[Top Agency Series] Building Authentic Brand Communities With Nithya Ramachandran

Nithya Ramachandran is the President and Chief Strategy Officer at T1, a full-stack sponsorship marketing agency. With over two decades of experience, she specializes in sponsorship marketing, strategy, and purpose-led partnerships. Nithya has held leadership roles at organizations such as PwC, Edelman, and National Public Relations. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce in international business and strategic management from the University of Alberta.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [03:27] Nithya Ramachandran discusses T1 Agency’s 30-year history in sponsorship and experiential marketing
• [06:04] Nithya’s unexpected career path from international business to agency leadership
• [07:24] Early agency experience at Edelman and transitioning into strategy roles
• [12:11] Using Entrepreneurial Operating System to clarify visionary and integrator roles
• [17:51] The importance of courage, speaking up, and acting despite fear
• [19:36] Key lessons learned from working at Edelman and how they shaped Nithya’s leadership style
• [23:37] Preparing the T1 Agency team for Nithya’s 10-month maternity leave and leadership handoff
• [30:00] Challenges and phases of reintegrating into leadership after parental leave
• [33:44] T1 Agency’s approach to building authentic brand communities and fostering meaningful connections
• [39:46] The value of mentorship in entrepreneurship

In this episode…

Brands today face a crowded, noisy marketplace where audiences are increasingly fragmented and traditional advertising struggles to break through. The challenge isn’t just building awareness — it’s about fostering meaningful community engagement that aligns with a brand’s values. So, how can companies create genuine, lasting connections with their target audiences while ensuring those efforts feel authentic and purpose-driven?

Nithya Ramachandran, an expert in sponsorship marketing and experiential strategy, shares how brands can rise above the noise by placing people at the heart of every campaign. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the values, needs, and culture of the communities a brand wants to connect with. Instead of forcing campaigns onto audiences, Nithya recommends collaborating with the right partners, building authentic experiences, and ensuring brand initiatives align with the community’s interests and passions. From community-driven sports initiatives to bold partnerships tackling youth mental health, she offers a strategic framework for brands looking to build true audience loyalty.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Nithya Ramachandran, President and Chief Strategy Officer at T1 Agency, about building purpose-driven brand communities. Nithya shares her leadership journey, strategies for fostering innovation and trust, insights on leadership transitions, balancing purpose with profit, and driving authentic audience engagement.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Nithya Ramachandran on LinkedIn
• T1 Agency

Special Mention(s):

• Second Bite Podcast

• Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters
• What the Heck Is EOS?: A Complete Guide for Employees in Companies Running on EOS by Gino Wickman

Related episode(s):

• “[Sweet Process Series] How to Save Hundreds of Hours a Month Using Top Productivity Tools with Adi Klevit of Business Success Consulting Group” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Agency Series] Most Valuable Advice When Selling Your Agency With Todd Taskey of Potomac Business Capital” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Author Series] The Two Leadership Traits To Explode Your Business With Mark C. Winters Author Founder of RocketFuelNow.com” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “Leading with Passion with Gino Wickman Founder of EOS Worldwide” on the Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable Moments:

• “What we really believe in is how do we ignite these communities, how do we build these experiences.”
• “It’s not about weird policies. It’s not about the process. It’s really around people — it’s about relationships.”
• “There’s a big difference between courage and bravery. Bravery is acting without fear. Courage is acting despite fear.”
• “You can’t just come back and assume everything’s the same; things evolve and processes change.”
• “We see the people behind the brand, the people behind the logos, first. That’s what matters.”

Action Steps:

1. Prioritize understanding the communities you want to engage: Brands often fail when they approach communities without fully understanding their values, needs, and interests.
2. Use a visionary-integrator framework to clarify leadership roles: This balance ensures innovative ideas are grounded in actionable plans and day-to-day efficiency.
3. Empower your team to step into leadership during transitions: When leaders go on leave or step back, proactively delegating responsibilities builds internal capacity and trust.
4. Build campaigns that reflect your brand’s values and purpose: Ensuring campaigns align with your core values creates deeper emotional connections and builds long-term loyalty.
5. Create space for reflection and strategic thinking: Scheduling time for leaders and teams to step back, think critically, and refine strategies leads to better decision-making and innovation.

