JUST Branding

In this episode, Jacob Cass & Matt Davies delve into the subject of community building for both brands & creatives. We jump straight into understanding your audience, where we cover defining your target audience, understanding their needs and behaviors, and researching to gain insights. We then move on to defining your community's purpose, highlighting the importance of identifying core va...

In this episode, we dive into the world of brand consulting, what it is, and how it differs from other roles in the branding industry. We discuss the key qualities that make a successful brand consultant, including confidence, communication and listening skills, a growth mindset, and strong facilitation abilities. Next, we will each share our own background and experiences in the branding industry...

What a year! In this episode, we share some of our favorite insights from our esteemed guests. Episodes featured (in order):  E19: Supercharging Innovation & Creativity with Hussain Almossawi E9: Agile Swarming with Dennis Hahn E20: Brands VS Blands with Ariadna Navarro E11: Debunking Branding Bull with Austin Franke E13: Million Dollar Consulting with Alan Weiss E18: Brand Positioning with Ul...

As brand builders, we used to build brands that would last. Campaigns would extend for years, and visual identity systems—once created—wouldn’t become obsolete for decades. Today, the speed of change is so aggressive, brand builders must consider that what they build now could be irrelevant in a few months. Brands face a choice. First, they can commit to brand positioning and stay true to their vi...

Discover how to harness your fire, flex your courage and supercharge your ideas to create remarkable products, services & experiences, with the knowledge shared by the creative powerhouse, Hussain Almossawi. Hussain has just released a book titled “The Innovator’s Handbook: A Short Guide to Unleashing Your Creative Mindset” which is full of insights, ideas, stories & practical exercises th...

How can brands position themselves for success in today’s marketplace? That is the question. And we have the answer! In this episode, we discuss proven brand positioning methodologies that actually work, complete with examples and practical steps you can use to develop your own brand positioning that are truly differentiating, distinctive, and highly relevant. To guide us, we have Ulli Appelbaum,...

David Aaker is the author of over 100 articles and 18 books on branding, business strategy, and marketing that have sold well over one million copies. Hailed the “Father of Modern Branding”, David is a true authority on branding and we’re incredibly humbled to have him here on JUST Branding. In this episode, we focus on two of his recent books… The first is “Owning Game-Changing Subcategories” whi...

What stories are you living? What about your brand? And how do you manage that meaning? With Archetypes. And who better to discuss the power of archetypes than Carol S. Pearson? Carol is the co-author of “The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes” (Published 2001), alongside Margaret Mark. This book has been incredibly influential in the brand strategy...

We get super practical with Israeli duo, Margaret Jerr-Jarrett, and Emunah Winer, founders of Jerusalem-based agency, Nihilo. We tuck into how they use words and ideas to build powerful brands and we explore how the strategic elements of brand building find their way into the creative look and feel and customer experiences a brand produces for customers. We review what a “Verbal” Identity is and w...

Ezequiel Abramzon is a brand strategist who spent 20+ years working as an executive at Disney as a marketer and strategist running digital across LATAM and later overseeing global creative from the UK. He now lives in Spain where he works as a consultant helping entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies transform the way they see their business by unlocking their brand mindset. And brand mindset...

Who better to learn about consulting from than "the consultants consultant" Alan Weiss? Alan wrote the famous best selling book "Million Dollar Consultant" and is the author of over 60 books on consulting and business. In this episode Matt and Jacob sit down with Alan to discuss how the principles of Alan's books can be applied to brand strategy. We explore why consultancy is a good option, differ...

Friction isn't something to be avoided. Successful brands not only understand the difference between good and bad friction but also know how to embrace a dose of good friction to create greater value. Soon Yu, author of ‘Friction: 'Adding Value By Making People Work for It' will show you how to leverage good friction to drive increased engagement, meaning, belonging, rapport, assurance, competence...

Austin Franke is a brand strategist and the founder of WooPunch, a brand & design consultancy rooted in the science of how brands grow. Austin is going to be sharing his approach to brand, which is a less conventional approach, based on behavioral science and other evidence-based fields. We’re going to “debunk” or at least throw a few punches around in regards to what Austin calls “Branding Bu...

