JUST Branding

What if some of the most common advice in the design industry is complete bullshit? "Good design speaks for itself." "More concepts mean more value." "Every designer needs to become a strategist." "AI will replace graphic designers." We've all heard these claims. But how many actually hold up in the real world? In this episode of JUST Branding, Jacob Cass & Matt Davies are joined by Massimo Ze...

Does purpose really sell? TOMS helped prove that a business could connect commercial growth with positive impact. Its One for One model transformed a simple shoe purchase into a story millions of people wanted to join. Former TOMS brand leader Justin Herber joins us to examine the argument from inside one of the world’s best known purpose led brands. We explore how TOMS became a cultural movement,...

What makes a customer experience memorable? Learn more at https://justcreative.com/podcast In this episode, Jacob Cass speaks with customer experience expert and author Si Elliott about the psychology behind how people experience, perceive and remember brands. Drawing from his book, Customer Experience Thinking , Si explains how behavioural science can help brands create stronger customer relation...

AI is no longer simply helping consumers make decisions. It is becoming an active participant in what they discover, trust and buy. Learn more at https://justcreative.com/podcast In this episode of JUST Branding, Jacob Cass and Matt Davies speak with Asha Parmar, founder of Élan Intelligence, about the changing relationship between brands, buyers and AI. Asha explains how AI is compressing the tra...

Why do stories move people in ways that facts, features and clever messaging rarely can? Learn more at justcreative.com/podcast In this episode, Jacob Cass and Matt Davies speak with Park Howell, Emmy Award winning brand strategist, founder of The Business of Story and one of the world’s leading voices on business storytelling. Park explains why story remains one of the most powerful tools in bran...

In this episode, Jacob Cass & Matt Davies sit down with Ekaterina Solomeina, creative director, TEDx speaker, co-founder of Future London Academy, and host of Creative Capes, to explore how branding, design, and creative leadership are evolving. As AI accelerates execution and businesses face more complex cultural, technological, and commercial challenges, the value of creativity is shifting....

In this episode, Jacob Cass sits down with Jonathan Stark, pricing expert, author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, host of Ditching Hourly, and co-host of The Business of Authority, to unpack why trading time for money is such a poor fit for expert work. Together, Jacob and Jonathan explore the difference between fixed fees and true value pricing, how to run better sales conversations, why pricing is de...

In this episode of JUST Branding, we’re joined by Ulli Appelbaum, globally respected brand strategist, founder of First The Trousers, and author of The Science of Brand Associations . Ulli has spent years helping organisations understand how brands grow by shaping the associations people hold in memory. In this conversation, we unpack one of the most important and often misunderstood areas of bran...

In this episode, Jacob Cass and Matt Davies sit down with David C. Baker, author of The Business of Expertise and one of the leading voices on positioning, specialization, and advisory businesses. Learn more at https://justcreative.com/podcast Together, they explore what actually becomes valuable in a world where production is abundant. We discuss: • The difference between execution and expertise...

In this episode, we sit down with brand strategist and verbal identity specialist Emily Penny to unpack the growing challenge of differentiation in an increasingly saturated market. Learn more at https://justcreative.com/podcast Emily is the creator of the Fully Saturated report and founder of a micro studio focused on positioning and voice. Together, we explore why so many agencies struggle to st...

Jacob Cass and Matt Davies speak with Amelia Sordell, founder and CEO of Klowt and one of the leading voices in founder-led marketing. Learn more at justcreative.com/podcast As audiences become more sceptical of faceless companies, founders and leaders are becoming one of the most powerful trust signals a brand can have. The company brand still matters, but increasingly, people want to hear from t...

In this episode, Jacob and Matt sit down with Alexander Lofthouse — Senior Designer at Nzime and a specialist in UX and digital experience. Lex and Jacob go back nearly a decade, and after watching her deliver a standout talk at NDC London, it was time to get her on the show. They get into where brand strategy ends and UX begins (and whether that line even makes sense), what happens when brand and...

Why do some designers build lasting careers while others fade out? In this episode of JUST Branding, we sit down with James Martin , founder of Made by James , to unpack what really sustains creative success over time and what quietly destroys it. Learn more at https://justcreative.com/podcast While many designers are chasing visibility, speed, and short-term attention, James makes the case for so...

