Let's talk branding

In this episode, Dan Salkey is back on the show to talk about their latest research paper called ‘Entertain or Die’. This is the second round and this time Dan shares some new insights on how to actually build an entertainment brand.

Important links

* You can find the full report here.

* Find Dan on LinkedIn here

Hey everyone! Super happy to kick off a new season with more brand-building legends and insights.

In this conversation, I chat with Damian Borchok, Managing Director of Koto for the Asia Pacific region. A conversation sparked by a great article on Koto ‘s newsletter, We discussed the nuances of branding, rebranding, and brand refreshes. Damian emphasizes the importance of understanding the value of a brand and the strategic decisions behind rebranding efforts. Through various case studies, including Walmart, Burger King, Bolt, Tropicana, and Jaguar, Damian explores the complexities of brand identity, market signals for change, and the ex...

In this episode, we have a good (loyal?) friend of the show back for a second round: John Lyons.

Important links

* John on LinkedIn

* John’s new YouTube show ‘Bin Juice’

Show notes

* John on LinkedIn

* John’s Substack and other links

Summary

* John shares his journey from advertising to consulting, focusing on practical outcomes rather than marketing politics.

* He highlights the common misconception that advertising only means paid ads and explains that any brand communication can be seen as "advertising."

* John describes the industry's split between "brand" and "performance" marketing, noting that customers don’t view these distinctions.

* He emphasizes the importance of measuring marketing's financial impact and explains why companies need an "always-on" approach to m...

Show notes

* Adam’s agency Thinkerbell

* Adam’s book: Stop listening to the customer

Summary

* Adam Ferrier challenges the idea of being "customer-obsessed," arguing that brands lose their identity by focusing too much on consumer needs.

* He believes brands should prioritize their own values and what they stand for instead of solely catering to customer demands.

* Companies like Apple and IKEA are examples of successful brands that don’t always prioritize customer convenience but stick to their vision.

* Ferrier suggests that modern marketing often dilutes creati...

Here are the key takeaways from the podcast:

* Effectiveness in marketing: It's about ensuring that marketing efforts, particularly advertising, achieve their intended goals, whether that's awareness, behavior change, or sales.

* Econometrics simplified: Econometrics uses data to determine if a marketing campaign worked by analyzing both the campaign’s direct impact and other factors (e.g. a competitor campaign) that could influence the outcome.

* When to use econometrics: It's most useful for businesses with multiple marketing channels and more complex budgets but might not be necessary for very small businesses with straightforward marketing efforts.

As a brand designer, Austin experienced a similar journey to mine, he learned about the power of brand strategy and started offering it to clients. Things were great. But on that journey towards becoming a strategist, he also noticed that some things were broken in this new ‘era’ of strategic brand designers.We explore the following topics:

* Is Brand Strategy Overrated?: We dive into whether brand strategy is often overhyped, sometimes leading to boring or trendy brand identities that don't stand the test of time.

* Distinctiveness is key: The key takeaway is that making your bran...

Discover the 5 key brand religions, their core beliefs, and how they can apply to your brand.

Important links

* Download the white paper to take a deep dive into the 5 brand religions

* Kristof on LinkedIn

* The episode with Jan Verlinden (Ritchie)

Creative business company

One of the biggest challenges in my own career has been trying to convince business leaders that their ‘brand’ is one of the most important assets of their company.

That’s why this episode is sponsored by Creative Business Company, a strategic consul...

Discover the captivating marketing story of Ritchie, a Belgian lemonade brand built from strong marketing principles by entrepreneur/marketer Jan Verlinden (ex Pepsi-co). Learn how Jan leverages his experience at big brands to grow Ritchie through unexpected marketing channels and tactics to expand his market share gradually.

Show notes

* Jan on LinkedIn

* Check out Ritchie, the amazing brand Jan is building

* The book about the Ritchie story (online in Dutch)

Creative business company

One of the biggest challenges in my own career has been trying...

A deep dive into the problematic state of online advertising, from its lack of effectiveness to its societal impacts.

Show notes

* Find ‘Adscam’ + the free ebooks on Bob’s website

* Bob on LinkedIn

Creative business company

One of the biggest challenges in my own career has been trying to convince business leaders that their ‘brand’ is one of the most important assets of their company.

That’s why this episode is sponsored by Creative Business Company, a strategic consultancy on a mission to make brand more accountable and effectiv...

