Sales Vs Brand

I'll admit it, I got sucked in.

Quite a few years ago, when I was living in Melbourne, I was asked by my friend’s wife what I did for work. I told her that I worked as an Art Director in advertising, and she replied by saying:

“Ahh, you’re one of those people that sells me shit I don’t need.”

Safe to say, I wasn’t stoked about it. It sorta felt like I was being labelled as a used car salesman type—untrustworthy and indifferent to the people I was marketing to. I went on to explain that it’s more about finding people who would genuinely love or need a product rather than convincing people to buy snake oil. But honestly, I had the feeling my words were falling on deaf ears.

Surprisingly, I haven’t run into that conversation again, but it’s stuck with me all these years. It’s always kept me questioning the role of creativity and sales. At the end of the day, which one is more important? Which one is more effective? Or is it just not that simple?

Even now, I can’t shake the idea that her comment wasn’t entirely off base. The notion of selling things people don’t need seems to have only gotten worse. Despite the fact we’re supposedly savvier and better at ignoring advertising noise, marketing agencies and branding campaigns are sneakier than ever, and people are falling for it.

And this weekend, I got sucked in—bad.

It might have been the best example of someone selling me something I didn’t need or want in years.

‘Jake Paul enters the chat.’

If you don’t know who Jake Paul is, he’s a (sort of) amateur boxer, professional YouTuber, and a master promoter. He and his brother, Logan, are at the top of their game in the attention economy, where fame—any fame—can be spun into ridiculous amounts of money if done right. And that’s exactly what Jake Paul did this past weekend.

Unlike traditional boxers, Jake isn’t focused on being “the best.” Or maybe his idea of “the best” just looks different. He’s more interested in creating a spectacle—something so outrageous it draws a bigger audience than any legitimate professional bout could.

‘Mike Tyson enters the chat’.

Mike needs no introduction. But let’s focus on the key detail: he’s 58. Jake is 27. The fight was a bit of a joke from the start, but Jake played the “what if” card brilliantly. We all remember Mike as “the baddest man on the planet,” a seemingly unstoppable force with 50 wins and only one loss. That small part of me—and every other viewer—thought, what if the beast comes back?

Instead, we got one of the saddest, most unsatisfying boxing matches I’ve ever seen. No one really wants to watch a nearly-60-year-old man take punches, even if he’s a professional. And to top it off, the whole thing felt oddly scripted.

Halfway through, I started feeling pissed off. Not just because I’d planned my Saturday night around this dull fight, but because I’d been played. Hook, line, and sinker. I was drawn in by a marketing strategy designed to sell me something I didn’t really want to see.

So what, right? It’s just a boxing match—move on. But here’s the thing: Jake Paul is being idolised. He’s who young marketers, some marketing agencies, and YouTubers are looking up to. He’s filthy rich, not because he’s a great boxer or a creative genius, but because he’s mastered the art of selling people stuff they don’t need—and people think he’s awesome.

It’s everywhere now—crypto courses, supplements, almost every online marketing agency you can think of. The sale comes first, at all costs. How you trick people into clicking, buying, or signing up is the game. The actual product or experience? It’s almost an afterthought.

But the companies—and creative agencies—that do it right are the ones that think beyond the click. What happens after someone sees your ad or branding design? Does the experience continue seamlessly? What happens when they land on your page? When they buy the product? And most importantly, does the product deliver on the promise your marketing campaign made in the first place?

So the next time you set out to create a marketing campaign, stop and think: Are you just selling to anyone who stumbles into your funnel? Or are you genuinely finding the people who need or will love what you offer? Because the latter is how you build a brand that resonates, earns loyalty, and creates happy, repeat customers.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s the real art of branding and marketing.

And to sum up the experience of the most over hyped boxing bout in history, netflix provided us with this gem as a visual metaphor.

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