Big companies struggle with the principles of brand. In this episode we sit down with Freelance Internal Brand Strategist, the powerful Meg Kypena. In this episode we dig deep into how corporations can use the power of branding to align their people and communicate better. This is branding from the inside, out.

This episode is a real treat for anyone looking to level up on how to work on brand strategy collaboratively. Matt Davies and Jacob Cass sit down with global agency leader Dennis Hahn of Liquid agency. Together they quiz Dennis on his 'agile swarming' methodology covering what swarming is and what problems it solves for leadership, strategy, and creative teams. Dennis outlines his principles for s...

If you are serious about brand building at scale, this is the episode for you. Richard Cotter is a brand consultant at the top of his game. He left school at 17 and developed his career to the point where now he is parachuted to work with large organizations that have brands that are underperforming and help scale them. He is best known for turning around outdoor performance and lifestyle brand Be...

What does Web3 mean for brands & creatives? What about NFTs and The Metaverse?  We break it all down for you in layman’s terms, with special guest Kostas K! We go over the fundamentals of Web3 including its definition, why it matters, tokens, the blockchain, cryptocurrency, wallets, and trends in the space.  Plus a discussion around NFTs, what they are (and are not), and the opportunities bran...

Often we think of brand-building from a commercial or business perspective. This week's guest thinks this needs to change and that as brand builders we need to consider our efforts from the perspective of the meaning consumers will attach to a brand. Tune in to list insights from Emmanuel Probst - author of Brand Hacks, How to Build Brands by fulfilling the consumer quest for meaning. In this epis...

Alex Naghavi is the ECD at Josephmark which is a global venture studio based out of Brisbane and Los Angeles. In this episode, we learn how to design, validate, launch and sell a brand by deep diving into the process, exploring the benefits and nuances of working with a venture studio VS a traditional design shop. We discuss MVPs, MVBs, failures and successes and how purpose, beauty and simplicity...

Anneli Hansson is a brand strategist, coach & speaker based out of Stockholm, Sweden. Many will know Anneli as the resident strategist over at TheFutur with Chris Do who we interviewed back on Episode 13. Anneli just launched an incredible 6-figure course over at The Futur called Brand Strategy Fundamentals. What people may not know, is that Anneli has a background in building sustainable bran...

Are you looking to take a brand to an international audience?  Global expansion needs careful consideration and so if this is you this episode will be packed with value!  We sit down with marketing expert, academic and author Jan-Benedict Steenkamp (or as we know him "JB"!) to discuss his book "Global Brand Strategy: World-Wise Marketing in the age of Branding" In this insightful episode, JB walks...

The strength of any brand – including yours - hinges on two key factors: Differentiation & Relevance. But it doesn’t stop there. What makes a truly legendary brand is the STORY behind it. In this episode we decipher why some brands have lines reaching around the block, while other perfectly apt competitors sit empty just steps away. Gair Maxwell shares case studies including WHY the Mona Lisa...

How can you create an amazing company culture that ensures a brand strategy can be actualized? That's at the core of this discussion with the amazing Josh Levine, author of Great Mondays. We sit down with Josh to examine how branding should be done from within by intentionally designing a company culture. Together we discuss the six components of company culture - Purpose, Values, Behaviors, Recog...

Listen in as we reveal our favourite outtakes from Season 2 of the JUST Branding Podcast in 2021, including branding insights from creative minds such as Sagi Haviv, Joseph Pine II, Denise Lee Yohn, Natalie Nixon, Bill Gardner, Emily Cohen, Armin Vit, Julian Cole and more.

Katie is the Founder and Creative Director of Brooklyn-based SMAKK, a branding and growth studio whose mission is to help values-led clients build world changing brands. For much of her career she has worked with everyone from industry giants like American Express and Shiseido to a variety of nimble disruptive beauty, fashion, wellness, and lifestyle brands, including The Honey Pot Company, Harry’...