Lee BarnesBrand strategist and team builder

I build brands and teams people believe in

Blood Monkey social grid
Two Shores rum label
Two Shores rum bottles
adidasVansCurrysUGGBlood Monkey GinUniversity of LeedsHarrodsTwo Shores RumMorrisonsTangle TeezerNestléadidas OriginalsJDSelfridgesHäagen-DazsLucozadeWarburtonsAvonmoreOfficeSchuhWorld Duty FreeReebokASICSOnitsuka TigerMacIvors CiderRye River BrewingJet2EpsonTriumph Motorcycles

Brands I’ve worked with

Tangle Teezer heart
Tangle Teezer Big Love for Big Hair campaign
Adidas Olympic windows at Harrods
Blood Monkey in hand
Adidas Team GB takeover, Oxford Street
Lee BarnesLee climbing an overhang

Bold brands and brilliant teams

My career has been shaped by two interests: what makes people tick, and what makes a brand worth caring about. The best work happens where they meet. I’ve worked in-house and agency side, across higher education, FMCG, retail, fashion, drinks and travel.

I lead from the big picture, using insight, data and research to shape the vision, define where the brand stands and how it creates value. Then I build the teams to deliver it, through executive coaching and team building that gets everyone pulling the same way.

I bring real energy to the work, and I’m at my best bringing people and ideas together so they go further than they would alone.

Expertise across brand strategy, creative and coaching

Training and certifications

Mini MBA in Brand Management

Mini MBA in Brand Management, Mark Ritson

IPA

Advanced AI for Strategy and Planning

ILM

Level 7 Coaching
and Mentoring

Chartered Management Institute

Level 5 Leadership & Management

D&AD

Creative StrategyIn-House Creative Management

Belief, built from scratch

Blood Monkey gin range Blood Monkey wordmark and copper mark Blood Monkey bottle in hand Blood Monkey label copy defining the name Blood Monkey on a painted wall Blood Monkey gold-taped typography Two Shores rum range Two Shores rum bottle front Two Shores rum label detail Two Shores rum range with its World Rum Awards medals

Outcast Brands

Advising a founder on two award-winning brands

Founders bring the nerve. I bring the brand thinking. As brand consultant to Outcast Brands founder Jason Kidd, I helped build Blood Monkey gin and Two Shores rum from a blank page: the proposition, the attitude and the positioning, then briefing and steering the agency partners through to launch.

AwardWorld's BestColumn Still Rum for Two Shores, World Rum Awards 2024
AwardBest Brandplus Best Design, Best Label and Best in Ireland for Two Shores, World Rum Awards 2023
15 marketsacross Europe, North America and Asia within five years of launch
Award2 goldsfor Blood Monkey at The Gin Masters 2022

Founder: Jason Kidd, Outcast BrandsRole: shareholder, brand strategy advisorBlood Monkey design: Kastner LondonTwo Shores design: Backbar Studios

Leeds University Business School research degrees campaign on a large indoor screen Leeds MBA online event banner with segmented circle artwork

University of Leeds

Defining one visual identity, and aligning a whole university behind it

An identity only works if people use it. With agency partners OPX, I defined the brand codes for the University of Leeds: a custom typeface drawn from the campus’s brutalist architecture, an accessible palette, an ident and a photography style. Then I aligned every faculty, service and supplier behind them, on one brand platform.

800 usersactive on one brand management platform in its first year, up from zero
Costs downon agency spend, year on year, as the brand codes do more of the work

Agency: OPX StudioCampaign activation: ThreeTenSevenRole: Head of Brand and Creative

adidas Team GB kit launch window, Oxford Street Team GB athlete window, adidas Oxford Street Great Britain athlete portrait window Tom Daley window at Harrods, take the stage Brownlee brothers duel window at Harrods Laura Trott track cycling window at Harrods adidas Olympic sports shoe installation

adidas Originals and Performance

Putting adidas centre stage for London 2012 and the 2014 World Cup

London 2012 was a home Games, and adidas was its official sportswear partner. The job was to make that sponsorship felt on every high street. Through London 2012 and the 2014 World Cup, we turned adidas’s global campaigns into the largest sports trade activation in UK history, and the biggest sales week the brand has ever had at its flagship Oxford Street store.

Record salesthe biggest single sales week in adidas history, at the Oxford Street flagship
1,000+ windowsacross Harrods, JD Sports and JJB: the largest sports trade activation in UK history
AwardShortlistedHaymarket Best Marketing Design Awards, for the 16-window Harrods takeover

Agency: IMA GlobalRole: led retail activation, Originals and Performance

What I do best

Brand leadership

One brand strategy, led at scale across every team, agency and channel.

Brand diagnosis

Find out what people really think, inside and out, before anything gets decided.

Positioning and value propositions

Choose a position worth defending and turn it into propositions people can act on.

Brand architecture and planning

Structure the brand family and plan its year, so every launch builds on the last.

Brand governance at scale

I set up and oversee a 21‑agency creative and marketing framework, balancing in‑house capability with the best of the market.

Campaigns and activation

Campaigns that build memory and drive response, measured on what they actually move.

Creative culture and coaching

Grow the teams and leaders who make great work happen, and have fun along the way.

Creative team culture

Teams people would join again tomorrow, with clear roles and ways of working that let the work get better.

AI adoption

I lead AI across brand and creative, from research and strategy to rapid prototyping, with the training that makes it stick.

Leadership coaching

ILM Level 7 coaching that takes leaders through change with energy and a good laugh.

Employer brand

Turn what it is really like to work somewhere into a reason to join.

Sector experience

Higher Education
University of Leeds · Leeds University Business School
FMCG
Nestlé · Häagen-Dazs · Lucozade · Warburtons · Avonmore
Retail
Morrisons · Harrods · Selfridges · Currys · JD · Office · Schuh · World Duty Free
Sports & Fashion
adidas · Reebok · ASICS · UGG · Onitsuka Tiger · Vans · Tangle Teezer
Drinks & Travel
Blood Monkey Gin · Two Shores Rum · Jet2 · Epson · Triumph Motorcycles · MacIvors Cider · Rye River Brewing

Got a brand that could work harder?

Email
lee@brandsbylee.com
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/brandsbylee
Based in
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Founders and small teams
Work with me, Form Function
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