Building a brand is one thing; building its identity is a whole different ballgame. It demands a creative eye, a sharp understanding of the customer, distinctive aesthetics, and, above all, the power to make the audience feel something. That’s the recipe for cultural juggernauts! And few understand it better than Mohamed Rizwan, Managing Partner at POTNTIAL.
With over 20 years of experience, Rizwan works at the intersection of advertising, culture, and design, often blurring the lines between them to create impact beyond expectations.
At POTNTIAL, together with founder V. Sunil, Rizwan is quietly shaping powerful campaigns that are redefining how brands tell their stories. Most recently, Rizwan led a standout Nike campaign for the launch of the India-exclusive Air Force 1 ‘Unmistakable’. For Platform, he deconstructed his process of driving cultural shifts in the industry.
Air Force 1 is such an iconic shoe with its own history. How did you find ways to make it relevant to India and its athletes?
The Air Force 1 is an iconic shoe with its own history and story but given that the Air Force 1 Unmistakable was made specially for India, we had to find ways to make it relevant to both India and the athletes. The truth is that it takes an incredible amount of grit and strength to be a top-tier athlete in India. We wanted to take that and layer it with incredible style.
The campaign features young sportsmen like Tilak Varma and Shubman Gill. Beyond visibility, what were you looking for in the faces of this story? What made them right for this moment?
The likes of Shubman Gill and Tilak Verma are generational talents. In fact, the idea of the campaign was to remind people that it takes more than talent to beat the odds and represent India. It takes an elite mindset, a certain strength and grit to navigate whatever life throws at them; from humble beginnings, to family pressures, bad infrastructure, injury setbacks, selection troubles, you name it. They just keep picking themselves and keep going. It’s really quite incredible when you think about it.
Do you follow a specific creative process when working on a campaign of this scale? For instance, does it begin with a visual, a line, a tension, a question?
This is such a great question. Instinct is such an important part of the creative process. But like the athletes, execution takes a different kind of rigour. The good part is that when you have Nike as a partner, you have people who completely understand the creative vision. So we end up setting very strong guardrails of do’s and don’ts so that the work doesn’t fall into the world of cliches and we are always pushing the conversation forward. Once we set the guardrails, it boils down to really perfecting every detail. The line, the layout, the cropping, no detail is too small.
In this fast-paced, constantly evolving digital world, our attention spans have declined significantly. In your view, what can be done to keep storytelling at the heart of everything?
By finding the emotional truth. I think it’s super important to continue to respect people’s time and tell them something they can feel is true. This means zero room for superficial nonsense. Nothing is more interesting, or crazier, than the truth. I mean, look at Trump. He’s the best content machine out there.
What are your views on AI and its impact on the creative process in brand building?
My views on AI could fill the entire page, but I approach it like a tool. And as a tool, it is incredible. AI is everywhere, but it’s important to use it to communicate the idea effectively. And if it’s relevant. Like your previous question, the emotional truth will only come from gut and feeling, AI comes after.
What lies at the heart of the work at POTNTIAL? What is the kind of work do you want to be known for?
At the heart of the work for POTNTIAL is a genuine desire to move the conversation forward for brands, for ourselves, the industry, and even society. The truth is that what we do is part of pop culture, which means people engage with it, feel it, touch it, and hopefully talk about it. Apart from impacting business, we have a big opportunity to move the needle culturally. We don’t have to do it with every project but at its best and most powerful, the potential is huge.
Where do you see yourself in the next ten years, especially in a world that is constantly changing?
Ten years? We’re not quite sure how AI is going to impact the world in the next 2 years! I think the truth is that we have to keep our ear to the ground, adapt, and continue to build a company and ecosystem that more and more people want to be a part of - from talent looking to join a great creative company, to businesses who want to make an impact to coders and makers and thinkers. We have to build the future, not watch it go by.
Words Hansika Lohani
Date 26.2.2026