Blog Archives


EP018 – Stephen Sokoler, Founder & CEO, Journey Meditation

Fabian talks with Stephen Sokoler, the founder and CEO of Journey Meditation. Stephen runs a company on a mission: to help all people live happier, healthier, less stressed lives. Founded in 2015, Journey is building the world’s largest, most supportive meditation community both online and off. TechCrunch coined it ‘the Peloton of meditation.’ Journey also operates corporate programs with organizations ranging from Facebook, Disney, and Nike, to charter schools, hospitals, and non-profits.

 

Take a breather and let your mind wander, away from the Donald Trump and Boris Johnson world on the outside, to start looking within, because here’s a thing you don’t see mixed very often: meditation and branding. And on this episode, we see the two blend together effortlessly and authentically since Stephen listened to his friend Simon Sinek’s advice and asked the question ‘why?’ at the onset of his new venture, and a great brand foundation derived from it.

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Ep017 – Mike Cessario, Co-Founder & CEO, Liquid Death

In this episode, Fabian talks with Mike Cessario who founded Liquid Death, the first irreverent bottled water brand that can compete with the cool factor of unhealthy brands from beer to energy drinks. Inspired by the death metal and punk rock culture, Liquid Death takes an extreme approach to branding and marketing, in stark contrast to aspirational health and wellness brands.

 

Launching into the water business with a brand named Liquid Death, while getting $2.3 million in funding from the likes of Michael Dubin, of Dollar Shave Club fame, and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, is nothing but a genius brand move and the more you listen to Mike (who is an alumn of my alma mater, ArtCenter College Of Design), talk about his brand, the more you will adjust your own point of view on branding and marketing. So go ahead and go punk rock with us and ‘murder your thirst’ for an insanely inspiring episode.

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Ep016 – Michael Lastoria, Co-Founder, &pizza

Fabian sits down with creative extraordinaire Michael Lastoria, who, after selling his New-York-based agency to beauty powerhouse Shiseido in 2017, is now Co-Founder of the counter culture pizza brand ‘&pizza,’ which has 36 locations in the U.S. and is rapidly growing based on its inherent brand thinking and employee-first commitment.

 

When your employees and customers alike start tattooing your brand mark onto their bodies, you know that you’ve been growing a special kind of brand. Full of energy and wisdom, Michael is sharing the stories and recipes behind &pizza’s brand success with you on this whirlwind of inspiration we call Episode 16.

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Ep015 – Devon Townsend, Co-Founder, Cameo

Fabian talks with Devon Townsend who co-founded Cameo, a platform that lets you book personalized video shoutouts from your favorite celebrities. Devon is 28, received 15.8 million in funding, and runs a 60+ employee company that both Howard Stern and Ellen love, and Snoop Dogg fully embodies. As you may imagine, Devon knows a thing or two about creating a brand that people will love, and he is sharing all of it with you on this episode. Dive right in!

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Ep014 – Sam Mazzeo, Co-Founder, Wilkmazz

Fabian chats with Sam Mazzeo who runs a law office in San Diego together with his partner that they built into a brand that goes against the grain. His firm’s brand is built on boldness in an industry that is known for blandness. Wilkmazz’s client area is subtly titled ‘Lawyer’s Shit.’ Sam talks about the pros and cons of creating a bold brand and why one needs to keep re-branding over and over again in order to remain authentic.

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Ep013 – Chris Kerr, Chief Investment Officer, New Crop Capital

Fabian talks with Chris Kerr, Chief Investment Officer at New Crop Capital, as we go Beyond Meat (yes, that was a brand hint). This show was recorded on May 3rd, 2019, which happens to have been the day after Beyond Meat’s stunning and widely publicized IPO. This marked a first for a brand making meat-like products from plants. Chris has been involved with Beyond Meat from the very beginning and we learn what role positioning and branding played in this incredible success story that any brand, may that be food and beverage or not, can learn from.

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The importance of branding for designers

Fabian Geyrhalter discusses how communication designers and architectural visualization artists can stand out in a sea of sameness.

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Ep012 – Ben Kneppers, Co-Founder, Bureo

Fabian is on the line with Ben Kneppers in São Paulo for what must be one of the most inspiring episodes to date. Ben is a co-founder of Bureo, an emerging B Corp focused on creating innovative solutions to ocean plastic pollution. The company is now collaborating with brands such as Trek, Humanscale and Jenga. We talk about how to create real, sustainable change, learn about forming a B Corp, how they secured Patagonia as ‘a mentor,’ and how to get a community involved in your cause. And so much more.

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Ep011 – Mark Wallace, Co-Founder, Parlor Skis

In this episode, Fabian is joined by Mark Wallace, Co-Founder of Parlor, a custom ski brand from New England that is taking the art of customization and personalization to new heights. We learn how Parlor skis are “customized for you, by you and with you, each one as individual as you are.”

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Ep010 – Frank Demmler, Angel Investor

Fabian talks with Frank Demmler, who Inc Magazine dubbed Pittsburgh’s ‘startup whisperer.’ We discuss how branding can set the direction for a B2B brand and how vintage inspired clothing brand Modcloth used crowdsourcing on many innovative levels to turn into a brand that was worth between $51 million to $75 million to Walmart.

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