In this episode of JUST Branding, Jacob Cass and Matt Davies sit down with Kevin Finn, founder of TheSumOf and author of Brand Principles, to unpack a provocative idea that challenges a core assumption in the branding industry. Kevin argues that designers and agencies don’t build brands. Businesses do. Brands are not logos, identities, or positioning statements. They are the result of consistent d...

B2B rebrands do not fail because of the logo. They fail because the organisation was never aligned, the board never believed in it, and the rollout was treated like a campaign instead of infrastructure. In this episode with Martin Zarian of Factory39, we unpack the uncomfortable realities of branding inside complex organisations. If you work with complex B2B organisations or aspire to operate at b...

We’re joined by  Nikkia Adolphe , Chief Innovation Officer at  BrandSavor , to unpack the role PR plays in turning brand strategy into something people actually see, trust, and believe. With over 15 years leading communications and PR strategy for global brands like Amazon, Meta, and Ryder, Nikkia has worked at the sharp end of branding. Where positioning meets public perception. Where reputation...

We sit down with Debbie Millman, one of the most influential voices in design and brand thinking, to talk about what endures when trends fade and platforms shift. Learn more at https://justcreative.com/podcast Debbie is the host of Design Matters, the longest running podcast on design, launched in 2005. She is the co founder and chair of the Masters in Branding program at School of Visual Arts, an...

We’re closing out 2025 with a highlight reel from Season 6 of JUST Branding. This year we sat down with some serious heavy hitters, including Mark Ritson , Rory Sutherland , Marty Neumeier (round two), David Aaker (round two), Laura Ries , plus guests like Simon Dixon (DixonBaxi) , Michael Bungay Stanier , Jay Clouse , and more. In this best of episode, Jacob and Matt pull the sharpest clips, bigg...

From Kickstarter to thriving brand, Brevitē is a case study in how a challenger wins without a war chest. Learn more at https://justcreative.com/podcast In this episode of JUST Branding, we sit down with Brandon Kim, co-founder of Brevitē, to unpack how a scrappy Kickstarter project became a beloved camera bag brand for photographers, creators, and everyday explorers. We get into the real strategy...

In this episode, Jacob and Matt sit down with Thumbcorp’s co-founders Dan Cushing and Diego Borgo to unpack what brand fame really looks like in the worlds of blockchain, Web3 and frontier technology. Dan brings decades of creative and planning experience from Levi’s to Stella Artois to Vogue. Diego has helped global giants like adidas, Prada and Salesforce translate complex tech into stories the...

How do you reimagine one of the world’s most powerful brands? Over 18 months, across 15 global markets, and with 50+ sub-brands,  Koto  partnered with  Amazon  to deliver one of the largest brand transformations in recent history. In this episode,  James Greenfield , CEO and Founder of Koto, shares the inside story — from simplifying a sprawling brand architecture to modernising the iconic “smile....

In this episode, global branding expert  Laura Ries  joins Matt and Jacob to unpack her provocative new book  Strategic Enemy: How to Build a Brand Position by Fighting Someone Else . Together they explore why great brands need a clear adversary, how to choose the right one, and how this approach sharpens focus, storytelling, and growth. Expect iconic examples, practical frameworks, and fresh insp...

What if the key to standing out wasn’t finding your niche… but attacking the norm? Learn more at https://justcreative.com/podcast In this provocative episode, we sit down with Todd Irwin , Chief Strategy Officer at Fazer and author of the new book De-Positioning (Amazon), to challenge the status quo of brand strategy. Drawing on decades of experience with both global giants and venture-backed star...

Branding legend David Aaker returns to JUST Branding to unpack what separates truly strategic brands from the sea of sameness in 2025. We also spotlight the updated edition of Aaker on Branding and wrap with a fast-paced quickfire round you won’t want to miss. If you care about building brands that actually matter—this is essential listening.

Google is shifting—and fast. Between AI Overviews, zero-click results, and the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity, traditional search isn’t what it used to be. » Learn more at https://justcreative.com/podcast In this episode, we’re joined by Mordy Oberstein, a leading voice in SEO, to break down what these changes mean for brand builders, marketers, and strategists alike. But this isn’t your...