Natalee Ranii-Dropcho Interview
Natalee Ranii-Dropcho shares her insights on building verbal identities and starting the strategy team at PORTO ROCHA
Published on
Dec 18, 2024
6
min. read
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Where’s your hometown and where do you live currently?
I was born in Pittsburgh and live in Brooklyn.
In a few sentences, describe what you do?
My work lies at the intersection of strategy, voice, and storytelling, and I build brand worlds from the ground up. More tangibly, it’s about setting the strategic vision for a brand (or campaign, activation, experience) and translating it into a story that resonates with people. Currently I’m the Strategy & Copy Director at PORTO ROCHA and spend a lot of time building full-stack brand strategies, verbal identities, and messaging architectures across clients from tech to entertainment to cultural institutions.
What was your biggest take away in establishing the strategy and writing department at PORTO ROCHA? Are there any parts of this process that you’re most proud of?
The job is never done! It was an honor when Leo Porto and Felipe Rocha asked me to start the strategy department three years ago, and I wanted to create a process that supported the brilliant design work they were known for, while building out new service offerings to tackle bigger briefs and impact more sides of the businesses. Witnessing those end-to-end projects in the real world is a source of pride for all of us, whether that’s seeing the identity we created for PAC NYC as a permanent fixture in the World Trade Center or the repositioning work for Grau come to life in their latest product launch. PORTO ROCHA just turned five and we cemented our strategy methodology along with it. Tried and tested over time, there’s a plan and a process — even if we keep evolving.
How do you approach establishing brand voices differently for emerging brands versus heritage brands?
Emerging brands often start with a blank slate and the challenge of standing out, whether in a crowded category or by pioneering a new one, and the task is to create enough desire to change behavior or a clear signal for why someone should switch. With heritage brands, the work comes in sifting through what equity needs to be preserved vs. what energy needs to be evolved. When I was working with Kin Euphorics, there was so much room to play because we were creating a new category of non-alcoholic beverage before the curious wave. So the voice hit a higher vibration: mixing alchemy and sensuality, the mystic and the scientific to show that the future of revelry was as sexy, if not more, than your standard cocktail. With a brand like Nike, who PORTO ROCHA worked with on a rebrand for Nike Running, the voice needed to channel the rebellious role they had played since 1971 when they launched the first shoe to take running from the track to the street. Reinventing the wheel wasn’t an option, so we brought forward a runner’s devotion in bold declarations that made their way to marathons around the world from Los Angeles to São Paolo.
You oversee the strategy team at PORTO ROCHA but also make time for freelance work. How do you pick freelance projects to take on? And any advice for juggling both?
At PORTO ROCHA we focus primarily on big branding projects, so if I have time left in the week I work directly with founders and take on campaigns. Recently that’s looked like: building a brand with a dear friend to protect the mental health of the next generation, a new product launch for Glossier You. fragrances, and a campaign for pre-loved fashion marketplace Vestiaire Collective.
My advice is to know your reason for freelancing and, if you have the flexibility, choose projects accordingly. Is that making more money? Flexing a different skill? Working with people you admire? You’ll rarely be able to do everything, and that focus helps you create the boundaries to maintain a high level of craft without burning out.
Do you think there are essential ingredients for building a brand voice that should always remain?
Defining the essence that guides the voice. Whether that’s a persona or muse or vision, the final form matters less than its ability to help writers to step into the voice (which rarely comes from a set of adjectives void of context). Over many years of trying different methods, I’ve found the best voices are built from both ends: developing the strategic framework and writing lots of tests in parallel, looking at both to see what’s working and what isn’t, revise, repeat. And examples. Lots of examples.
What are some skills beyond good writing that make the biggest difference in your work?
Being the bridge between the business ambition and the creative execution. Setting the direction while giving my team autonomy to run with it. Generating big idea concepts while getting deep in the details. It’s a dance of opposites in many ways, and I’ve always thrived when eluding a singular definition.
If you could collaborate with anyone or any brand, who would it be?
I would love to collaborate with organizations in dialogue with our planet: National Park Service or National Geographic come to mind. And Kodak to guarantee the production of Portra film for at least the next two decades.
What’s a piece of feedback that still haunts you?
Somewhere along the way, clients have got it in their minds that negations = negative. Even when they make an undeniably memorable point. This is a present reality that no one can seem to get over. It’s very limiting. Everyone wants to be like Liquid Death, but balks at taking a risk over sentence structure. 8 times out of 10 someone has already said the thing you’re trying to put into words, and the only thing that will stand out is how you say it. Trust us!
