As Creative Director of Branding, Communications & Digital Experience at Dalziel & Pow, Ed Nelson helps brands define how they communicate across retail, digital, and experiential touchpoints.
His work has taken him across Asia, including projects in South Korea, Indonesia, and India, giving him firsthand experience building brands that balance global consistency with local relevance.
For Nelson, branding has evolved far beyond traditional communications. As digital platforms, social commerce, and consumer participation reshape how people engage with brands, he believes that successful identity systems must be flexible, experience-led, and grounded in a clear brand proposition rather than visual consistency alone.
We recently spoke with Nelson about how ideas of what makes a brand effective have evolved, building brands across different cultural contexts, adapting to changing consumer expectations, and more.
What drew you to brand communications as a discipline, and how has your view of what makes a brand system effective changed as technology and consumer behavior have evolved?
I have always had a keen interest in art and design and a passion for storytelling and creativity, and the combination of these have taken me on the journey to where I am today. Be it in experience design, print, retail, motion, digital or brand – communicating a brand’s purpose, personality, and why customers should care about them is central to both my role and what we do at Dalziel & Pow.
But today, what makes a brand system effective has changed dramatically as the environment around brands has shifted with the evolution of media channels, consumer power, globalisation, and algorithms.
With the growth of advertising and increased competition, brands have evolved from being what “products do” to what “products mean”. As digital touchpoints have exploded, the realm of what a brand is stopped being primarily communications, instead, it has become the entire customer experience.
With the advent of the internet, brands have become interactive and, in turn, need to be increasingly flexible and adaptive. The advent of social media has meant consumers no longer just consume branding, they actively participate in it, and in time, as digital tools and platforms become all-pervasive, brands are becoming an operating system for ongoing engagement.
The core purpose of branding – creating recognition, trust, and meaning – is still the same, but how brands achieve that is constantly evolving.
As digital touchpoints have exploded, the realm of what a brand is stopped being primarily communications, instead it has become the entire customer experience.
Being creatively consistent is not enough for brands to win in this modern era; they need to be consistently creative, meeting the needs and expectations of consumers however and wherever they engage.
Dalziel & Pow has worked with clients across South Korea, Indonesia, and India, as well as global brands. What are some of the challenges in building brands that work across diverse cultural contexts, and how do you approach maintaining consistency across borders?
We are fortunate to travel the world meeting interesting brands, clients and consumers across many sectors and geographies. But across regions we encounter differing business customs, customer needs, cultural sensitivities and semantics.
Delivering brands and spaces that reflect and respond to local cultures and resonate with communities allows a brand to build more meaningful and long-lasting relationships with consumers. We always work with our clients on the ground to deeply understand the context, consumers, market and businesses we are talking to, to ensure that the output, whether that be brand, retail, experience or all three, delivers results with true relevance and impact.
How are brand strategy and identity systems adapting to Asia’s tech-enabled markets and increasingly diverse consumer expectations?
Ubiquitous mobile adoption, super-app ecosystems, e-commerce growth, and social commerce have pushed brands toward a more holistic presence, and, with this, continuous engagement across multiple platforms, rather than relying on static identities or traditional campaigns. This has driven a shift from fixed to dynamic brand systems, with more hyper-localised and personalised content, with less focus on visual consistency alone and more focus on consistent behaviour across fast-changing digital environments.
Consumer expectations are higher than ever, and competition for attention is intense. While visually striking formats can help express a distinctive proposition, the key is clarity on what the brand stands for and how it should be recognised in the market.
Consumer expectations are higher than ever, and competition for attention is intense.
Design must be rooted in the brand proposition and experience, creating engagement through experiential environments and activations. These should enable interaction, hands-on discovery of products and services, and help build stronger communities and emotional connections.
How is Dalziel & Pow using AI in its brand identity and communications work?
At D&P, we embrace technology that enhances both people’s lives and the way we work. While we recognise the value of AI as a tool — particularly in supporting elements of research and early-stage exploration — we do not see it as a replacement for human creativity.
Our concepts and design-intent drawings are developed by our in-house team of talented designers and creatives, whose expertise, originality and experience remain at the heart of everything we do.
Dalziel & Pow describes its approach as listening deeply, voicing unspoken truths, and bringing everyone along on the journey. What does that look like in practice when you’re working with a client to define how a brand communicates?
At Dalziel & Pow, we live our values – We are Forever Curious, Boldly Original, and Fiercely Collaborative.
We spend time with brands and consumers to understand the fundamental challenges that they are facing and what objectives they are trying to achieve as a business. Through consumer research and trends, in and out-of-sector insights, workshops and a deep immersion in the brand, we identify key shifts that are needed to help the brand communicate its purpose and point of difference and turn this into what that might look like as meaningful and memorable connections with their customers.
This strategic underpinning, or Vision as we refer to it, is the North Star for every project, influencing how we craft experiences, spaces, platforms and narratives for the brand and wherever it appears.
Can you talk about a piece of work you’re most proud of?
It’s hard to highlight one particular project as they all solve different problems. I’m still particularly fond of my first pitch and project at D&P all those years ago, which was for Hyundai x Rockar. We partnered with the brands and turned car buying on its head by defying conventional automotive retail codes. Launched in partnership with Hyundai, our omnichannel solution for Rockar was unprecedented in the UK automotive industry and turned car buying on its head.
Our dynamic, digitally-focused concept allows customers to browse, book test-drives, value their old car and buy on a central touchscreen table within the mall-located stores, or on mobile and at home. They can also shop with or without the help of Rockar ‘angels’ – product experts who aren’t on commission. The “digital boutique” outsold the entire network in the UK and shifted the customer from a 54-year-old male to a 36-year-old female.
The Shop at Bluebird is another personal favourite. Located in Carriage Hall in Covent Garden in London, conceived as a ‘Playground of Wonders’ – we created a joyful multibrand offer that comprised over 15,000 sq.ft of art, fashion, beauty and joy for the brand. We introduced positive friction into the customer experience to encourage people to slow down and explore the store, spending time with the brand.
Is there a piece of work by someone else that has stayed with you and shaped how you approach your own?
I had the pleasure of working in Seoul with Amorepacific from 2016 to 2019. Whilst there we were taken to the recently opened Amore Seongsu. It’s an incredible space that tells the story of Amorepacific, showcasing products from 30+ Amore Pacific brands, complete with skin cleansing rooms, rooftop space, Osuluc tea bar, a central garden and more, all out of an unassuming renovated car repair garage. It’s a tranquil yet industrial space, beautifully considered, engaging all the senses that you feel better for having visited.
Quick Hits:
A useful app or tool you’ve started using recently:
We were visiting San Francisco earlier in the month and encountered Waymo driverless taxis for the first time. We got the app and off we went. A great customer experience from hailing the ride to leaving the vehicle, would recommend!
Book, podcast, or resource you recommend:
I am a huge fan of David Trott’s books and blog. I admire his ability to reframe problems by questioning the brief and everything being asked to get to the unspoken need. It is a great example for us all whether we have been in the industry for years or for people starting out to ask the difficult, or seemingly stupid questions and take nothing at face value.
Something you want to learn or get better at:
Languages! With all the travelling I do it would be great to speak natively wherever I go.
