Ep 73. Designing Your Way In, with Kierian Cameron of Brand Cult
Nourish Your Brand · Episode 73
Today I'm joined by Kierian Cameron, founder of Brand Cult, the UK's first print-only business newspaper. Her story is a wild one (foster kid from Scotland, single mum at 19, five jobs in New York, a lottery win, a move to Hong Kong, and a pivot into design at 36), and the thread running through all of it is doing things her own way.
We get into the concept of "designing your way in", why she printed a newspaper while everyone else went digital, and the five-step framework she uses to help people find their own route. Let's get into it.
The third door (designing your way in)
Kierian borrows the "third door" idea from Alex Banayan's book. Picture a fancy business club: there's the long front-door queue everyone waits in, the second door where VIPs and influencers stroll in, and a hidden third door (sometimes a window, sometimes a crack you pry open) that nobody else is even looking for.
Her whole philosophy is to look at what everyone in your industry is doing and go the opposite way, because copying the crowd gets you ignored. It's the same reason I bang on about differentiation: your brand's job is to make you the only option, not a slightly different version of everyone else. That's exactly the stand-out work I dig into in Episode 37, and the kind of distinctive positioning a Brand Recipe session is built to find.
Why print, in the age of digital
Brand Cult is the third door. Kierian could have done the obvious thing (a Substack, an online community, a newsletter), but she went physical. And not just a newspaper: it arrives in an ominous black envelope, wrapped in tissue, sealed with a wax stamp you have to break, even scented through a sensory-branding collaboration. No other newspaper gives you that. She also has the data to back the instinct: print ads carry far higher recall than digital, and people genuinely want the tangible experience landing on their doorstep each month.
The lesson isn't "print a newspaper", it's that the experience is the brand. Every sensory touchpoint is a chance to be unmistakably you, which is the whole premise of branding your signature offer properly in the Offer Oven.
How analog is your business?
Kierian's challenge to listeners: audit your touchpoints and ask how analog your business could be. Run an online community? Add a real-life meetup. Remote team? Bring them together for a brunch. Even swapping one email newsletter (that lands in spam) for something mailed to an address makes people pay attention.
I used to send client gifts for exactly this reason, that little physical moment makes the experience feel special and different from what everyone else does. It's a reminder that the client experience is part of the brand, not separate from it, the kind of thing we map out fully inside the Brand Kitchen.
Embracing the discomfort of new space
Being first is lonely. Kierian can't really name a competitor (the Guardian? the Metro?), and while that's disorienting, it's also freeing. The discomfort of "everyone's doing this and I'm doing that" is exactly where growth lives, and in business there's no real failure: you either get a good outcome or a good story.
The proof she's on the right path has been the people drawn in because it's different, an Emmy-winning designer, top UK entrepreneurs, a guest who signed on specifically because she's print media. When the right people start showing up, that's your sign.
Turn your differentiator into your niche
Here's the bit I loved as a fellow designer. Kierian first tried to offer standard brand identities like everyone else, and although she enjoyed it, it didn't sit right. The print side did. She'd even been gatekeeping her printers out of fear someone would copy her, until she embraced it and built a whole new niche: bespoke newspaper print for brands, campaigns, events and launches.
She took what made her brand distinctive and turned it into her offer. That's exactly how I feel about my food theme: I love it, it's my differentiator, and I can help you find yours without you copying mine, because if you don't genuinely love it, it won't land the same. (More on theming your offer in Episode 17)
The five-step framework
Kierian's "designing your way in" framework:
One, map your industry's normal path (the platforms, milestones and timelines you've been told you must follow), which exposes the "inherited thinking" you've never questioned.
Two, identify where that model breaks for you, which expected step is hardest to sustain (for her, posting on social media) and why, so the problem shifts from "I'm bad at business" to "this model wasn't built for me".
Three, redefine progress on your own terms, specifically, not "500 more followers" but real momentum, credibility or demand.
Four, design the route, pick the one step you'll keep or replace and put it into action.
Five, commit, choose one intentional action in the next 30 days that reflects your new route.
Ask yourself this week
Where's the third door in your industry, the route nobody else is looking for?
Which "should" are you following that was never built for you?
What's one analog touchpoint you could add to your client experience?
About the guest
Kierian Cameron is the founder of Brand Cult, the UK's first award-winning print-only business newspaper, and runs House of Cult Brands, a design agency specialising in bespoke newspaper print for brands, campaigns and launches. Find Brand Cult at brandcult.uk and on Instagram @brand.cult.uk, and connect with Kierian on LinkedIn. Nourish Your Brand listeners can use the code CULTMYSTERY to join the cult.
Related episodes
Ep 37: How to attract clients instead of chasing them
Ep 17: Why theming your offer makes it irresistible
Ep 16: The right and wrong reasons to rebrand
Resources mentioned
Kierian Cameron / Brand Cult: brandcult.uk and @brand.cult.uk – use code CULTMYSTERY to subscribe
The Third Door by Alex Banayan – the book behind the framework
Offer Oven – my 7-day sprint to brand your signature offer
Come say hi on Instagram: @studiocoya
About the host
I'm Aiza, the brand chef behind Studio Coya, a branding studio with a food-themed twist. I help established coaches, creators and service providers brand their signature offers so their best work looks as good as it actually is, and sells like hotcakes.
