A leading global marketing thought leader and expert with 20 years of experience cultivating creative communities, building meaningful connections between culture creators and brands, and transforming local creative economies.
A Letter From Karim
If you’ve landed here, welcome.
I’ve spent the past two decades years working at the intersection of culture, creativity, and commerce. My work lives inside the entertainment and beverage industries, but the real mission has always been the same: understand culture deeply, respect it, and build platforms that help it move forward.
Over the years I’ve helped shape innovative cultural marketing for brands like Cîroc Vodka, Don Julio Tequila, and Martell Cognac. My focus has never been simply selling product. I care about building ideas, spaces, and partnerships that invest in the people and communities that actually drive culture.
At Pernod Ricard I led the company’s first Culture Marketing division, from the ground up, creating programs that connected brands like Avión Tequila, Martell Cognac, and Jameson Irish Whiskey with the communities shaping modern culture.
I’ve also consistently brought unconventional ideas to life. I co-produced the industry’s first spirits brand owned TV series, Master of the Mix, which aired on BET and VH1. I co-launched a Brooklyn craft whiskey distillery called Arcane Distilling, from the ground up. And I pioneered first of its kind, cultural platforms like Home by Martell ATL, an 18-month brand residency that transformed a residential penthouse into a living, breathing space where Atlanta's cultural communities gathered. Think Harlem Renaissance salon meets Franco-ATL speakeasy - entirely unprecedented.
But eventually I realized the most meaningful work couldn’t only live inside brands.
So I’ve also built my own platforms.
Craft Brand Theory is my creative community and consultancy focused on authenticity, craftsmanship, and equity in the cultural economy.
Sound Mind Theory explores the healing power of music and intentional listening.
At the core of everything I do is one belief: culture moves the world, and the best work happens when creativity, community, and purpose move together.
If that resonates with you, you’re in the right place.
Karim Lateef