I am Jed.
No, it isn’t short for anything.
This blog has been kicking around for a while. It’s a bit like a pair of beaten up Nikes; often mistreated, sometimes ignored, but I always put them on when I’m doing some serious thinking. Maybe that analogy doesn’t work. No, definitely doesn’t.
I’m the chief strategy officer at Initiative, and I’m obsessed with culture. Understanding it, shaping it, being part of it. I help brands to do the same. My obsession with culture goes back to when my dad first played me an album by the Chemical Brothers, and I realised that there was this ‘other’ space outside of what was on telly. Since then, I’ve been using music as my cultural map, and exploring as much of everything as I can. This website is both a navigation point to loads of stuff I do elsewhere, and also a spot where I try to write things up on culture, brands, and strategy too. Currently, I work with brands like Converse, LEGO, Carlsberg, Bunnings, and Amazon. In the past I’ve worked with CHANEL, Rolex, Nike, Jaguar Land Rover, TK Maxx, and Marks & Spencer.
Before I joined Initiative, I was head of strategy and managing partner at Mindshare. Previous to working at Mindshare, I worked at a creative agency (VCCP), and previous to that I helped set up one of the first social media agencies in the UK (Wolfstar). I wrote a few books too, but it would be boring of me to wang on about those, so I won’t.
This blog covers bits of ideas, my current reading list, a collection of records I’m listening to (in mixtape format, and recorded live, so be forgiving), and this, a page about me (I know, very narcissistic).
To come back to the name thing: my dad wanted to call me Zed, in tribute to Led Zeppelin, but my mum argued him down to Jed. Needless to say I’m now a massive Led Zeppelin fan, but it would be terrible for my search engine ranking to change my name this late in the game.
Shorter biography: I get paid to understand culture, I’m shorter than you’d expect, and I’m almost always dressed in black.
If you’re here for something a bit (well, a lot) more professional, try here.