still needs the movie in order for people to care. And what is that movie about? Who is the character? And why do we as the audience follow along? Why do we care? So for John Summit, he is the main character in his movie. But like any good movie, what the main character needs to get us to care is an origin story, motivations, and a point of view. Principle number two: an artist brand needs an origin story and a villain. Before I'd heard of him, when someone first put me on Summit, they told me this. They said he was an accountant before he broke into dance music. That was a key fact that this person decided to tell me. Now you see that's storytelling at its finest. People would tell me about the accounting thing, and they would also tell me that he was a party guy. A typical everyday post-college dude who loved dance music, raves, and parties. What people told me they liked about him is that he was authentic to the culture. And then for me, I was also seeing the same things online from his brand. So the story lined up. So in terms of origin story, that's it. Accountant by day, dance music lover by night, turned DJ producer, making a run at the music industry. So the main angle, the main lens that the story was being run through was an everyday guy authentic to the culture, trying his hand at the dance music world. And then when things started to move a bit, he left his accounting job to pursue the dream. So there's your origin story, but now who does our main character battle and why? Where's the conflict? Why do we care? So, in terms of a brand foe, Summit's villain is the pretentiousness of the typical too cool DJ producer. John is the opposite of this and he stands against this. He makes sure the audience knows he's one of them, never above them, always on the same level. So if that's his brand foe, what then is his brand personality archetype? If you've watched other stuff on this channel, you know that we work with Youngian archetypes when it comes to brand characters. Of those archetypes, there's 12 to choose from. You can combine archetypes, but we usually stick to combinations of two with maybe a third, but the third is often just a five or 10% spice. So with Summit, as things were kicking off, he was an everyman brand personality archetype, an everyday relatable person doing incredible things. Fans would root for him because they saw themselves in him. They could relate to the character, his journey, and his story. Now, what about his superpowers? What can Summit do better than most outside of the music? For Summit, his superpower is that he's relatable. Ultra relatability, honesty, and realness, these are his superpowers. He has the ability to connect with the audience on a relatable level, and he's used this superpower to connect with strangers all over the world. But even now, with all this being clear, once you know the character, the point of view, and the superpower to lean into, none of this persona-style branding works if there's no story at the heart of it. It's like having an interesting character, but nothing ever changes. There's no progression. The story and how it changes within a brand is everything. But what kind of story and what kind of storyline is the John Summit brand? What's his movie, his ongoing show, really all about? Principle number three, the story must keep moving. In its simplest form, John Summit's story is about extreme change. It's an accountant, turned producer, then touring DJ, then becoming one of the biggest artists in the dance music world. This is a big change. There's a lot of contrast here, and this is an entertaining show for the audience to watch. So, in terms of the plot of the story, what is John Summit's plot? According to Christopher Booker, who wrote an 800-page book called The Seven Basic Plots, for 30 years of Booker's life, he studied all kinds of stories: mythology, Shakespeare, biblical stories, and Hollywood movies. And what he found through all that research is that there's only seven basic plot structures. Now it's similar to archetypes, they can be mixed, but at base level, there's only seven real plot structures, and this is what they are there's Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. So for Summit, when we look at an everyday accountant becoming a large-scale music artist, the plot is Rags to Riches. It's a Cinderella story where the audience feels like they win the more John wins. They root for him to grow because they vicariously live through the story themselves. It's ultimately a show about an everyday guy ascending, growing, and changing. The audience is watching the size of the shows grow as well as John's profile. But in all this, John remains relatable and brings the audience with him. But even once you have the foundational story, which is a big piece, you're going to need a signature look for the character in order for it to translate to the audience. Styling does a huge part of the lifting for subconsciously letting the audience know what kind of artist someone is. This part is crucial because back to our movie analogy, even if you have the best script, if the character's look doesn't match, it'll be harder for the audience to understand where they fit in the story. So for John Summit, where did he go with this? Principle number four, the artist's look should have a signature. All artists should have a signature, distinguishable look. Something the audience can remember and something that sets them apart. Now, Summit's brand is built around being an everyday guy. And an everyday guy can be a little harder to style versus, say, a rebel brand or a ruler brand that can go crazier on the fashion side. But what John did use was the shirts and the headphones. Open shirts and the headphone band position forward. Now these may seem like simple, subtle things, but they become signatures when there's consistency. Something the artist is doing over and over. Have you seen any of those comedy videos where a person dresses up as a different big name DJ? They dress up and do impersonations of Fisher, James Hype, Anima, or John Summit. And why do those videos work? Because all these artists have visual signatures and styles that make them recognizable and memorable. It goes as far as people dressing up as them for Halloween. People know what to wear and other people recognize them because of the visual signatures. And these visual signatures are not only good to help the audience understand the character, they're also key in distinguishing them from the