Video – Nick Carson

Crafting branded content with editorial integrity

October 24, 2025October 27, 2025Nick Carson

As a contributing editor for Creative Review, I’ve created content strategies for global brands including Frontify, Figma, Meta and TikTok.

Together, we transformed CR’s approach to branded editorial, developing multi-part series that engage an audience of senior design professionals while achieving each partner brand’s strategic objectives.

Image credit: Creative Review / Shutterstock

The work balances three objectives: maintaining CR’s high editorial standards, engaging the design community with compelling and relevant insights, and achieving measurable results for brand partners.

By treating sponsored content as seriously as editorial features – with rigorous research, compelling angles, and authentic perspectives – the content earns reader attention rather than interrupting it.

Figma

Why businesses should be led by designers
At an executive level, design thinking can transform an organisation from the inside – and this kind of cultural shift may prove vital for many brands’ survival

Why non-designers must understand design better
Appreciation of the design process should permeate an entire organisation, not just its in-house creative team

Frontify

The trick to pushing creative limits without losing control
How to balance rule-breaking creativity with the need for measurable performance and brand governance

Why a brand-building platform helps creativity thrive
Some extra groundwork to create a ‘single source of truth’ when building a brand empowers everyone down the line

Team ITG

How virtual production is changing the way ads are made
Virtual production unlocks limitless creative possibilities, while making the process more efficient and sustainable

Pushing the limits of creativity with virtual production
VP’s rapid evolution helps brands break new ground without breaking the budget

Video credit: Creative Review / Team ITG

TikTok

How brands can be authentic on TikTok
Insider advice from Burberry, Rimmel and Duolingo to thrive in TikTok’s world of democratised creativity

Why brands should be part of the community on TikTok
Move aside, always-on marketing: brands need to be ‘always in’ to win the trust and attention of TikTok’s diverse communities

Asking provocative questions of top brands

May 3, 2019April 4, 2022Nick Carson1 Comment

*Cover of Wild Thinking. Image credit: The Clearing*

I helped The Clearing produce a series of videos to promote the studio’s new book, Wild Thinking.

Wild Thinking features 25 unconventional solutions to business challenges, from pioneering thinkers at global brands. I developed a content strategy to draw out particularly engaging themes from the book, and conducted piece-to-camera interviews with key contributors.

Read more about Wild Thinking on Kogan Page’s website…

Working closely with publisher Kogan Page, I then scripted a series of short-form videos. This included exclusive cuts for LinkedIn and Twitter, posing bonus questions from The Clearing’s ‘Wild Cards’ – the pack of 100 provocative questions that inspired the book.

*Selection of cards from the Wild Cards pack. Image credit: The Clearing*

Read more about Wild Cards on The Clearing’s website…

Here are three of the videos:

How mediocrity can be a great motivator

CMO John Allert discusses McLaren’s unapologetically uncompromising culture, and why a fear of mediocrity keeps the team sharp.

Why leading from the top is outdated

Former Dropbox PR chief Nick Morris shares his tried-and-trusted collaborative approach for engaging and inspiring a team.

What ‘brand purpose’ looks like in practice

CCO Juliet Slot explains how Ascot Race Course translates abstract brand values into meaningful everyday actions for its employees.

Nick has a unique offer – he’s a writer, a thinker, an interviewer and a burst of energy. He immediately became part of our team when we launched our Wild Thinking book, driving content and building relationships for our short films. It was fun, and it delivered great results.
Jules Griffith, marketing director, The Clearing

Telling the story of Carlsberg’s global rebrand

February 27, 2019December 5, 2024Nick CarsonLeave a Comment

*Carlsberg’s re-crafted logo. Image credit: Taxi Studio*

I helped Taxi Studio develop a content strategy for its award-winning Carlsberg rebrand.

The strategy focused on three core areas – the re-crafting of the mark and other brand assets; the holistic design and packaging system; and Carlsberg’s wider sustainability story, in which the rebrand plays a central role.

Working closely with Taxi’s in-house marketing and creative teams, I conducted piece-to-camera interviews in both Taxi’s Bristol studio and Carlsberg’s Copenhagen HQ, then scripted and edit-produced videos that have since formed part of many successful awards submissions.

The videos were accompanied by ghostwritten articles to tell the story in more detail. These became core case studies on the Taxi website, as well as attracting the attention of specialist publications such as The Dieline.

Part one: Crafted to Last

*How the rebrand translates across packaging and POS. Image credit: Taxi Studio*

We’ve collaborated with Carlsberg on a major global rebrand, unifying its diverse markets with a simple yet versatile identity system that champions the principles of great Danish design.

Following extensive research into the brand’s 171-year heritage, Carlsberg’s famous brand elements have been carefully re-crafted for the first time in several years, striking the perfect balance between form and function...

Read more and watch video on Taxi’s website…

Part two: Danish by Design

*Different variants in the holistic packaging system. Image credit: Taxi Studio*

At the heart of our global Carlsberg rebrand is a simple phrase: “In constant pursuit of better.” Drawn from the ‘Golden Words’ penned by Carlsberg founder JC Jacobsen, this pledge drives everything from the quality of the brew, to the company’s sustainability credentials, to how its brand is presented to the world.

With no holistic look and feel to tie the regional variants together, or clear set of rules to govern how different assets were used, the Carlsberg brand was presented inconsistently from market to market. Another challenge was to unify all expressions of it as part of a coherent, master brand-led system...

Read more and watch video on Taxi’s website…

“Nick is an excellent writer with a particular set of skills, skills he has acquired over a very long career, skills that make him a dream for people like you. Try him once and you’ll be taken. Just like I was when we worked together on the Carlsberg brand – he’s a trusted ‘go to’ for us.”
Spencer Buck – creative partner, Taxi Studio