Marketing Together
Marketing Together is the podcast for marketers who want to do great work and get recognized for it. Co-hosted by Ana Vazquez (product marketing) and Shana Thomas (brand & lifecycle marketing), we break down the real strategies behind product marketing, brand building, CRM, and career growth. Each episode digs into a brand, campaign, or marketing trend with real data, honest hot takes, and actionable takeaways you can apply immediately. From go-to-market strategy and positioning to building your personal brand and navigating the industry with confidence, we cover the topics ambitious marketers actually talk about (just usually not out loud).New episodes...
Liquid Death: How Water Became a Personality
How does a company sell canned water for $2 more than a bottle, and get people to want to pay it?
In this episode of Marketing Together, we break down the Liquid Death marketing strategy and how the brand turned a category everyone assumed was boring into one of the most talked-about consumer brands in the world. We dig into Liquid Death's branding playbook: the heavy metal aesthetic, the shock-value copywriting, the meme-driven social strategy, and how they built a cult following without traditional advertising.
You'll learn what other brands — especially in "boring" categories — can steal from thei...
Backstreet Boys vs. NSYNC: The Brand Rivalry One Man Engineered
In this episode of Marketing Together, hosts Shana Thomas and Ana Vazquez trace how one manager, Lou Pearlman, built Backstreet Boys and NSYNC as competing products out of the same factory, in the same city, chasing the same audience, on purpose. We go back through the lineage from The Beatles to New Kids on the Block's $400 million merch empire, into TRL's fan-fueled urgency that shut down Times Square, and break down how personality-based fandom, manufactured rivalry, and emotional memory became a full brand playbook.
We also get into what the machine got right (distinct personalities, omnichannel presence before...
Green Noise: Why Your Sustainability Story Isn't Landing.
Sustainability marketing has a trust problem. Consumers say they're willing to pay more for sustainable products, yet trust in brand sustainability claims is at an all-time low. In this episode, Shana and Ana break down the difference between greenwashing and green marketing, why "conscious" branding language stopped working, and what it actually takes to close the credibility gap between what brands claim and what they deliver. We cover real greenwashing case studies, including H&M's Conscious Collection lawsuit, Patagonia's own admission that "nothing we do is sustainable," and Nudie Jeans' repair program with no fine print. These examples show the...
Celebrity Philanthropy or Brand Strategy? Breaking Down I Love You
On his 21st birthday, Jaden Smith parked a food truck on Skid Row and started handing out free vegan meals. Six years later, he's still doing it. So is I Love You genuine philanthropy, or a masterclass in brand strategy? In this episode of Marketing Together, hosts Shana Thomas (brand marketing) and Ana Vazquez (product marketing) break down Jaden Smith's I Love You Restaurant: the nonprofit-meets-fashion-brand model, its "pay-it-forward" funding structure, and how it stacks up against Jon Bon Jovi's JBJ Soul Kitchen and Panera's failed pay-what-you-can experiment. We dig into the branding genius behind the name "I Love You,"...