rest of the pack in the music world. The more consistent the artist is, the more they can create their signatures. Consistency is the magic here. And while we're on consistency, let's look at this next as it's a crucial part of the playbook. Principle number five, consistency is more about what you don't do versus what you do. A lot of artists roll their eyes when it comes to consistency. They often think it means repeating themselves, doing the same thing. Use the same colors, wear the same clothes, make the same music, post the same content. To creative people, this can either one feel boring, or two, feel like a cage that they're trapped inside. But actually, very often the real key to consistency is more about what you don't do. The strongest brands out there have boundaries. They know clearly what their brand is, and even more clearly what it's not. I was actually recently on a video shoot with a couple of artists, and it was a collaborative track that they were creating a video for between the two. During the shoot in a freestyle moment, one artist suggested to the other artist doing a shot where they would both have fake acid tablets on their tongue. The other artist quickly said, No, sorry, I don't want to do that. It's not my brand. Within seconds, they said this. It wasn't a big deal, it didn't kill the vibe, and we just went on to the next shot. But that's the power of clarity. Often it's not about what you do, it's about knowing clearly what not to do. You don't waste any brain power thinking about doing something that doesn't align to your brand and its story. But back to John Summit, imagine him suddenly presenting as a polished, untouchable dude who never jokes, never parties, and only appears in high-end photo shoots. There are many successful music artists that have taken that route. For those kind of artists, the content can look beautiful, perfect, flawless. But for John Summit's brand, it couldn't be further from the brand story. This approach wouldn't line up with the character that we understand. And in the end, that's what it's all about that the audience understands the story. And the real magic of branding is consistently telling that story across thousands of different touch points. All the different offerings line up with a super simple story underneath it all. For Summit story, your friend John isn't perfect. He's a regular guy trying his best to make a run in the music world. And within this brand story, and once John started to have success and he was ascending, there then was the creation of the record label. So Summit has his record label named Experts Only. And with Experts Only, I actually don't love the name from a brand perspective. It does feel a little off-brand to me. Now I understand the reference between Summit, mountain skiing, and the expert level ski trails, but experts only can feel like we only want experts, which to me comes across a little bit elitist, which is more of a controller or ruler brand. It's not a bad name for a label, just the brand alignment is a little bit off. Before Experts Only, it was called off the grid, and off the grid still leans a bit more Explorer than everyman, but I can see how it might work with the everyday person going off the grid. I think with that name, there was a trademark issue, and I think ultimately they couldn't get the trademark, so they had to change it. And that's what became Experts Only. But not every part of every brand is gonna sync perfectly, but that is the goal. And we are looking at game footage here, and it's an artist that's moving fast and growing quickly, but the game is definitely being won overall. And while, in my opinion, the name of the label may not fully line up, 95% of the rest of the brand does, especially across some of the visual language and art direction. And this part is paramount because so much of how people understand a brand comes from the packaging and the visual language, the cinematography, the setting, the images, and the vibe of how the world is presented. Getting this part right is what separates the rookies from the pros. Principle number six, clear art direction turns content into a brand. Okay, so there's a few items that we're gonna look at for John's visual brand identity. So first, let's look at photography. Many artists out there, and we've been a part of a bunch, do high-end photo shoots for their projects. They hire celebrity photographers, rent locations, and shoot photos for a single release or an album. But with John and his brand, it wouldn't make sense. It would feel too staged and too polished. For his brand, you want the photography to look real. You almost want it to look stolen. Stolen moment, not a choreographed one. A good way to do this and how to achieve that real look is to use on-camera flash photography. With on-camera flash, it's imperfect. It looks like a stolen photo from an old point and shoot camera. To the viewer, it feels real and in the moment, just like John. And the same kind of philosophy and approach would also apply to the video content. Instead of hiring an amazing cinematic videographer to capture the shows, which they can totally do, many of the videos they share come from iPhone videos shot from people in the crowd. People who are experiencing the show and the energy in real time. It feels like you're a fly on the wall and you're right there with them. You can experience the joy your friend John seems to be feeling in the performance, and you feel it too. So, both from a photo and video perspective, this is how you showcase a brand built on realness and relatability. And even tour flyers, much of the imagery is candid. It's in-the-moment photography of John performing. Again, real and personal. And when you look at his live performances, they reflect the same thing. It's not big, time-cutted visuals like you might see for an artist like Anima. It's large-scale lighting, some basic visuals and lasers, like you would see at a typical dance music show, but John is the primary focus. When you look at the O2 arena set in London, it's mostly about John and his performance. It's not built around giant visuals on screens. One of the bigger moments in the show is when he brings out real dancers who dance behind him and above him. Now, what's important to note here is that these dancers aren't doing dance choreography like say they would for a pop artist. They're just dancing. Like members of the audience, they're feeling the music. Some are dancing alone, some are dancing