Brands In Action

Kevin runs one of the biggest brands in advertising: Advertising. As CEO of the One Club for Creativity he manages a big swath of the Awards Industry itself. Kevin talks about how the One Club is much different from many other bigger awards shows because it’s a nonprofit and is driving education and diversity as much as the creative conversation. They’re making a huge difference in the industry. L...

One of the most powerful things about a brands purpose is how, when it’s well articulated, it can drive everything the company does. Marketing is only one aspect. On today’s episode Hannah Magnan from Bandwidth, tells how the ethos within the walls of the company informs everything they do, top to bottom and side to side. Give it a listen.    00:18 - Hannah Intro 02:16 - Creativity is the ultimate...

Jeremy Jones and his team are building a full service agency inside of Mailchimp, and they’re doing work any ad agency would love to have done. On this week’s episode, Jeremy talks about his career and how MailChimp uses their brand to drive everything they do.    00:18 - Jeremy Intro 01:34 - Doing work with soul 03:58 - How did you get to Mailchimp 05:52 - Story of Mailchimp 07:56 - Mailchimp Mag...

Joey Manfre leads creative for Fender Musical Instruments, one of the coolest and most iconic brands in the world (OK, maybe one of the coolest brands in the history of brands). Joey talks about Fender turning the quarantine into an advantage, working with artists to take the brand into new places, and generally how Fender fits in popular culture. 00:18 - Joey Intro 01:30 - How did you get to Fend...

If there’s a more courageous brand out there right now, we don’t know it. Liquid Death is succeeding by overturning all the category norms and driving not only customers but advocates. They do it by going to 100 on everything they do – if it’s them, they do it and they do it well. Andy Pearson, VP of Creative, tells us what they’re up to and how they look at what a brand is.   00:18 - Andy Intro 0...

It’s not often that you find a company whose mission is to make a difference on the planet and off. But this week, we get to hear from Shawn Linam, CEO of Qwaltec – a company helping the aerospace industry do just that. Shawn talks about being a woman in a male-dominated category and how Qwaltec looks at marketing a mission that’s bigger than most.   00:18 - Shawn Intro 01:30 - Story of Qwaltec 04...

Here’s part two of our discussion with Jenny Bonchak, Founder of Slingshot Coffee Co/Needs & Wants. In this episode, Jenny talks about her newest brand – a line of sparkling superfruit teas called Needs & Wants – as well as the pitfalls of brand purpose, the importance of commitment to craft, and, oh yeah, social media. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Jenny is the epitome of humanity...

If you’re interested in seeing how passion turns into an incredibly diverse set of brands in just a decade, then this episode is the one for you. Jenny Bonchak, Founder of Slingshot Coffee Co/Needs & Wants, talks about the company’s journey from kitchen table idea to emerging as a force in the category. So much so, they’re now expanding into new ones. Jenny is the epitome of humanity in the world...

You might not think of a waste management company as a leading Purpose Brand but if that’s true you don’t know about WM, a company dedicated to a more sustainable tomorrow. Today we talk to Stu Redsun, Vice President of Brand & Marketing for WM, who is leading the charge to get their story out. 00:18 - Stu Intro 03:32 - How did you get to WM? 08:06 - How does name change play into where the brand...

What do NFT’s, Crypto, DAO’s, the Tokenomy and Web 3.0 have to do with a new line of Cannabis infused drinks? Everything. Find out in today’s latest episode featuring Robert Lund, co-founder and Chief Creative at Studio TBD, a company bringing Web 3.0 to life across a number of businesses.  00:18 - Robert Intro 01:34 - How Studio TBD came to be 09:11 - Did you bring brand training into Studio TBD?...

We hear a lot about bravery in our industry but rarely do we see it in action like we do with Priscilla Johnson. Brands come from all sort of interesting places and experiences, but Priscilla faced down a global corporation who tried to falsify their environmental data and paid a huge personal price. One of the amazing outcomes of the experience was EcoBellus, a sustainable cleaning products compa...

Our first truly luxury goods episode, Randy Ramsey co-founded Jarrett Bay custom boats when he was 18 and his positive impact and outlook has gone in every direction on everything he touches. If you want to hear “paying it forward” in action, this is the episode for you. 00:18 - Randy Intro 02:08 - How did Jarrett Bay start? 07:58 - Boat building cycle 10:14 - Collaboration 11:03 - Scaling the bus...

