Max Pirsky
101 Great Minds on Music Brands and Behavior
Max Pirsky, Head of Creative Studio (Global Brand Design), Revolut
Max Pirsky, a creative genius and former Head of Global Brand Design at Revolut, is respected for his unrivaled brand strategy and design expertise. As a result of a strong combination of his strong brand marketing foundation as well as his appreciation for creative design, Max played a crucial role in developing Revolut's global corporate identity.
Under Max's leadership, Revolut's brand identity rose to new heights, captivating viewers with its unique visual language and storytelling. His ability to blend strategic thinking with creativity produced successful campaigns that resonated with clients worldwide.
Thanks to his dedication to pushing the boundaries of creativity and rigorous attention to detail, Max has earned recognition in the industry as a pioneer in brand design.
“Also, as human beings, we don't want to be sold to. We're sold to enough already”
— MAX PIRSKY, HEAD OF CREATIVE STUDIO (GLOBAL BRAND DESIGN), REVOLUT
Uli Reese: What was the first brand that made a serious impact on you?
Max Pirsky: There were American TV shows and Nike, but another I remember is a trading game called Pogs, similar to Tazos. You’d sit on the floor with a couple of other people and stack the Pogs, which were flat discs, on top of each other. Then you’d hit them with another disc and keep the ones that turned upside down. They all had different pictures and were collectible.
Reese: Describe the journey that brought you to where you are today.
Max: I was born in Russia, but when I was two years old, my family moved to Israel, where I lived until I was 12. Then we moved to Bulgaria. I liked doodling and painting, and in the 12th grade, Sprite ran a competition to design a graffiti-style logo. I was one of three people who won the contest, and my logo went on all of the Sprite bottles in Bulgaria for six months. I thought this could be a career. Later, I got a scholarship to attend the Instituto Europeo di Design in Florence, where I did a master's in graphic design. I had my own agency doing digital products and brand identity for various brands. Then I moved to Berlin, going from agency to client side, and a few years later found myself at Revolut.
Reese: Does Revolut use influencers?
Max: The growth team mainly works with engaging influencers, but soon we’ll be working together to engage different types of influencers based on larger campaigns and better brand fit. We've been testing the waters. It's difficult to understand where you should go with influencer marketing in fintech. Most profits are still being made by the platforms that creators put their content on and their sponsors. I’d love to see what Web 3.0 does for the creator economy, where you may be able to create your own coin currency or have people support you directly. We're on the precipice of getting there, but I feel like it's going to take a while until we see tangible results.
Reese: CMOS of Fortune 500 companies have trouble shifting to show the authenticity, cultural relevance, and credibility that Revolut seems to have by birth. Can you share why this is so?
Max: Credibility and authenticity come from the fact that you have the courage to do something different, to drive or shift in an industry that is full of companies that have hundreds of years of reputation. Any cultural relevance we have has been picked up organically, but we’re just dipping our toes into the water. In the last year, we've hired more creatives in-house and worked with Wieden+Kennedy, one of the best creative agencies in the world, on a big brand campaign. We're also constantly questioning things and asking what this company is about. We’re having conversations with senior stakeholders, stress-testing the core of our brand, and then making sure that the core of the brand refers back to what we're doing with our product. There are big things on the horizon
Reese: Let’s take Deutsche Bank or Bank of America, who may be wary because this is not their business model. What piece of advice do you have for them?
Max: I see many companies using marketing almost like bait, and I’d love to see marketing rethought more toward how we can provide some sort of benefit and value. How can you extend your value into the marketplace in a way that gives people value without you necessarily asking for something in return? Can you give people advice on how to thrive financially? Is there a way to bridge the gap of things we don't learn in schools about finance and bring it to everyone? We can do these things better at Revolut too. Second, is having a strong brand that knows what it stands for. Sometimes it's not authentic, and people feel that.
Also, as human beings, we don't want to be sold to. We’re sold to enough already.
I look up to companies like Oatly because every time you see a piece of communication from them, it’s interesting. Their aim is not to sell you stuff but be memorable. Much of it comes down to emotion, which is important when we think about humans making decisions.
Reese: Sonic has become so dominant, and in a way that’s too fast for most CMOs. Given that, what are the challenges and opportunities you see ahead?
Max: You always remember how a certain situation made you feel, but you don't necessarily remember details. That's the most important part here. We've got a blank canvas ahead when it comes to what we can do with our sound design. When I joined less than two years ago, we were using exclusively stock tracks. There was never a Sonic logo but an exploration into Sonic branding that was done with an external agency. It was never fully developed, maybe because of COVID. First and foremost, the touchpoint of our brand is the banking app. We need to ask what that user experience sounds like and how do we write our sonic DNA. Then how do we develop that into a manual that could then be used to develop different kinds of music, whether it’s for events, advertising, or anywhere? There's so much we can do.
Reese: How important is measurement at Revolut?
Max: We do surveys and analyze the results, so it’s one of the things that leads our decision-making, but there’s space for objectivity. Often, testing creative might lead to safe results, but if you want to put things out there that are polarizing, then you might also want to make decisions based on your instincts. If there was a way to measure the impact of sound versus no sound or one sound versus another sound within parts of our customer experience, that would be tremendous.
Reese: What are your thoughts in terms of the ownability of sonic branding?
Max: Ownability and distinctiveness are both things we're trying to test right now. We're doing market research to understand if any of our brand assets are naturally associated with Revolut. But ownability is only important if you have reach. If you think of a brand that owns the color red, who do you think about? It’s Coca-Cola. Not because they have a specific red color but because they've been the company with the longest reach. And repetition. That’s the secret formula.
Reese: And finally, how important do you think Sonic will be in the future?
Max: I've never considered myself as somebody who would use Siri, but I use it all the time now. I’d love to see a way to transfer money - no hands, no PIN code - just by asking Siri to do it, although maybe the legal department will kill it! You could have a personal banking assistant that's like a digital assistant, and they could do your taxes instead of a bank teller. There are so many opportunities but in fintech; there's a lot of regulation and compliance, and for good reason.
Note: The interview took place in Berlin, Germany on the 5th of December 2022.
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