together, but they're just dancing. And as they dance, John dances too. It feels real, it feels authentic, and it feels in the moment. And to create a moment like that, it's all about a series of intentional choices. These choices, working collectively together, create the movie and the foundational brand elements. This story, this foundation, this point of view is what the brand sits on. That's when you're looking at the brand as a whole, but what about an individual song or album release? How does the brand expand when you're promoting individual releases rather than just the overall brand? How do you create individual campaigns within the ongoing story? Principle number seven, campaigns are scenes in the larger movie of the brand. So for John, let's look at the campaign for control escape because it's a good example of combining all the different principles into one execution. So, what is the story of the campaign about? It's about a guy in a nine to five job escaping into the world of dance music. The visual identity of the campaign has John in a suit working in an accounting office called Summit CPAs, playing into his accounting story. He works in a cubicle at a desk with an old computer. All the brand moments for this campaign use this story. The album cover, the tour flyer, default images on digital platforms, banners, social posts, all him in a suit in the office. Now let's look at the music video for Lights Go Out. It opens with John, board in a warehouse office. There are other accountants on the phone making their CPA calls. Everyone is working, but as the music builds, it forces the other accountants into a trance, taking them away from their jobs and into an energetic freestyle dance. As the track ebbs and flows, the hypnosis of the office continues, eventually leading to an all-out explosive dance party. So you see how everything sinks together. It all plays in the same sandbox. It's tied to the campaign, but it also works for the overall greater brand. This is advanced level branding, but it's all tied to a simple story. It's not too complex for the audience to understand. There's a clear point of view, a clear story, and clear positioning. Every part of the campaign is run through one controlling lens. And that lens shapes and controls it all to make it clear and consistent for the consumer. Now remember how I said before that a good story needs to continue. It does need change. It does need to evolve. Now, how is this going to work for Summit? There's a lot of ways to do this, but what's happening with Summit right now is that he and his team are evolving and changing his archetype. This is a big move and it will definitely change how his brand develops going forward. Let me show you exactly what I'm seeing here. Principle number eight, the brand that got you here may not take you there. So what happens in a story when the hero wins? The original storyline was about an everyday accountant trying to make it in the music industry. But then eventually the character accomplishes the goal. So in John's case, he did reach that goal. To the audience, he made it. He's no longer the underdog kid in the little apartment making a run at the music industry. In this story, he already won. So once a character in a story reaches the goal, the story then becomes boring. So what do you do? You create a new story and you evolve the character. So currently, Summit is going through an archetype transition. He's moving from the everyman into the hero archetype. That's why you're seeing a lot fewer drunken rants and more exercise, workout, and running content. You're seeing his kind side, his lovable side, he's giving his team flowers. He's still him, but the brand is evolving towards the hero becoming the main archetype. And with a hero brand, it's all about challenge. It's why they can make all kinds of hero movies again and again from different perspectives. Superhero movies are one style, war movies are another, sports movies make for good hero stories, and even a story about a young wizard battling different villains to save the wizarding world is ultimately a hero story built around challenge. A hero story at its base level is pretty simple. What's the conflict? Why does the audience care? What happens if we win? So it makes good sense here at this point in his career to convert Summit into a hero. They did the same thing with Calvin Harris in the 2010s, going from Rebel to Hero. And they also did it with Martin Garrick's, going from the everyman to the hero. A hero story, if you find the right challenge and the right villains, can maintain continued interest. You just need the right kind of challenge-oriented story that the audience will root for. New harder challenges plus new villains equals continued brand interest and growth. And the more you use storytelling tactics like this alongside simple stories that connect, the more you can create a brand movie and concept that will continue to attract people. With John Summit, he and his team have built a brand magnet. All the elements are in alignment and it's easy for the audience to understand. This keeps attracting existing fans and new fans into the story. The packaging of his brand lined up with his story, it was intentionally designed and it was well executed. And earlier I mentioned the question of how do you actually know if your current packaging is wrong? And here's the easiest test. Did you consider everything I talked about in today's video when you were building your brand? If not, unfortunately, it may be wrong. And it's probably not wrong because it looks bad, but because there was no intention put behind it. Think about how you pick the sounds or the chords in your music. Do you ever just throw something in there for no reason? You don't. Everything has a purpose. You should be approaching your brand in the same way. If you're not good at this, that's okay. Just find someone who is. Someone who can see the patterns and help put the puzzle pieces together. You don't need a massive team. You just need clarity, intention, and consistency. So I hope going through the John Summit game footage helps sharpen your vision on all the different brand elements. Our mission is to help artists see more clearly as they climb the mountain. And should you want to collaborate with us directly on your own brand, you know where we are. All things the Cole Creatives, the Colecreatives.com. But until next time, good luck in everything you're building, and I'll see you on the next one. Peace.