We were lucky to catch up with Nelson Freitas recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nelson, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Most brands search outside themselves – often to emerging culture – to define what sets them apart and makes them different. We flipped the script and believe setting a brand apart starts by looking inside to your brand’s origin story and enduring beliefs and values. It’s authentic because it’s you. And, there is only one you.

Our belief at UNKNOWNS is simple.

All brands sit on a stash of unknowns about themselves. Somewhere, nestled in their origins, histories, beliefs, and idiosyncracies, is a story — a differentiating
truth — that when properly mined and unearthed, sets them apart and serves as a North Star for everything they do moving forward.

We want to help brands find what no one knows about them and make it what everyone loves about them. To surface a brand’s underused or yet to be discovered uniqueness, and help integrate it into your brand’s story, ethos, services, communications, products, and beyond.

Nelson, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I love people and I love brands and I love the connection between the two. The brands we choose to align ourselves with and buy from are part of our personality and integral to our lives . They become self identifiers for us. Most of us love saying “I’m an Apple user”, “I love my Amex Platinum cared” or “I love water from Liquid Death”.

Why I started Unknowns …

There are so many brands out there – over 500,000+ to be exact –
and truth be told that setting yourself apart is vital. Think of it this way if
someone throws you a tennis ball you catch it. But if someone throws you
five tennis balls, odds are, you won’t catch any of them. Now, if someone
throws you five tennis balls, but one of them is pink, you’ll probably catch
that one.

So be the pick tennis ball.

The best brands are unwavering in their point of difference – carrying and
showcasing it in all spaces and places they live in.

At Unknowns our job is to ensure brands and their messages rise above the
rest – like a pink tennis ball.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

To work on my craft and be amazing at what I do. Make my talent so amazing it cannot be dismissed. People can take lots of things away from you BUT never your talent. Things like the corner office, fancy title, big team, many reports can all easily disappear but never your craft and talent. I wanted to strive to be like Serena Williams or Rafa Nadal or any amazing actor or artist.

I’m LGBTQ+ and when I grew up in the business world I realized the only way for me to get ahead was to “work twice as hard”. I put massive pressure on myself to not just be good but be extraordinary. I was ruthless with myself. In retrospect perhaps too harsh but it gave me the confidence to push through and succeed reaching the C-suite at two of the most notable communications holding companies.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I hate lazy, generic thinking that hedges, mimics, or copies. Mediocre, middle-of-the-road mindsets never help a brand stand strong in the category or stand out from the competition.

MY ethos is simple: Don’t just meet expectations. Defy them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://groupunknowns.com
• Instagram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelson-freitas-b616a93/

Image Credits

My husband took the picture
Michael Baribeau and we use it all the time.