Most marketers worship their brand guidelines. Lewis Kemp thinks you should burn them.

In the first episode of Season 3 of the Paid Media Lab, Lewis Kemp (founder of Lightbulb Media and The University of Creative Idiots) joins us to explain why strict brand rules kill creativity, and reveals how to rebuild a system that drives actual, meaningful results.

We cover:

• Why almost every small businesses doesn't actually have a “brand” yet

• How ego kills performance (and what to do about it)

• The banned ads that made Lewis’s clients millions

• How to work with the brand police — and win

• Why creative variety is the secret to scaling paid campaigns

Timestamps

0:00 - Coming up

01:04 - Who is Lewis Kemp?

03:02 - What is a ‘gimpfluencer’?

06:43 - Why most brand guidelines are pointless

09:22 - Defining what a real brand actually is

10:30 - What businesses lose sign of

12:35 - Examples of ads ruined by brand guidelines

14:50 - Lewis’s banned ads and controversial campaigns

17:12 - How to work with the ‘brand police’

20:30 - The importance of the hook

23:54 - Channel-specific tips for Meta, YouTube, and Google Ads

26:11 - The psychology behind ads

27:05 - When brand guidelines actually matter

28:30 - Final thoughts & The University of Creative Idiots

Follow Lewis Kemp on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewis-kemp-manchester/

Brohemian Rhapsody: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lewis-kemp-manchester_freddiemercurypoisoning-activity[…]m=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACFEGBsBRwvmUu5KZhW-4iarWDuWYKRbRxE

The University of Creative Idiots: https://joinuci.com/

Prefer reading? Read the episode recap here: https://www.lunio.ai/blog/ignore-the-brand-guidelines

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