Blog Archives


How to follow trends without losing your brand’s soul

How should brands best navigate trends while keeping their brand authenticity?

[Another quick outtake from a lovely discussion with Sean McGrath for the marketing MBA program at the University of Michigan’s College of Business]

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A Journey Through All Things Brand

Join us as we browse through my professional journey and unravel many brand questions along the way, such as: The biggest branding mistakes businesses make, Why our opinions on the Jaguar and Walmart re-brands don’t matter, How to build a brand that connects and sells, Why branding is about shortening the journey from “maybe” to “definitely”

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EP114 – Hello Genius: Till Janczukowicz, Founder

This is the first time I get to say ‘welcome back’ on Hitting The Mark as I had Till Janczukowicz, the founder of Berlin-based IDAGIO, which is often described as ‘the Spotify for classical music,’ on episode 21.

 

But this is not a Let’s catch up with Till episode to check in on IDAGIO. Instead, I recently saw that he is preparing for an exciting brand launch that features none other than John Malkovich to kick things off.

 

The idea? Spend a month with John. Hello Genius is the brand’s name, and it fosters a whole new level of mentorship, access, and community.

 

On this episode, Till shares his vision for the brand in his typical intellectually stimulating and curiosity-evoking manner.

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What makes a brand a brand?

During a guest lecture with Sean McGrath I was pondering the age-old question: What makes a strong brand?

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Why branding is an insurance layer

Branding is not a nice to have; it is a necessity, a powerful layer of insurance around your product/service.

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EP113 – BEZI: Ilay Karateke, Co-Founder

Ilay Karateke is on a mission to bring Labneh to kitchens around the United States, or maybe this is more of a sprint than a mission because her brand, BEZI, is moving fast.

 

Product development started in the kitchen a year ago. Today, they’re in stores across New York City with e-commerce starting in December, and I can almost assure you that national distribution will follow shortly.

 

This is one of the very few super early-stage startup brands—BEZI has only been on the market for a few weeks—that I invited to this show. And very quickly, during this episode, you will understand why.

 

We talk about the power of design, data, photography, brand strategy, social media growth strategies, and so much in between. If you are a founder, a marketer, or someone working with brands, this is an episode not to be missed as it will leave you inspired and ready to push on all things ‘brand.’

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EP112 – Rhone: Ben Checketts, Creative Director & Co-Founder

Together with his brother, Ben Checketts co-founded Rhone, an athleisure wear brand inspired by the quality of Lululemon and the urge to craft a stand-out label for men.

 

The brand is driven by the pursuit of mental fitness and Ben’s philosophy on branding is both refreshing and insightful.

 

We talk about naming, focus groups, how brands are shaped yet set free – a lot like children are being raised – and why Rhone’s Co-Founders bought out their investors to see through the next chapter of the fast-growing clothing brand.  

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EP111 – Uncle Matt’s Organic: Matt McLean, Founder

Matt McLean ventured into the organic juice business 25 years ago with one goal: to fuel families with uncompromised nutrition. Today, Uncle Matt’s Organic produces the #1 bestselling organic orange juice nationwide. Matt is hustling the same way he did 25 years ago with new product launches and market expansions happening as we speak.

 

We talk about how his initial packaging design was hitting the mark for his ideal customer but left the rest of the country wayside, the very moment he learned that his juice would be accepted by a major grocery store chain, and how he exited the business just to repurchase it a few years later. Get ready for a highly entertaining episode with a true entrepreneur who has his heart in the right place and it shows through so many aspects of the Uncle Matt’s brand.

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EP110 – Frich: Aleksandra Medina & Katrin Kaurov, Co-Founders

Aleksandra Medina and Katrin Kaurov co-founded Frich (which stands for ‘F***ing rich’), a financial literacy app for Gen Z that breaks the money taboo and makes it a social topic.

 

Frich busts into the world of corporate finance backed by a brand that could not be any more differentiated and authentic. With their fists in the air, Aleksandra and Katrin lead with transparency in an opaque space and share the truth about how one compares to their peers financially.

 

The app uses social media to gather that truth while social media is at the very heart of why so many feel financially inadequate. A fascinating startup and an equally fascinating conversation filled with brand insights any founder or marketer should grab onto.

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EP109 – Ozlo: Rockwell Shah, CEO & N.B. Patil, Co-Founder + CTO

Episode 109 brings us Rockwell Shah, the CEO, and N.B. Patil, the Co-Founder & CTO of Ozlo, an innovation startup in the sleep technology space.

 

All three of Ozlo’s Co-Founders are former Bose veterans and they acquired and licensed assets from Bose to resurrect the discontinued but beloved Sleepbuds.

 

This episode is a fascinating conversation about building a new brand on existing IP, the fragile tension between what customers say they want and what they actually need, building a brand not on a singular product but a grander vision, how most consumer startups fail because they are not telling the right story, and how branding, in the end, is all about alignment – a simple but deep thought that we are exploring further together today.

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FINIEN