Misha Pinkhasov

Misha Pinkhasov is a brand strategist with a 17-year experience in international communications, public policy, financial markets, branding and media. He worked as a communications manager at the OECD for nine years and consults for private firms.

As a writer, Misha covers luxury, culture and socially responsible business for consumer and trade media, and is a contributor to The Huffington Post. He is a co-author of the 2014 book Real Luxury: How Luxury Brands Can Create Value for the Long Term. ​

Next Friday Misha will deliver a talk "Luxury in the time of cholera: when brands get political".

For a long time, overt politics were taboo in brand communications. Supporting an environmental or social cause was fine, provided you didn’t take a stance that might offend somebody.

Now we can’t talk about climate change or refugees without getting tangled in issues like economic policy and national identity.

In this fraught environment, and how can, and how should brands respond?

Associated with fame, money and power, luxury is among the most visible and political of brand categories. Whether they like it or not, luxury brands have been thrust into the civic spotlight.

What can we learn from their approach? And can we do better?