A deep dive into brand architecture and how to use it to strengthen your brand positioning

Show notes

* Felicia on LinkedIn

* The Morningstar case study by Creative business company

Brand strategy course

Activate your strategic brain and level up your creative business. Find courses on brand strategy, brand workshops, and brand strategy presentations. You can use LTBPODCAST to get a 20% discount.

In this episode, we discover the power of ‘associative attention’, a framework developed by Max Stricker and Samuel Brealey. It zooms in on the importance of not only getting attention but the right type of attention through strong association.

Show notes

* Associative Attention Paper & ‘Health Check’

Associative Attention is a framework that helps brand owners deliver better executions (think advertising, POS material, packaging). It connects the dots between the WHAT and the HOW of attention. Brand owners need to do well in both areas and those who do can see transformational executions.

You ca...

Discover what it takes to be a leader in brand for a large B2B tech company.

Show notes

* Gwen on LinkedIn

* This episode is sponsored by Creative business company. Find your free no-bs brand-building guides here.

Brand strategy course

Activate your strategic brain and level up your creative business. Find courses on brand strategy, brand workshops, and brand strategy presentations. You can use LTBPODCAST to get a 20% discount.

Show notes

* The multiplayer brand slidedeck

* Zoe on LinkedIn

* This episode is sponsored by Creative business company. Find your free no-bs brand-building guides here.

Brand strategy course

Activate your strategic brain and level up your creative business. Find courses on brand strategy, brand workshops, and brand strategy presentations. You can use LTBPODCAST to get a 20% discount.

Show notes:

* Article on Brand difference and pricing power

* Dom Boyd on LinkedIn

* BrandZ index

* This episode is sponsored by Creative business company. Find your free no-bs brand-building guides here.

Brand strategy course

Activate your strategic brain and level up your creative business. Find courses on brand strategy, brand workshops, and brand strategy presentations. You can use LTBPODCAST to get a 20% discount.

How brands can create an unfair creative advantage.

Show notes

* Discover the full paper here.

* Dan Salkey on LinkedIn.

* This episode is sponsored by Creative business company. Find your free no-bs brand-building guides here.

Brand strategy course

Activate your strategic brain and level up your creative business. Find courses on brand strategy, brand workshops, and brand strategy presentations. You can use LTBPODCAST to get a 20% discount.

Show notes

* Professor Pauwels on LinkedIn

* This episode is sponsored by Creative business company. Find your free no-bs brand-building guides here

Brand strategy course

Activate your strategic brain and level up your creative business. Find courses on brand strategy, brand workshops, and brand strategy presentations. You can use LTBPODCAST to get a 20% discount.

Show notes

* Bart on LinkedIn

* Bart’s new venture: I know a guy

Key Takeaways

* Understanding client problems and formulating them better than the clients themselves is crucial in agency-client relationships.

* The balance between digital and branding is essential in marketing strategies, with a shift towards investing in branding for long-term effectiveness.

* New platforms like TikTok and AR are on the rise and should be explored for marketing opportunities.

* Investing in the fundamentals of marketing while experimenting with new platforms is a key approach to fu...

Show notes

* Discover the full trends report here

* Rachael Higgins on LinkedIn

* Will Posket on LinkedIn

Summary

* 🚀 Back to the Pod: Host Stef kicks off the year chatting with Will Posket & Rachael Higgins about 2024's hot branding and marketing trends. Time to dive in and learn!

* 🤖 AI & Truth-Seeking: Will and Rachael talk about AI's rise and its impact on branding. Brands need to be authentic and truthful in an "era of cheap fakes." Think Dove's 'Cost of Beauty' campaign – realness is key!

* 🤪 Embrace the Absurd...

Summary

* 🤖 AI in Mascot Creation: Making it easier and more accessible, especially for smaller brands.

* 💡 Before AI: Creating a mascot was a big deal – think illustrators, 3D artists, studios. Now, AI tools like Midjourney and Dali are game-changers.

* 🎨 AI's Impact: Brands can now craft imaginative characters consistently and bring them to life in various contexts.

* 🚀 Haris’s Story: How he crafted the purple, chef-hat-wearing monster, Calvin Cooks, and made his content more memorable.

* 🛠️ DIY Mascot Magic: Using Bing AI Image Generator for consistency across marketing touchpoints.

* 🌟 The Power of a Mascot: Stand...