Do you have rituals for finding inspiration, or do you let it come naturally? And what’s your favorite offline source of inspiration?
I log off and go to the most wild part of the planet I can get to. Nothing recharges me like sitting at the foot of a mountain or dipping into the sea: it’s where I feel most myself. Or when I’m feeding my creativity in very different ways, like making photographs or playing tennis.
What’s your favorite way to procrastinate when you’re supposed to be writing?
Reading a book is always a justified escape.
What about the industry do you wish you knew starting out in your career?
That you’ll be making ads, not art: few get to do the latter. I don’t think it would have changed my trajectory, but it would have helped me take feedback less personally early on.
If you could change something about the industry, what would you change?
The pitch.
Where can The Subtext readers keep up with you? (blog, social channels, linkedin, website, etc)
For work there’s LinkedIn, for everything else there’s IG.
Bonus Round
What do you listen to while working?
The brief is flow state: NTS Infinite Playlists or ML Buch or something ambient with barely discernible lyrics. If I really need to get something done, this oldie never lets me down.
If you could ban one copy line/phrase, what would it be?
“Empowered” in any form. The definition is “make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights” and while it should have ended before the fall of girlboss feminism, given that many people are experiencing a daily assault on their rights, the only one who should be trying to control your life is you. While we’re banning words: “authentic” from creative briefs (everything is a performance), “human” from voice guidelines (please be specific, [insert tech company here]!), and “community” from brand values (unless you’re actively supporting them with tangible resources not extracting cultural currency for clout). All of the above have become caricatures of themselves and no longer hold any meaning.
Favorite personal mantra?
Live the questions until they become answers.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
Traveling to tell the world’s stories.
Describe your creative process in three words.
Trial and error
Working at the intersection of strategy, voice, and story, PORTO ROCHA's Natalee’ Ranii-Dropcho's superpower is building creative worlds from the ground up. She has channeled founder dreams into cultural forces, shifted established brands into new eras, and crafted campaigns across oceans. Her experience spanning agency and in-house has sharpened her ability to think blue sky and execute down to the last detail. Today, Natalee helps brands pinpoint their place in an evolving world and travels as much as humanly possible.
Where’s your hometown and where do you live currently?
I was born in Pittsburgh and live in Brooklyn.
In a few sentences, describe what you do?
My work lies at the intersection of strategy, voice, and storytelling, and I build brand worlds from the ground up. More tangibly, it’s about setting the strategic vision for a brand (or campaign, activation, experience) and translating it into a story that resonates with people. Currently I’m the Strategy & Copy Director at PORTO ROCHA and spend a lot of time building full-stack brand strategies, verbal identities, and messaging architectures across clients from tech to entertainment to cultural institutions.
What was your biggest take away in establishing the strategy and writing department at PORTO ROCHA? Are there any parts of this process that you’re most proud of?
The job is never done! It was an honor when Leo Porto and Felipe Rocha asked me to start the strategy department three years ago, and I wanted to create a process that supported the brilliant design work they were known for, while building out new service offerings to tackle bigger briefs and impact more sides of the businesses. Witnessing those end-to-end projects in the real world is a source of pride for all of us, whether that’s seeing the identity we created for PAC NYC as a permanent fixture in the World Trade Center or the repositioning work for Grau come to life in their latest product launch. PORTO ROCHA just turned five and we cemented our strategy methodology along with it. Tried and tested over time, there’s a plan and a process — even if we keep evolving.
How do you approach establishing brand voices differently for emerging brands versus heritage brands?
Emerging brands often start with a blank slate and the challenge of standing out, whether in a crowded category or by pioneering a new one, and the task is to create enough desire to change behavior or a clear signal for why someone should switch. With heritage brands, the work comes in sifting through what equity needs to be preserved vs. what energy needs to be evolved. When I was working with Kin Euphorics, there was so much room to play because we were creating a new category of non-alcoholic beverage before the curious wave. So the voice hit a higher vibration: mixing alchemy and sensuality, the mystic and the scientific to show that the future of revelry was as sexy, if not more, than your standard cocktail. With a brand like Nike, who PORTO ROCHA worked with on a rebrand for Nike Running, the voice needed to channel the rebellious role they had played since 1971 when they launched the first shoe to take running from the track to the street. Reinventing the wheel wasn’t an option, so we brought forward a runner’s devotion in bold declarations that made their way to marathons around the world from Los Angeles to São Paolo.