Episode Transcript

Intro 00:00

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 00:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here founder of inspiredinsider.com where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Nithya Ramachandran, the T1 Agency. You can check them out thet1agency.com.

Nithya before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast people should check out. Since this is part of the top agency series. Some other interesting episodes to check out. Fan favorite for people was Todd Taskey. Todd Taskey helps pair agencies with private equity, helps sell agencies.

So it was an interesting conversation around M&A, around the valuation space, around the agency space. He has a Second Bite Podcast, called The Second Bite because he finds sometimes when founders sell to private equity and then private equity sells again, sometimes they make more in the second bite than they do on the first. Another really good one was Adi Klevett. Adi Klevett is a company agency that helps process documentation. She helps to document SOPs for companies.

She’s done for you. Solution for that. So it’s interesting because we talked about how do you smooth out the onboarding of clients. How do you smooth out the onboarding of staff? And we geeked out on our favorite software and tools on that episode.

So check that out. More in inspiredinsider.com. This episode is brought to you by Rise25. Rise25. We help businesses give to and connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. How do we do that? We do that by helping you run your podcast. We’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do the strategy, the accountability and the full execution of the podcast. And we call ourselves the magic elves that run in the background to make it look easy for the host, saying, create amazing content, create amazing relationships.

Most importantly, run their business, you know? For me, the number one thing in my life is relationships. I’m always looking at ways to give to my best relationships, and I found no better way over the past decade to profile the people and companies I most admire and share with the world what they’re working on. So if you’ve thought about podcasting, you should. You have questions, go to rise25.com or email us at [email protected].

We actually have a lot of free resources on the podcast on any question you may possibly have on podcasting. So check those out. I’m excited to introduce today’s guest. We have Nithya Ramachandran. She is president and CSO at T1 Agency.

T1 helps amplify impactful Brands, and they’ve been at the game for 30 years, actually. And she helps brands rise above the noise by placing their audience at the heart of every decision. And, you know, we’re going to talk about some of the bold strategies that she helps implement for the company and for other companies they work with. So Nithya, thanks for joining me.

Nithya Ramachandran 03:18

Hi. Pleasure to be here.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 03:19

Just start us off and tell people about the T1 Agency and what you do. As you do that, I’ll pull up your site.

Nithya Ramachandran 03:27

Yeah. Sounds amazing. Thank you. So yeah, the T1 Agency, as Jeremy mentioned, we’ve been around for 30 years and we’ve been independent for those 30 years. We’re a black founded agency.

Our founder’s name is Mark Harrison. And what we like to say is that we’re in an experience agency. So what we really focus on is how do we unite brands with people? How do we do that authentically? How do we do that in a value-driven way that truly is based on connection.

That’s based on meaning, because what we really believe in is how do we ignite these communities, how do we build these experiences between brands and through people so that they’re meaningful, that they’re unforgettable, even in those toughest, in the toughest of challenges? So that’s really what we focus on. We have a huge legacy in sponsorship, in partnerships. For those 30 years. We have this legacy in activation, experiential marketing as well as in sports marketing as well.

So that’s really some of the elements. That’s part of our DNA. We also do a lot of research in the sponsorship landscape as well, with an annual sponsorship landscape study that’s been going for this year. Will be the 19th year going strong. So it’s something we’re super passionate about.

And for us, like I said, if it’s about connection, it’s about people. That’s what really it comes down to. Yes, of course we have brands as clients, but we see the people behind the brand. The people behind the logos. Really? First. And that’s what. That’s what we focus on.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 05:01

You know, we’re looking at if you’re looking with me on the website at the T1 Agency, we’re looking at things. Mondelez is a huge company. If people haven’t heard of it they’ve heard of the brands. Right. But we’re looking at Cadbury, Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Sour Patch Kids.

I’ve done interviews at the Sweets and Snacks Show and like Mondelez dominates the sweets and snack show. As far as the stuff I’m like, I didn’t realize that that was the main umbrella company until I went to the sweets and snacks show and they, like, own everything.