Summary

* 📈 David Taylor discusses distinctive brand assets: their importance in branding and the gap between understanding their value and effectively managing them.

* 🌎 Taylor's experience: Over 22 years with The Brand Gym, helping brands from banking to biscuits grow, and running the Brand Gym Academy for training.

* 📊 Research insights: Despite unanimous agreement on the importance of brand assets, only 15% are truly distinctive, revealing an 'implementation gap.'

* 🛠️ Challenges in brand asset management: Subjectivity in decisions, an obsession with novelty, and difficulties in amplifying assets across channels.

* 🚀 Strategies for success: Importance of cross-agency coll...

Summary

Here's a summary of the key points from the podcast:

* The Evolution and Challenges in Branding: The podcast features Jacob Cass, the founder of Just Creative, discussing current trends and challenges in the branding industry, including the impact of AI, the rise of accessible design tools like Canva, and the changing landscape of pricing strategies.

* The State of Brand Report: Cass released a comprehensive report titled "The State of Brand," based on interviews with 267 branding professionals worldwide. The report highlights key areas like pricing strategies, client acquisition, AI's future in branding, and...

Here's a summary of the podcast transcript:

* Chris Walker's Background and Journey: Chris Walker, CEO of Refine Labs, shared his journey from an engineering role at BEA Inc. to product management, and eventually starting his own company. He emphasized his diverse experience in B2B companies across roles like product management, engineering, and marketing, which laid the foundation for his business success.

* Refine Labs' Impact on B2B Marketing: Under Chris's leadership, Refine Labs has significantly influenced how B2B companies approach demand generation and revenue operations. He discussed the company's innovative strategies...

What we talk about

* The importance of brand health and what it means

* How to do brand tracking using survey tools

* The different metrics like awareness, category entry points, …

* How to analyse brand tracking results

* Common pitfalls

Important links

* Jenni’s latest book: Better brand health, a must-read!

* Jenni on LinkedIn

Learn brand strategy

Activate your strategic brain and level up your creative business. Find courses on brand strategy, brand workshops, and brand strategy presentations. You can use...

We talk about

* The different lifestages of a brand and what it should focus on (product, brand, demand gen, …)

* Harvesting current demand vs generating future demand.

* Full transcript available on Substack

Important links

* James his agency, Previously unavailable (Great work)

* Future demand, the book we discuss

* Watch the video interview here

Learn brand strategy

Activate your strategic brain and level up your creative business. Find courses on brand strategy, brand workshops, and brand strategy presentations. You can use LTBPODCAST to get a...

In this episode, we talk about:

* Ragged edge, one of my favorite branding agencies

* The strategy and research work that goes into developing a unique brand

* The ‘X’ rebrand

* The rise of brand mascots

* Distinctiveness vs Differentiation

* Branding and the impact of AI on the space

Learn brand strategy

Activate your strategic brain and level up your creative business. Find courses on brand strategy, brand workshops, and brand strategy presentations. You can use LTBPODCAST to get a 20% discount.

In this episode I talk with Lee Rolston, chief growth officer at JKR about their recent study on brand assets with Ipsos.  

“The first job of branding is to make sure your brand is recognized as uniquely and unmistakably you. Only then can brand awareness, image, consideration, preference, penetration, frequency and all conversion to purchase measures, flow. With only 15% of all brand assets tested in our report measuring as truly distinctive, it is not an exaggeration to say that the marketing industry is facing a crisis of identity. With more content and tech-enabled means of brands being dis...

Important links

* Julian Cole’s course with LTB discount here

* Julian on Twitter

* This episode is sponsored by Creative business company. Find your free no-bs brand-building guides here.

The AI summary

I asked Notion AI to summarize our podcast transcript in 10 key lessons:

* Use AI at the beginning and end of the strategy process, not in the middle.

* AI can be used to gather research and prompt ideas at the beginning of a project.

* Use AI for word craft at the end of a...

Important links:

* ‘Frank’ on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn

* G’day Frank website

The AI summary:

Captivating Moments of Connection: Lessons from a Branding Pro

* A brand is not just how it looks, but a captivating moment of connection between the consumer and the business.

* Branding is an extension of that connection, finding clarity and how to captivate attention.

* Authenticity is essential for a brand to connect with consumers.

* Brand strategy is not the same as a mission or vision, but rather finding clarity and co...

