This feature is part of the Voices of the Now & Next series—a collaboration between VaynerSpeakers and the New York Stock Exchange, highlighting influential leaders shaping markets, culture, and business today.
Charlie Smith | Chief Brand Officer, NOTHING
Charlie Smith wants tech to loosen up and get a little messy.
The Chief Brand Officer at NOTHING, and former Chief Comms and Marketing Officer at Loewe, sat down on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for Voices of the Now and Next — a series from NYSE and VaynerSpeakers — to lay out a vision that sounds deceptively simple: make technology fun again.
But behind the simplicity is a sharp thesis on entertainment, authenticity, and why the next generation of consumers is done pretending.
Smith made his name at Loewe by flipping the traditional luxury playbook and taking on newer, untraditional channels like TikTok. Where most brands lead with product, he led with entertainment.
"In today's world, it's a really crowded media landscape," he explains. "One of the best ways that you can get people's attention is by being entertaining." His approach to TikTok was to study what people were actually engaging with, then find ways to weave the brand in, not the other way around.
"Fundamentally, my view on it is that it's not so much a social media platform; it's an entertainment platform," he says. "The number one thing we need to do is to be entertaining, and then we can figure out how to get the brand and the product in."
It's a mindset he's carried directly to NOTHING, the London-based tech company reimagining smartphones and consumer electronics: 'We really have this vision to become the most loved tech company for the next generation. More human, more fun, less boring.'"
For all his fluency in social media, Smith sees a shift coming, and it's being driven, ironically, by AI.
"Social media is going to fundamentally change with the adoption of AI," he says. "Now, if you post a really amazing or extraordinary video, all of the comments are like, 'this must be AI.' So in a way, we're losing that sense of wonder that we used to have in social."
"In-person physical experiences are going to become way more important. And it's going to become way more important to be able to really show people that something is human-made, not AI-made, for it to have more value."
NOTHING's biggest headline this year might be the announcement that Charli XCX has signed on as the company's first global brand ambassador and its latest shareholder. It's a move that only makes sense if you understand what Nothing is actually building.
"She really symbolizes this kind of rebellious creativity," he says. "I think one of the reasons why the Brat album became such a movement is that it was a railing against the fake perfection of social media. She was celebrating being a bit messy, having some drinks, an occasional cigarette, not brushing your hair."
For Smith, the connection is direct: "At NOTHING, we also similarly want to be real, authentic, and a bit rebellious, because I think people are just tired of things that aren't true."
That commitment to the tangible is now taking literal shape. NOTHING is planning to open physical stores in both San Francisco and New York, alongside a nationwide Best Buy rollout, with the U.S. business targeting over 100% growth.
"Having that in-person physical experience is so important," Smith says, "because we can create the coolest images and videos, but nothing beats the tangible experience of being able to hold the product, see the industrial design firsthand."
It's a bet that echoes his broader thesis: in a world dominated by technology, real, physical experiences are the things that stick.
Ask Smith what NOTHING is really selling, and the answer isn't a phone or a pair of earbuds; it's a feeling. He sees a culture exhausted by performance, the curated matcha lattes, the yoga poses, the "I'm living this perfect life" veneer, and a generation ready to reward the brands honest enough to drop it.
"I feel like we've lost some of that fun and excitement in tech," he says. "And that's really one of the things that we're trying to bring back."
More human. More fun. Less boring.