On today’s #BrandsInAction #podcast episode, we welcome Steve Luttmann, a serial innovator and entrepreneur. Maybe it’s because Steve has the rules down from his time in the traditional packaged goods space that he’s found ways to break them into pieces to create so many amazing brands in the spirits category over the last few decades. His newest, Hercules Mulligan, is another hit 🥃 00:18 - Steve...

Today we welcome Jon Schlesinger, Vice President and General Manager, Hidden Valley Ranch at the Clorox company. Jon talks about taking a storied brand into new categories and new possibilities by listening to culture and even helping to shape it a bit. Jon is one of the smartest marketing minds we’ve ever worked with on a previous client, we always learn a lot from him. You will too.   00:18 - Jo...

In our first episode featuring a sports marketer, we have an incredible one. Stephen Malik is the driving force behind the North Carolina Football Club, the largest youth to pro soccer club in the country. With multiple teams, properties, and world class players, the organization manages multiples brands. It doesn’t hurt that The Courage has already won two back-to-back championships in its first...

In a category marked by over-promises, Melisse Shaban CEO of Virtue Labs, has created something that truly delivers. Virtue’s hair care line is just different because of, well, a miracle ingredient. You heard us, a miracle ingredient. In our latest episode, Melisse talks about creating the company, the products, and the brand from scratch and building it for the long haul.  00:18 - Melisse Intro 0...

On today’s episode, meet Sara Ward, Senior Vice President, Brand Marketing at Spoonflower. Sarah is leading the team at Spoonflower to make amazing design accessible for everyone’s home, supporting artists, designers, and customers along the way. Today she talks about how to use your brand to create phenomenal growth by always remembering your mission.  00:18 - Sarah Intro 01:36 - Kickball Champio...

Josh Bach is a one man army and set out to add a little fun into the fashion world at a time where neckwear in particular was mostly striped, slanted, and available in maybe 5 colors. On this episode we to Josh about how he started a business in his New York City apartment and turned it into a fashion phenomenon in Men’s Neckwear. Just in time for the holidays, here’s a podcast about ties.   00:18...

Scott Philbrook made a career pivot from top commercial and music video editor to a now top podcaster. Today we talk about the podcast he co-hosts, Astonishing Legends, and how they’ve marketed their podcast from a bedroom production to the global phenomenon it has become. Hint, they took what they know about branding and let it guide them to phenomenal growth. 00:18 - Scott Intro 01:48 - What is...

Who says a B2B brand can’t be powerful and have a big personality? Critical Start CMO Carrie Kelly brings her experience from both sides of the Client/Agency ball to show that it most definitely can. She’s using the brand to drive awareness while leveraging the company’s culture to become one of the fastest growing companies in Texas.   00:18 - Carrie Intro 01:03 - Path to CRITICAL START 04:20 - S...

Ed Roberts is a lot of things, he’s an accomplished designer, creative director, and now the Brand and Creative Director at Georgia Power. On today’s episode, Ed talks about how the brand lives its stand to generate possibility for its customers and its own employees. Ed shows how design thinking can drive marketing rather than the other way around.   00:18 - Ed Intro 01:19 - Are you working at ho...

What started as a hobby in the founders apartments has turned into a nationwide enterprise with distribution in stores and bars all over the country. After graduating from Wharton Business School, Jomaree Pinkard could have done anything he wanted, listen to him tell the story of how he and his close friends chased their passion and turned it into the powerhouse it has become.  00:17 - Jomaree Int...

Kurt Squiers isn’t just a very successful ad guy who owns his own shop, he’s also acknowledged as one of the biggest AC/DC fans in the world. And he’s found a way to marry his two passions into one of the coolest podcasts around, AC/DC Beyond the Thunder. Today we talk to him about AC/DC’s impact on culture, the music world, and how marketers can learn from them as one of the smartest Rock brands...

For our first live in-studio interview, Joe Kwon brings the heat. Okay, actually he brings the kindness, enthusiasm, and passion you may know him for with his work in the Avett Brothers. We talk about his new brand CARV Fitness, a company dedicated to getting people to live their fittest lives, but Joe being Joe, we talked about how he looks at everything as an opportunity to create community and...

Dion Hughes isn’t just a brilliant advertising and marketing mind, he’s put his money where his mouth is by creating a successful, sustainable, personal hair care brand called HiBAR. This new company aims to take on the issue of ocean plastics while delivering an optimistic start to your day. There’s no plastic in their products or in Dion’s personality. 00:18 - Dion Intro 01:42 - Why did you star...