Jesper von Wieding is the founder and creative director of N96. Jesper specialises in strategic creative solutions that drive brand growth and awareness. He is a distinguished designer with a rich international career, having worked in major creative hubs such as Copenhagen, Stockholm, Paris and San Francisco. In addition to his leadership at N96, Jesper co-founded several influential design firms, including Pearlfisher Copenhagen, 3X, Scandinavian DesignLab and Scandinavian Design Group/FutureBrand. He shared with The Himalayan Times his perspectives on maintaining brand relevance, balancing innovation with core values and designing purposeful identities that resonate across diverse audiences.

How do you ensure that brands remain relevant and aligned with evolving consumer values, while reflecting the changing market dynamics?

Maintaining brand relevance requires understanding the market and how consumers are evolving. Brands need to actively listen - not just offering answers, but asking the right questions. It's essential to understand what people value and how the brand can meet those needs, adapting to market changes. Many brands miss this, which is why they struggle to remain relevant.

Brand identity isn't about telling consumers what the brand stands for, but about constantly engaging and adapting to reflect their desires. When done right, this approach makes a significant difference - not just for the brand or its audience, but for society at large. Branding has the power to influence culture and even the world. The brands that truly stand out are those that embrace change and shape a more optimistic, forward-thinking future.

When designing brand identities, what differences do you see in the approach needed for iconic market leaders versus agile challenger brands?

Icon brands are established, trusted and often market leaders, giving them resilience to market shifts. In contrast, challenger brands disrupt the market by breaking conventions. They can pivot more easily because they're smaller and more agile, unlike icon brands, which are like large tankers that take longer to change direction. Challenger brands are like speedboats, making quick turns with smaller but nimble impacts.

Challenger brands often have a clearly defined identity from the start, with a sharp focus on purpose and values. They know consumers don't just buy products - they buy into the brand's story. Icon brands face more challenges because of complex stakeholder management, slowing down change. However, brands like Tesla and Apple are closely tied to their founders, making it harder for the brand to evolve beyond their established identity.

While challenger brands thrive on novelty, their true test comes when the initial excitement fades. For long-term success, they must build trust through consistency. Novelty alone isn't enough - brands need to stay relevant, trustworthy and consistent to keep customers coming back.

In today's multifaceted consumer landscape, how do you adapt a brand's identity to ensure it resonates across diverse audiences while maintaining its core message?

The old approach of putting consumers into demographic boxes doesn't work anymore. Today, people are complex and express different facets of themselves, especially through social media.

Brands must adapt to this multidimensionality and evolve their stories to reflect a more nuanced understanding of their audience.

The key is not to cater to every individual nuance, but to focus on the brand's core attributes that differentiates it from competitors. Cutting through the noise and identifying the brand's unique proposition ensures it resonates across all segments. The brand's core message and values should anchor all visual and strategic elements. This coherence allows the brand to remain authentic, even when connecting with a broad, diverse audience. Maintaining coherence in a brand's identity while being flexible enough to appeal to different groups is challenging but necessary.

How can brands innovate while staying true to their core values and purpose?

Balancing bold ideas with a brand's core purpose involves simplifying the message. Less is more - if you try to do too much, your message becomes diluted, and consumers won't truly hear you. Brands often lose their identity by trying to be everything to everyone. That's when we help them refocus on their uniqueness and realign with their customers.

It's really important to cut down the number of things you want to communicate to the pure essence of how you want people to see your brand. If you think that you cover more by saying more, doing more and talking to everyone, nobody will see you, hear you or know what you're saying. When brands try to become everything, they end up becoming nothing.

Once the brand's essence is defined, the goal is to ensure everyone in the organisation is navigating towards the same vision. I liken this to a star in the sky that guides everything a brand does, even though you may never fully reach it. The vision should be built into the brand's identity, reflected in everything from product design to messaging.

In what ways do you see the concept of purpose influencing brand design in the coming years?

Purpose is more important than ever because the way we approach problems has fundamentally changed. In the past, success was about having the right answers. But today, it's about asking the right questions. We're shifting from the generations focused on content and consumption to what I would call 'Generation Q' that is focused on asking questions! Why? Why not? What if? Brands need to be open to change and willing to understand diverse perspectives by asking the right questions. This can lead to unexpected paths and, ultimately, a better future.

Technology has amplified this dynamic. The internet gives everyone a voice, allowing individuals to express themselves and be heard globally. When brands ask a question today, they get multiple answers, reflecting the complexity and diversity of the world we live in.

We've been taught to seek perfection, but perfection is what's expected and predictable. Innovation lies in imperfection, in being unexpected and human. Embracing imperfection and individuality drives creativity and innovation in brand identity. Whether it's a brand or an individual, identity is about uniqueness, and that's where purpose comes in. Purpose-driven branding aligns a brand's identity with its values, making it authentic and relatable to today's consumers.