In this podcast, Jon discusses the five key elements of successful advertising: emotion, story arc, soundtrack, character, and fluency. He emphasizes the importance of entertaining and making people feel positive emotions, while also incorporating purpose and authenticity. Jon also touches on the influence of social media and the evolving advertising landscape

Important links

* Jon Evans on Twitter, LinkedIn

* The uncensored CMO podcast

* System 1 group

The brand audit template

As a brand strategist, I’ve often noticed that a brand audit is one of the most ov...

In this episode, we explore the power of the ‘creator mindset’ with creative director turned creator Alex Antolino. It’s a deep dive into the creator economy and what brands can learn from people like Mr. Beast. Looking for a summary? Scroll down and you’ll find the AI summary of the transcript.

Find Alex on Instagram, LinkedIn or Youtube.

The brand audit template

As a brand strategist, I’ve often noticed that a brand audit is one of the most overlooked and valuable services for a brand. Check out my fresh brand audit temp...

Show notes:

* Nick’s substack and the article on Purpose Nihilism

* Nick on Twitter

The brand audit template

As a brand strategist, I’ve often noticed that a brand audit is one of the most overlooked and valuable services for a brand. Check out my fresh brand audit template on Holabrief and explore many more creative/strategic exercises.

Show notes:

* The article that sparked the conversation

* Science Magic, where Max works

* Max on LinkedIn and Twitter

The brand audit template

As a brand strategist, I’ve often noticed that a brand audit is one of the most overlooked and valuable services for a brand. Check out my fresh brand audit template on Holabrief and explore many more creative/strategic exercises.

In this show, I chat with the amazing Tom Roach. A marketing strategist with loads of experience at some of the world's best advertising agencies.

- The wrong and short of it article

- Tom's blog (check out the other amazing articles too)

- The original book by Binet & Field, the long and short of it

- Tom's currently working at Jellyfish

If you want to stay up to date, please subscribe on Substack.

In this episode, I chat with Twitter buddy RJ Youngling, he calls himself an ‘entrepreneurial scientist. We take a deep-dive into the world of maths, Ehrenberg-bass insitute, bro-science and a lot more.

You can find RJ on twitter here and check out his paid stuff here.

This episode is sponsored by Creative business company. Find your free no-bs brand-building guides here.

If you want to stay tuned for more Let’s talk branding news, episodes and videos, subscribe below!

In this episode, I chat with the legendary Byron Sharp. We discuss the under-highlighted topic of subscription markets vs repertoire markets.

* What defines such a market?

* What can we learn from them?

* What are the implications for marketers?

* What does it mean for small brands?

* Do we see any other distinctions between brands that have implications for brand growth? We discuss small vs big - luxury vs commodity - B2B vs B2C

Important links

* You can find the paper we discuss here

In this episode, I talk with Humor expert Paddy Gilmore. We talk about the power of humor for brands.

Topics

* What types of humor are there?

* And what brands can leverage it?

* How can you make sure you don’t end up on the dark side of humor?

* And what is the science behind all of it?

Explore the serious business of being funny with me in this latest episode.

Important links

* Paddy’s studio: Studio Gilmore

Want to stay up to d...

In this latest episode, I chat with Faisal for the second time. We discuss positioning and what the power is for challenger brands. It’s an interesting deep dive into brand marketing, performance marketing, and the role of positioning for brands on a budget.

Important links

* The whitepaper Faisal and his team created

* Faisal on Twitter

* Creative business company

* Our first episode: Building a brand on a budget

* The brand new BS show on Youtube

* Austins branding b******t newsletter

* This episode is sp...

In this episode, I talk with the legendary Peter Weinberg, head of development at The B2B institute from LinkedIn. We talk about the common misperceptions in B2B marketing, how to build a B2B brand on a budget, and the differences/similarities between B2B and B2C marketing. It's a really great episode full of knowledge bombs so I'll bet you'll enjoy it! 

Important links:

If you're interested in learning more about brand strategy research, check out my latest course here. Use PODCASTLTB and get a 20% d...

In this episode, I talk with Ian Humphris, the founder of Nokamo consulting. Ian has a wide knowledge of marketing and branding. We get deep into the weeds of what 'brand-building' really means for the balance sheet. We also chat about what we can learn from industry legends like Byron Sharp, Rosser Reeves, Mark Ritson, and much more about segmentation, differentiation, and a lot more. 

If you're interested in learning more about brand strategy research, check out my latest course here. Use PODCASTLTB and get a 20% discount.