August 2025
20 Questions
This month’s 20 Questions are directed at Gabi Costa, our Branding and Marketing Associate.
Q1. What pivotal moment or specific challenge early in your career fundamentally changed how you approach your work?
One of the most defining moments occurred during my first agency role in London. I was working on a branding project for a small start-up, and although the brief seemed straightforward, the client struggled to articulate their identity, values, and long-term vision. It forced me to go beyond design and think deeply about the strategic foundations of a brand. The experience taught me that branding is never about aesthetics alone – it’s about uncovering a company’s essence and translating it into something meaningful. That realisation shaped my entire career. It taught me to listen first, explore context, and build every piece of creative work on a foundation of understanding and insight.
Q2. What is the single biggest misconception people have about your role or department, and what’s the real story?
A common misconception is that branding is purely creative – colour charts, typography and visual flair. While those elements matter, the real work lies in strategy. It’s understanding what makes a company distinctive, what audiences value, and how a brand can earn emotional relevance. Branding requires research, psychology, business thinking and creativity in equal measure. When done properly, it becomes a strategic asset that shapes customer loyalty, internal culture and long-term growth.
Q3. Looking ahead, what is the one thing you are most determined to change or innovate within the company in the next year?
I want to strengthen how we integrate digital-first thinking into traditional brand strategy. Brands today must operate across multiple platforms, and consistency across those touchpoints is crucial. My goal is to develop frameworks that help clients maintain authenticity while adapting fluidly to digital environments. I also want to expand our use of storytelling tools that help clients communicate their narratives with greater impact, especially as audiences increasingly expect transparency and emotional resonance.
Q4. If you had to summarise your leadership philosophy in just three words, what would they be?
Listen, collaborate, elevate. I believe great branding comes from shared vision, not individual brilliance. My role is to help teams and clients find clarity and bring the very best ideas to the forefront.
Q5. What skill that you learned outside of your formal education has been most crucial to your success here?
Empathy. Branding is fundamentally about understanding people – their motivations, desires and challenges. This isn’t something taught in a lecture hall; it comes from paying attention to human behaviour, observing cultural trends and listening carefully to clients. Empathy helps me design brands that speak to people on a deeper level and that reflect who they truly are.
Q6. How do you ensure that your team stays creative and takes calculated risks, even when the stakes are high?
I encourage an open and collaborative environment where ideas can be explored without immediate judgement. Creativity thrives when people feel safe to experiment. When the stakes are high, I help anchor the team in clear insights and objectives, giving them the confidence to take thoughtful risks. Structure and freedom can coexist, and when they do, innovation follows.
Q7. What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received, and who gave it to you?
A creative director once told me, “Great branding doesn’t speak the loudest, it speaks the clearest.” That advice has stayed with me throughout my career. It reminds me that simplicity grounded in truth can be far more powerful than complexity, especially when crafting messages that cross cultural and digital boundaries.
Q8. How has the company culture evolved since you started, and what role do you play in shaping it now?
Since joining JMS in 2021, I’ve seen the culture grow more collaborative and more ambitious. There’s a shared sense of curiosity and a desire to push boundaries. I contribute by bringing a global perspective and championing cross-disciplinary teamwork. Branding touches every part of the business, and I try to ensure that our projects are aligned, integrated and enriched by contributions from across the organisation.
Q9. Describe a time when a project failed, and what you, or the team, learned from that experience.
Early in my career, I worked on a rebrand that didn’t resonate as expected with the client’s audience. We later realised that although the concept was visually strong, it didn’t align with the emotional tone the brand needed. It taught me that without a clear understanding of audience perception, even the most polished creative work can fall short. Since then, research and audience insight have become non-negotiable elements of my process.
Q10. What is a quality you actively look for and try to mentor in junior employees?
Curiosity. Branding is constantly evolving, and those who love exploring new ideas, cultural shifts and design trends tend to grow the fastest. I want juniors to question, challenge and discover, not simply execute.
Q11. What is your favourite non-work-related book, podcast, or hobby, and how does it influence your leadership style?
I’m inspired by books on design culture and visual storytelling, but I also love sketching, a hobby that connects me back to the days spent drawing with my father. It keeps my creative instincts sharp and reminds me that every brand begins with a simple visual idea. It influences my leadership by encouraging patience and attention to detail.
Q12. Where do you go or what do you do when you need to completely disconnect and recharge?
Long walks in nature help me reset. There’s something grounding about stepping away from screens and immersing myself in quiet spaces. It’s often during these moments that new ideas surface naturally.
Q13. If you could have dinner with any three people (living or historical) to discuss strategy, who would they be and why?
I’d invite Massimo Vignelli for his timeless design principles, Simon Sinek for his insights on purpose and leadership, and Coco Chanel for her ability to revolutionise a brand with bold simplicity. Together they represent clarity, meaning and fearless creativity.
Q14. What piece of technology or simple tool can you not live without (and why isn’t it your phone)?
My sketchbook. It’s where ideas take shape before they become presentations or polished designs. Whether I’m exploring a mood, mapping a concept or capturing a fleeting thought, it’s integral to my creative process.
Q15. If you weren’t in this industry, what completely different career path do you think you would have followed?
I suspect I would have become an architect, following in my father’s footsteps. Architecture shares many parallels with branding – structure, purpose, aesthetics and emotional experience. It’s another way of shaping how people interact with the world.
Q16. What’s one thing you are currently learning (professional or personal)?
How emerging technologies are influencing visual identity and brand experience across digital platforms.
Q17. What is your go-to method for starting a challenging conversation?
I try to begin with alignment, reaffirming shared goals before addressing the issue with honesty and respect.
Q18. What do you believe is the next big trend that will disrupt our industry?
Dynamic, digital-first brand systems that adapt in real time to audience behaviour and platform context.
Q19. What makes you most proud to work for this company?
The genuine commitment to creativity and authenticity. JMS encourages exploration while maintaining a focus on meaningful outcomes.
Q20. What is one personal habit or routine that contributes most to your daily productivity?
Starting each day by reviewing my priorities and revisiting the brand foundations for each project, it keeps me centred on what truly matters.