Nithya Ramachandran 05:32

The best part is when they’re your client and then you suddenly get magical boxes of treats at the office. And so we have these big bins of like Crispers and Oreo and chips. It’s great. It’s dangerous, but it’s fantastic.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 05:45

I do want to dig in. We will talk about community building and partnerships and things like that and what you do. But I do want to hear your journey at the T1 Agency is really interesting. And talk about your journey with the company, because now you run the company. But where did you start?

Nithya Ramachandran 06:04

Yeah, I started not in the marketing space. So if we go all the way back to, like, the university days, you know, I got my degree in international business. I think I took two marketing classes, like the marketing prerequisite class you have to take in business school and like an international marketing class. That’s it. And so then after university, I decided to put my international business degree to use.

And when I lived in Madrid, Spain, for a year, when I lived in Hyderabad, India for a few months, when I lived in London, England for a year and a half and somehow kind of fell into this marketing and communication space, which, you know, really started with my roles in India. It started with, you know, my role in London as well, which was at PwC. So clearly they saw some good transferable skills that moved over there. And then, you know, all the visas ran out, had to move back to Canada, got to transfer with PwC in Canada. You know, when I felt like I wanted to move on there, literally met somebody drunk at a wedding.

She was like, hey, do you want to come work at an agency? My question is, what’s an agency? We went for lunch. She told me about Edelman, which about a decade ago was how I moved into the agency space, which was super interesting because at that time, Edelman.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 07:21

Are they one of the biggest agencies or the biggest agency at this point?

Nithya Ramachandran 07:24

They’re the largest independent family-run agency in the world. Yeah. And at the time when I joined is when they were going and the PR industry writ large, was going through an evolution of how do we broaden our service offering to not just be the earned media experts, but really the communications partners and experts at the table. So yeah, got to work on some really compelling, interesting work there, including leading, for example, the shell account across Canada and growing that business in a very multifaceted way. And then I was living in Calgary at the time, big oil and gas town.

Felt like I wanted to broaden or spread my marketing wings a little bit. So I made the transition over to Toronto, moved to a different PR shop here in Toronto. But that’s where I really got to transition from the account side into strategy. So I was working strategy at National Public Relations, where, you know, I got to work in, of course, planning, communications planning, got to do some business strategy as well, and also some branding work as well, which was really fantastic. And then during the height of pandemic or right after, when everybody was questioning their lives and what they wanted to do next, I was really looking for an opportunity that was, you know, working with an organization that was quite purpose driven, that was quite values driven, that was, you know, really around, you know, walking the talk.

And so that’s when I had come across Mark Harrison, his partner Karen Stern. We have some really great conversations. You know, at the time, T1, as the founder of sorry, Mark Harrison, as the founder of T1 and in the wake of COVID had also started two non-profits. So when we’re talking about Walk the Talk, he, for example, you know, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, had started the Black Talon initiative to really build equity for black talent in Canada. But also he had started and co-founded a nonprofit called Park Street Education, which really looked at how do we provide and deliver quality education for underestimated audiences in Canada, especially in a virtual setting?

So, you know, when I really looked at what were those points of walking the talk, that’s when I came in and joined this group here. Initially, when I started within this group, it was actually working not on T1, but on some on the non-profits, on some of the other ventures within, you know, our siblings, as it were. Because we started these ventures, how did we how do we accelerate the growth? So really got to dig in and think about the brand, about the marketing, about the positioning. How does this really break through?

Especially in such an uncertain time. And then there was an opportunity to come in as general manager of T1 and really look at the day-to-day operations of the organization. Which won’t lie hard. You know, that was 2022. In Canada.

We were still in lockdowns for Q1 and part of Q2 of 2022. So, you know, we were really, really feeling that pinch. With, you know, as being a big experiential marketing agency to, you know, that pinch was really there. And then we had an opportunity, you know, in a conversation with Mark, who is still very involved with T1, with all of our other ventures as well, but, you know, wanted to take a step back from the day to day of T1 and focus on a lot of his other ventures with sponsorship with our non-profits as well. And so really, this opportunity to come in and lead the organization came from a conversation, came from the relationship that that Mark and I had built.

