.png)
Henry Kozak’s path into brand and communications has been anything but a straight line. He studied marine archaeology but ended up at leading agencies in London. Today, he’s a partner at Previously Unavailable – a leading innovation studio in Aotearoa – where he helps build brands with meaning.
In this Decoded kōrero, Henry opens up about rethinking the role of brand in business, the delight of long-term thinking, the challenges facing modern marketers and how his diabetes diagnosis has impacted him.
Kia ora, Henry! Tell us a bit about your career journey - how did you go from marine research to brand and communication?
I was one of those kids who didn’t really know what they wanted to do with their life, so I followed my nose towards things that interested me. After being pretty creative at school, I took a hard turn and did a degree in Marine Archaeology. A few days after graduating, I took another hard turn and moved from the UK to New Zealand for a gap year.
Once here, I stumbled into an internship at a small agency. That’s where the love affair began. I realised it was pretty cool to have a job that pays you to be creative. From then on, I just felt my way forward. I’d had no formal training, so I just soaked up the talents of those around me.
After 18 months here, I moved back to London and made my way through some really cool agencies.
And how did you end up at Previously Unavailable?
Getting to Previously was also blind luck. Towards the end of my ad career, I was starting to feel slightly disillusioned with the whole thing. I started wondering how else I might apply some of the superpowers ad people have – like creative problem-solving, storytelling and making complicated ideas simple.
Around this time, Simon Vicars asked me to do him a favour and meet with James Hurman, a fellow Kiwi in London. I was pretty busy and really didn’t want to take the meeting, but I’m so glad I did. Within five minutes, I could tell how awesome James was, and his vision for Previously Unavailable was pretty much what I’d been dreaming about for my own future. So, a reluctant 30-minute chat turned into quite a profound yarn that stuck with me.
Fast forward four years, and I found myself back in New Zealand after ColensoBBDO brought me out to be Group Strategy Director. James and I reconnected and worked out a way to get me into Previously Unavailable. The job description on my contract said, “We’ll work it out when you get here.” So there was some risk – but it’s by far the best move I’ve ever made. I love being around a small group of brilliant people doing things differently.
I did love my time in ad land, learnt heaps and met some awesome people. But I don’t miss making ads one bit.
What excites you most about the work you're doing today at Previously Unavailable?
I think it’s that we’re working for ourselves. At PU, we think very long term, and we structure ourselves in a way that reflects this. That has a huge impact on the work we do.
When it comes to contract work – the revenue that keeps the lights on – we tend to only work with companies and people that we genuinely like. We take an investment mentality to every project – would we invest our own money in this company? If not, why should we invest our emotional effort and time into it? That mindset means the projects we work on tend to always be both enjoyable and meaningful.
With all our other spare time, we’re creating our own companies and ventures and experimenting with what else we can bring to the world. That’s the part that gets me most excited. We’ve achieved so much in the last 2 to 3 years, and I’m even more fizzed about what we’ve got in the pipeline for the next few. It’s really cool – and I think we’ll be a very different business by 2030 than we are now, which is terrifyingly exciting.
The world of brand and communications is constantly evolving. What key challenges do you think the industry will face in the coming years?
Most businesses aren’t actually representative of a brand – they just wear one like a comms layer wrapped around the outside. I have this theory that ‘brand’ needs to go back to the future – and by that, I mean it needs to go back to being the central unlock for how businesses operate and differentiate themselves.
I call this idea ‘Brand Being’ – the notion of businesses actually being their brand, not just saying it. If they did that, they’d behave and innovate differently, rather than being exactly the same as everyone else in their category. Think banks, insurance companies, airlines, utility providers, telcos — they all look different, but how different are they really?
I tried to lead the charge on this when I first got to PU. While every CMO I spoke to agreed in principle, it was really hard to grind out any real intent for change. I think amidst all the change and innovation, the best thing brands can do is actually quite old-fashioned – just behave in a way that reflects what they promise to be.
How do you think established brands can remain relevant in a world where consumer expectations are higher than ever and also changing so rapidly?
I’m gonna give you the same answer – the best way established brands can stay relevant is by acting and behaving in ways that reflect what they promise in their brand and communications.
One thing I’ve learnt from stepping into the venture world at PU is that start-ups only work when they’ve got a good product – a unique solution that actually solves a real problem. A strong brand amplifies this, but it can’t paper over the cracks of a bad product.
In big, established businesses, the opposite tends to be true. The product is average – barely different from competitors – and the entire weight of differentiation and perceived value falls to the brand and marketing team (who never get the credit for it). They’re left papering over the cracks caused by a lack of innovation, product magic or differentiation. Established companies should put CMOs back at the top table and see brand as a critical driver of innovation and differentiation.
What are some key things for business owners who are just building and launching their ideas?
For me, there are three things you need to be clear on. What are we here to do? How will we measure if we’re doing it? Do our customers see the value in us doing it for them?
Focus and clarity are the best ways to get to your authenticity and truth. Sometimes that truth is that your idea just doesn’t work (I’ve been there!). The best brands – new and old – are built on some kind of truth. So knowing yours is pretty important.
Shifting gears here - your Type 1 diabetes diagnosis came during a significant time in your life. How has it impacted you?
Yeah, that was pretty hectic — I landed in a new country with a new disease, which sucked.
To be honest, I’m only really just getting to grips with it now, five years on. I finally feel like I’ve got the space to process the bigness and seriousness of it. Now that I have to manage my own blood glucose levels (one tiny thing in the grand scheme of things), I have a new respect for how amazing the human body is – how much it manages in the background without you even noticing.
Overall, the whole experience has been quite levelling. It has stripped me back to my core and forced me to think really hard about who I am, why I’m here and what I’m capable of. I’m still on that journey – but I think it’s one that’s doing me a lot of good. And it’s something I needed to do. So I’m grateful for the hand the universe dealt me on this one, and I’m determined to find the good in it.
You're a trustee for Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa. What do you think foundations and organisations can do to drive bigger impact?
I really wanted to engage in a community I was now part of, and I wondered whether my skill set could be of any value. That’s how I ended up working with Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa.
My view so far is that the power of brand is generally underutilised in this sector. There’s a real multiplier effect to be had. Whether it’s framing what an organisation is about, speaking to potential donors or articulating what you do – not-for-profits generally aren’t great at that.
I also think there’s a big opportunity to think more commercially about how brands partner with organisations. It shouldn’t just be a logo and dollar swap. It should be a swap of power and money to be part of real, important change.
I’d love to see Mitre 10 sponsor Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa’s grow-your-own-food programme. Or Woolworths partner with us on recipe-led meal deals. Or Les Mills light running routes for shift workers who can only exercise in the middle of the night. That kind of thing.
Any key advice that you've received along the way?
Something that’s always served me well is the commitment to opening as many doors as possible, all the time. Take that meeting. Go to that place. Hear that idea. Watch that talk. Have that walk.
I’m a strong believer that a lot of life is luck and chance – so you’ve got to give yourself the best odds of finding the stars. They rarely just fall into your lap.
