On Brand with Nick Westergaard

Jac Phillips has worked across a variety of industries including technology, banking, payments, and retail. Her most recent gig was leading partnerships at Visa. Throughout all of these roles, Jac’s focus has been constant—ensuring that established brands remain culturally relevant. We discuss how to do this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Jac Phillips Jac Phillips h...

Rob Meyerson is a brand naming expert and author of the new book Brand Naming. And, as I said many times during the episode, “we don’t talk about brand naming enough!” Luckily Rob does and did so for us this week. If you’ve had anything to do with naming, you need to listen to this episode (and check out Rob’s book).  About Rob Meyerson Rob Meyerson is a namer, brand consultant, and principal and...

As founder of both Camo and Reincubate, Aidan Fitzpatrick has a history of building values-based brands. Keeping it simple, integrity-focused, and delight-based unites his work in creating a greater connection between brand builders and their tools. We discussed all of this and more, this week on the On Brand podcast. About Aidan Fitzpatrick Aidan Fitzpatrick is the creator of the globally-popular...

Ken Ungar is the president of CHARGE, a national sponsorship consulting firm based in Indianapolis. Since 2006, CHARGE has served clients including Honda, Acura, NASCAR, the Los Angeles Dodgers, NBA Players Association, American Motorcyclist Association, and over fifty professional athletes in the NFL, NASCAR, and INDYCAR. He’s also the author of Sponsorship Strategy and our guest this week on the...

A startup marketing veteran, Radhika Dutt is the author of the new book Radical Product Thinking. Her experience has taught her that we don’t need more products—we need radical products that create change. Our conversation this week covered everything from the overuse of pivots to avoiding digital pollution. Radhika Dutt Radhika Dutt is the author of Radical Product Thinking: The New Mindset for I...

As President of Brand Keys, Robert Passikoff has pioneered work in loyalty and emotional brand engagement, creating the Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, the Loyalty Leaders List, and the Sports Fan and Fashion Brand Indices. He’s also the author of Predicting Market Success, The Certainty Principle, and the upcoming Loyalty Ain’t What It Used to Be. We discussed all of this and more this week on...

As Co-Founder & CEO of creative agency Mekanism, Jason Harris knows a thing or two about building brands. His goal is to bring the idea of persuasion into the twenty-first century by exploring an approach that gets its strength not from negativity and divisiveness but from the most laudable and positive aspects of our characters. We discussed all of this and more, this week on the On Brand podcast...

As Global Head of Brand at Qualtrics, Jesse Purewal is a leader in brand experience. How can brands build standout experiences? It all comes down to purpose and empathy. This work is also at the heart of Jesse’s Qualtrics-sponsored podcast Breakthrough Builders. We deconstructed empathy, experience, and how brands can be relentlessly relevant, this week on the On Brand podcast. About Jesse Purewal...

Gabrielle Dolan’s work spans from personal leadership communication to organizational communication. The bridge that unites these two domains is story. Her new book, Magnetic Stories, helps companies craft stories that connect and engage. From the stories we tell at work to the stories that build iconic brands, we discussed it all this week on the On Brand podcast About Gabrielle Dolan Gabrielle D...

As we kick off the New Year, many are looking to build their own personal brand. Lydia Pierre is a branding coach and consultant. A self-branded “Corporate Socialite” who believes that business should be fun, we had a blast talking about personal branding, brand ambassadors, and—(da-da-dum!)—imposter syndrome! Enjoy and have a Happy New Year! About Lydia Pierre Lydia Pierre is a branding coach and...

This week we have a special holiday episode of the On Brand podcast with the “Naughty and Nice Brands of 2021.” This seasonally appropriate snapshot of brand behavior was developed by Brand Federation. The consultancy’s Chief Growth Officer Matt Williams joined me to discuss which brands have been naughty and nice this year. About Matt Williams Matt Williams is chief growth officer for Brand Feder...

Ginni Saraswati is the owner and founder of Ginni Media and the Podcast Accelerator. Her work helps organizations and individuals tell their stories through podcasting. While we talked about podcasts a lot, we also spent some time talking about why it's important to unplug for the holidays and how to do that. Enjoy—and happy holidays from the On Brand podcast! About Ginni Saraswati Ginni Saraswati...

