About

James Quinlan

James specialises in transforming businesses through their most valuable asset – their brand.

Having led agencies in the United States and Australia, James’ practice includes brand and communications strategy, research, analytics, user experience (UX) and service design.

Most recently James was the Executive Director of Strategy for Australia at FutureBrand and oversaw the Sydney and Melbourne studios’ strategic output, including assignments in naming (icare), spatial / service design (Optus) and brand architecture (Cochlear). Prior to this, James lived in New York City and was the Head of Strategy and Insights at Converseon, working with Uber, Johnson & Johnson, IBM and Coca-Cola across a range of research and analytics assignments using the company’s proprietary AI-powered software.

With more than 14 years of experience in brand strategy in the U.S. and Australia, James has worked on the relaunch of the Cadillac brand, been global head of Publicis’ “Newsdesk” system (which facilitates an agile way of working for brands and their agencies) and won DDB Group Australia’s first ever Australia Effie Award for advertising effectiveness for work with Wrigley Australia. 

James has written for both Australian and foreign publications and has presented at events both domestically and internationally, including his annual South By South Best report, which analyses the key trends at the SXSW conference and what they mean for brands and business.