And, you know, when talking about walking the talk, it really comes down to that. It’s not about, you know, weird policies. It’s not about process. It’s really around people. It’s about relationships. It’s around that value and that purpose that’s there and wanting to build up and rise up. You know, people that are from underestimated audiences in our communities. And so that’s what I would say. Long story, short, it’s a pretty cool journey.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 11:26

I’m going to dig into a couple pieces there, but I do want to talk about, you know, if there’s a lot of maybe Mark’s out there, visionary founders and they want to Nithya. Right. They want someone to help and, you know, run things so they can maybe focus on the vision, right? And so I’d love to hear what worked with the transition from you taking over, and then maybe some things that you would go back and go like, you know what, we would maybe have done this a little bit differently with the transition from you taking over.

Nithya Ramachandran 11:59

Yeah. Great question. So in and around Covid, the organization had implemented EOS entrepreneurial operating system.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 12:08

I’m sure I’ve had Gino Wickman on the podcast.

Nithya Ramachandran 12:11

Yeah. Good old Gino. Like so when anybody onboards, we give everybody his book. What The Heck is EOS? So I think that was one of the big unlocks that we had organizationally of being able to delineate between visionary founder and integrator.

And I think when we were able to delineate those two roles, which most organizations aren’t able to do right, based on personality, based on talent, based on the way brains work, I think that unlocked a lot for us in terms of organizational efficiency as well. And so we started really implementing before I started with the group. But around, you know, in and around Covid times for all of our organizations. And in the, in the collective. And so for me, I think the transition of going from that integrator role as general externally facing, we called it, of course, general manager.

But going from that operational role, then moving into the visionary role helped with the transition feel a little bit more natural because we were able to draw some of those lines in the sand. The other piece of it is with that transition, it also signed up with our current general manager, Liz Rose, who had just come back from her parental leave as well from her with her son. And so for us, I think one of the big keys and learnings is timing. We didn’t have a lot of mess because we had all of us shift roles at the exact same time, which helped with, you know, not just drawing lines in the sand, but shifting those lines person to person. So I think that was a big.

And that you can’t time that all the time necessarily. But for us, I think timing and having the right people in the right seat, which is also another iOS principle, was really, really beneficial for us with that transition. I think for us, we also made sure that we really thought about what those expectations were of each one of those roles, not even necessarily like job descriptions, but really just making sure we were saying what we mean and meaning what we say. A phrase my cousin loves to say, but really making sure that that, you know, we weren’t having to read between the lines, but being very open and vocal in that communication. And then another principle which is top to top, which, you know, we, the three of us as founder, as visionary, as integrator, founder, as president, as general manager, have a lot of frequent collaboration so that we can make sure that we’re still, you know, steering the ship in the right way.

We’re kind of learning from each other. So there are always elements of circular mentorship that are really there as well. And even though some might see that as a hierarchy. I would say like we meet weekly or biweekly. I think there’s a lot of learning that can happen when we see each other as peers, when we acknowledge the diversity of experience all of us have had as well.

So I would say if things that made us really successful were, you know, if I could summarize it or timing was, was really helpful. I think expectation setting was really helpful. That’s all at the upfront. But I think then the ways of working, we’ve taken a very collaborative approach going forward that has made us successful in those roles as well. And sometimes where we can dip our toe into that swim lane and back when we need to help try and solve problems.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 15:22

What would you have done differently in the process?

Nithya Ramachandran 15:26

I think one of the challenges is, and I don’t know how I would have done this differently, but I think one of the challenges is like, you know, when you see your former boss, when you see somebody who’s your mentor kind of giving you the keys, but still being in the day to day. I think sometimes not to his fault, but from my own space. Find your voice in those situations. And I know I’m a very loud, extroverted person, but I think sometimes you question of like, can I say that because he’s been running this organization for at that time, 28 years, right. Like is that a valid thought or is that not so?