You oversee the strategy team at PORTO ROCHA but also make time for freelance work. How do you pick freelance projects to take on? And any advice for juggling both?
At PORTO ROCHA we focus primarily on big branding projects, so if I have time left in the week I work directly with founders and take on campaigns. Recently that’s looked like: building a brand with a dear friend to protect the mental health of the next generation, a new product launch for Glossier You. fragrances, and a campaign for pre-loved fashion marketplace Vestiaire Collective.
My advice is to know your reason for freelancing and, if you have the flexibility, choose projects accordingly. Is that making more money? Flexing a different skill? Working with people you admire? You’ll rarely be able to do everything, and that focus helps you create the boundaries to maintain a high level of craft without burning out.
Do you think there are essential ingredients for building a brand voice that should always remain?
Defining the essence that guides the voice. Whether that’s a persona or muse or vision, the final form matters less than its ability to help writers to step into the voice (which rarely comes from a set of adjectives void of context). Over many years of trying different methods, I’ve found the best voices are built from both ends: developing the strategic framework and writing lots of tests in parallel, looking at both to see what’s working and what isn’t, revise, repeat. And examples. Lots of examples.
What are some skills beyond good writing that make the biggest difference in your work?
Being the bridge between the business ambition and the creative execution. Setting the direction while giving my team autonomy to run with it. Generating big idea concepts while getting deep in the details. It’s a dance of opposites in many ways, and I’ve always thrived when eluding a singular definition.
If you could collaborate with anyone or any brand, who would it be?
I would love to collaborate with organizations in dialogue with our planet: National Park Service or National Geographic come to mind. And Kodak to guarantee the production of Portra film for at least the next two decades.
What’s a piece of feedback that still haunts you?
Somewhere along the way, clients have got it in their minds that negations = negative. Even when they make an undeniably memorable point. This is a present reality that no one can seem to get over. It’s very limiting. Everyone wants to be like Liquid Death, but balks at taking a risk over sentence structure. 8 times out of 10 someone has already said the thing you’re trying to put into words, and the only thing that will stand out is how you say it. Trust us!
Do you have rituals for finding inspiration, or do you let it come naturally? And what’s your favorite offline source of inspiration?
I log off and go to the most wild part of the planet I can get to. Nothing recharges me like sitting at the foot of a mountain or dipping into the sea: it’s where I feel most myself. Or when I’m feeding my creativity in very different ways, like making photographs or playing tennis.
What’s your favorite way to procrastinate when you’re supposed to be writing?
Reading a book is always a justified escape.
What about the industry do you wish you knew starting out in your career?
That you’ll be making ads, not art: few get to do the latter. I don’t think it would have changed my trajectory, but it would have helped me take feedback less personally early on.
If you could change something about the industry, what would you change?
The pitch.
Where can The Subtext readers keep up with you? (blog, social channels, linkedin, website, etc)
For work there’s LinkedIn, for everything else there’s IG.
Bonus Round
What do you listen to while working?
The brief is flow state: NTS Infinite Playlists or ML Buch or something ambient with barely discernible lyrics. If I really need to get something done, this oldie never lets me down.
If you could ban one copy line/phrase, what would it be?
“Empowered” in any form. The definition is “make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights” and while it should have ended before the fall of girlboss feminism, given that many people are experiencing a daily assault on their rights, the only one who should be trying to control your life is you. While we’re banning words: “authentic” from creative briefs (everything is a performance), “human” from voice guidelines (please be specific, [insert tech company here]!), and “community” from brand values (unless you’re actively supporting them with tangible resources not extracting cultural currency for clout). All of the above have become caricatures of themselves and no longer hold any meaning.
Favorite personal mantra?
Live the questions until they become answers.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
Traveling to tell the world’s stories.
Describe your creative process in three words.
Trial and error
Working at the intersection of strategy, voice, and story, PORTO ROCHA's Natalee’ Ranii-Dropcho's superpower is building creative worlds from the ground up. She has channeled founder dreams into cultural forces, shifted established brands into new eras, and crafted campaigns across oceans. Her experience spanning agency and in-house has sharpened her ability to think blue sky and execute down to the last detail. Today, Natalee helps brands pinpoint their place in an evolving world and travels as much as humanly possible.
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