Raj Venkatesan is co-author of the new book The AI Marketing Canvas and a professor of marketing at the University of Virginia. This week he joined me on the On Brand podcast for a timely discussion about artificial intelligence and marketing—how should we be thinking about it and what should we be planning for the new year ahead. About Raj Venkatesan Rajkumar Venkatesan is the co-author of The AI...

“The metaverse will create gaps between the haves and have-nots that brands can fill.” In addition to breaking down the metaverse and leading the way on influence marketing (not just influencer marketing), Jason Falls recently founded a new network for marketing podcasts aptly titled the Marketing Podcast Network, which On Brand is a proud member of. We discussed all of this and more, this week on...

“If you start off on the wrong foot and your brand isn't in line with the attitudes or personality of the brand, there's confusion.” Or, to put it bluntly, your brand sucks. That's the title of strategist Ernie Harker's new book. We discuss how to ... not build a brand that sucks this week on the On Brand podcast. About Ernie Harker Ernie Harker is a creative branding mastermind. He recently publi...

“Good things take time to build.” In his work as Founding Director of the digital marketing agency Revenue Ascend, Jonathan Tuttle helps brands of all shapes and sizes build good things. How do you know if something in marketing is good? Measurement and ROI—and we spent a lot of time talking about best practices and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Jonathan Tuttle Jonathan Tuttle is t...

“People want to interact with people—not brands.” David Brickley has been helping brands interact with their people through his agency STN Digital and his two podcasts Business of Social and Entrepreneur Wrap. This week he joined me as a guest on my podcast to talk about how to build a social-first brand. About David Brickley After working with his first-ever client, Kobe Bryant, David Brickley us...

“We are profoundly visual creatures. We respond to what we see more than anything else.” Dan Roam has spent his career helping people master the art of visual communication and storytelling. His books from Back of the Napkin to his latest, The Pop-Up Pitch, help organizations and individuals put this system into action. I couldn't wait to discuss all of this with him this week on the On Brand podc...

“In the old days, branding was a very broad thing. Today it's picking your spot.” Jonathan Byrnes knows a thing or two about building a profitable brand for the long haul. He's a Senior Lecturer at MIT, founding partner of Profit Isle, and the author of two books and numerous HBR articles. He's also my guest this week on the On Brand podcast. Enjoy! About Jonathan Byrnes Jonathan Byrnes is foundin...

“A lot of the assumptions we make are bad assumptions.” When it comes to making assumptions, sometimes we marketers can't help ourselves. To avoid this, we need to ensure that we have a good mix of both quantitive and qualitative research. Dr. Duane Varan is a leader in the field of qualitative research and was my guest this week on the On Brand podcast. About Duane Varan Dr. Duane Varan is CEO of...

“If you can design triggers into the thing someone’s already doing, you make advertising even more impactful.” Expanding the definition of advertising to include more human-centric and respectful ideas has been at the heart of Dan Greenberg’s work as CEO and founder of Sharethrough and as a leader in the native advertising movement. We discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podca...

“The pandemic has forced brands to change the way they communicate and the way they operate.” As a research professor, author, and VP at Ipsos, Emmanuel Probst spends a lot of time studying, teaching, and writing about consumer behavior. His latest update to Brand Hacks provides brand builders with a useful compass for navigating the increasingly challenging world we find ourselves in. We discusse...

“Storytelling is in the air for business but why is that? Why is it so important?” These questions and more were at the very heart of my interview with Norman Bell, author of The Story Powered Speaker, this week on the On Brand podcast! About Norman Bell Norman Bell is a storytelling and presentation coach, award-winning speaker, theater and film actor, and author of the book, The Story Powered Sp...

“Consumers seek authenticity and they’re getting better at weeding out the greenwashing the brands that don’t have the people, story, and heritage behind them.” As the Vice President of Innovation at green cleaning brand ECOS, Jenna Arkin’s work sits at the intersection between science and creativity. This week on the On Brand podcast, she joined us for a discussion on this innovative brand’s stor...

“Influencers take the power out of the hands of those who used to tell us what we should like and not like. You've divested power to those bold enough to go online and share their stories.” From the College of Influence to his Normalize Equality initiative, teaching and managing the power of digital influence is at the heart of Kyle Hjelmeseth's work at G&B digital management. We discussed all of...