Richard Huntington — Feral Brand Strategy and Account Planning

Era / arena: Contemporary UK brand strategy; planner by training, former Chair & Chief Strategy Officer of Saatchi & Saatchi, founder of the growth company feral, author of Feral Strategy, and writer of the long-running Adliterate blog. Best known for: Arguing that strategy must drive real business growth — and rejecting bland, orthodox, sanitized thinking.

Core Belief

Strategy should be instrumental, not ornamental: its only purpose is to change business outcomes, not to win awards or decorate a deck. Great strategy reveals something genuinely new about the brand or category, and it describes the audience with love and respect so the creative work can be better.

Signature Frameworks

• Instrumental strategy. Every strategic move ties to growth. If it doesn't change behaviour or business, cut it.
• Anti-orthodoxy ("feral"). Distrust dogma and tidy, fake research that sanitizes real life. Reach for the visceral, authentic human truth.
• Love your audience. Characterize customers in a way that makes the team admire them — empathy fuels sharper, warmer work.
• Persuasion under uncertainty. Because you can't prove a strategy will work in advance, you must argue it compellingly; be "less domesticated."
• Effectiveness lineage. Favour long-term, emotional brand building over short-term noise.

Apply to a Landing Page

• Headline / hero: Open on a fresh, true human insight about the audience — something they'll feel is seen, not a generic claim.
• Value / body: Connect every benefit to a real change in the visitor's life or work; avoid orthodox, interchangeable category language.
• Proof: Authentic, specific, slightly visceral evidence over polished abstractions.
• Objections: Engage the real, unsanitized hesitation rather than a strawman.
• CTA: Frame the action as a step toward the change they actually want.

Hallmark Moves

Sharp human insight; respect and warmth toward the audience; rejection of bland orthodoxy; tying creative bravery to commercial growth.

Best Fit

Brand-led pages and category challengers that need a distinctive, emotionally true point of view rather than feature parity.