Patrick Hanlon is the Charles Darwin of branding. His finches are human beings who gather in crowds. Conventional “Branding” has been broken, disrupted and evolved. By unveiling the construct of brands as belief systems that attract others who share your beliefs, Hanlon uncovered what Harvard sociologist E.O. Wilson describes as the “natural selection for social interaction”. This pattern of social interactions, outlined in Hanlon’s books “Primal Branding” (2006) and “The Social Code” (2015) and numerous articles, defines how to create deep belief and active advocacy that builds communities of fans around people, places and things. Recognized as the world’s leading brand evolutionary, Hanlon is CEO and founder of PRIMALBRANDING.CO a global strategic brand innovation practice. Clients include Google, Microsoft, PayPal, Levi’s, Brave Software, PepsiCo, Experian, Shopify, The Hess Collection, Aurora Solar, Sunrise Banks, American Express, Kraft, the United Nations and plenty of startups. Hanlon helps people, places and enterprise understand that the world’s most powerful Brands are belief systems. Once you create a belief system, you attract others who share your beliefs. This becomes a social advocacy engine and is how to successfully create social and IRL communities in the digital age. (As former product designer at VANS declared, “Primal Branding is the root code for creating authentic Brands!”) His book Primal Branding: Create Zealots For Your Brand, Your Company And Your Future is required reading at YouTube. The Primal Branding construct was the framework behind the largest media crowdfund raise in history (over $10 million), as well as a Top10 album. The book has been listed in many Top 10 lists, is Chapter 18 of “The YouTube Formula” by Derral Eves. Most importantly, the book “Primal Branding” is required reading at YouTube and is taught at progressive colleges and universities around the world.

Hanlon has been keynote or guest speaker at TEDx, IDEO, Unreasonable Group, New York University (NYU), USC Iovine and Young Academy, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), Parsons School of Design, American Marketing Association, American Advertising Federation, Syracuse University, Urban Land Institute, Dentsu Aegis MKTG Summit, VidSummit 2016, Core Conference 2017, Technologica HUB/Juarez 2017/2018, VidCon 2019 as well as in emerging geographies including China, India, Africa and South America.

Hanlon also operates the Primal.Live event platform, which brings together ‘Primals’ who follow the Primal Branding construct from around the world. In 2020, Primal.Live events shared Primal Branding methodology with over 15,000 people in Africa, China, Mexico, Europe and USA. https://primal.live

Hanlon has been an online contributor to Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., Medium and has been featured, quoted, or interviewed in Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Inc., Advertising Age, National Public Radio, CNBC, Fox Business and multiple podcasts (e.g. The Futur with Chris Do) and overseas publications. Hanlon is featured as subject matter expert in the 10-episode TV documentary series “The Kennedy Files” (2016) from Aspyr Media. Before founding primalbranding.co, Hanlon was an advertising creative director and wrote Super Bowl spots.