I think some of that self-doubt, some of that like fear, which is very natural, by the way, in these roles. I think it’s maybe being able to I wish and maybe if I could go back and give myself that advice, it’s finding the right tools or finding the right forums to still figure out how I can articulate those thoughts instead of just taking what is said as maybe the marching orders or taking what is said as what to do next versus really approaching it as a collaboration and a conversation. Because I think it’s, you know, as much as the world puts these thing-isms on us, whether that’s ageism, racism, sexism, whatever the things, I think, you know, obviously and instinctually we internalize some of those elements. So I think it’s I think if I could go back, I would think about what are some of those tools, what are some of those triggers that I could use to combat that internally, even so, that I was still, you know, giving, you know, voice to power, voice to like voice to some of those thoughts instead of just taking everything as gospel as it were. So I think a lot of it is for me internally of rising into that role.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 17:07

I think, you know, that’s a really interesting point, and I’m glad you said it, because I think it applies across any position, honestly. And when you say that no matter where someone’s at in an organization, there’s always going to be someone that maybe is a little more experienced. Maybe there’s been there longer. And they question, do I bring this up? Do I share?

And like with it depends on the culture. You know, we’ll talk a little about culture, but if someone’s free to just share and be, you know, kind of step into leadership no matter where they’re at in the organization. It’s helpful. Right? And sometimes the culture is not there where that stuff gets shut down and, you know, they’re not going to be feel free to say those things.

Nithya Ramachandran 17:51

Yeah. You know, one of the terms that I use a lot is courage. I think there’s a big difference between courage and bravery. Right? Like bravery is acting without fear.

Courage is acting in spite of that fear. And I think all of us, to your point, in any situation, have self-doubt. Have, you know, a thought, a nag in the back of our mind of like, is that right? Is that not. And again, those are all healthy things that we should have because that makes sure that we’re being empathetic, that makes sure that we’re actually thinking through decisions.

We’re not just acting on instinct, but it’s then having the courage to act despite some of those fears that you might have. Or don’t let those things hold you back. It’s what’s the action you can still take in spite of that?

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 18:33

Yeah. And I want to go back to your Edelman days for a second because it’s really interesting. Probably working at a huge agency and then working at a smaller agencies. So I’d love to hear some of the lessons you learned that you bring into, you know, the T1 Agency. Before you answer that, I do want to touch on, you know, ROC, you mentioned the integrator visionary.

There’s a really good book. So Mark Winters was also on the podcast so people can check that out. He wrote RocketFuel with Gino Wickman and they talk a lot about the visionary integrator. And for me, when I listened to it, it was eye-opening because I never really thought of that delineation, you know, before. So I encourage people to check that out. From what Nithya was saying.

Nithya Ramachandran 19:21

Definitely something I read before taking on that general manager role.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 19:26

Yeah, I found it super helpful. Edelman what were some of the lessons you learned there that you bring into, you know, from a huge agency.

Nithya Ramachandran 19:36

Yeah. And Edelman, my experience was super fascinating because even though it’s the, you know, world’s largest independent, you know, family-run agency in the world, offices all around the world, hundreds of people. The office that I worked in in Calgary was like 16 people. So it was like we were in a small office in this giant network. But something that that the that Edelman does really well is culturally, you know, so even though we had offices across Canada, offices around the world, there definitely was this element of and it’s very cutesy.

They put it in front of everything people, idol culture, you know. So part of that is, you know, culture. There was this culture of excellence, culture of like process and making sure that change management was happening across the board. So I think when I think about some of the lessons that I learned in that space moving forward, a lot of it comes down to like rigor, like a lot of process rigor, compliance, Science. Rigor.

Data rigor that I saw even at like PwC being a giant global accounting. Accounting and consultancy firm I saw similarities that with at Edelman. So bringing that kind of forward was really important. I think these how do you live your values in terms of excellence and quality? A lot of those people really helped.

You know, I brought that forward as well. And I think Edelman does do a really great job of helping folks incubate and experiment and innovate in certain places. And not all agencies will let you do that, right. Like a lot of agencies will be like, this is our playbook. This is the way that we work.

You have to follow it. But I did find that there was really nice runway there for you to play and experiment and build and grow and shape. And so that was something that made me realize that, you know, as somebody that’s an entrepreneur, not an entrepreneur, but has some of those qualities and tendencies of somebody, of an entrepreneur inside of an organization. I felt like that was one of the first times I could that could really unlock that. And it’s kind of stayed with me career-wise of being able to challenge status quo, maybe about experimenting, about innovating, about playing, about creating.

All in service of quality, of excellence and in the agency world in service of, of course, client objectives as well.

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