On Brand with Nick Westergaard

“Culture internally seems like one of the most intuitive things to support. It’s a no brainer. And yet …” We miss it. Often. Thankfully there’s a new book to help us keep the connection between brand and culture top of mind — Cultivating a Creative Culture. The author Justin Dauer is my guest on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Justin Dauer Justin Dauer is the author of Cultivati...

“People tend to see strategy and design as two separate things.” As the founder and CEO of Sylvain Labs, Alain Sylvain sits at the intersection of strategy and design. We discussed this including several examples of design thinking at work on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Alain Sylvain Alain Sylvain is the founder and CEO of Sylvain Labs, a strategy and design consultancy that...

“Building a brand is everyone's job and it’s challenging. It can feel like moving a mammoth.” As the Founder and Managing Consultant at Wavelength Marketing, Darren Coleman helps brands throughout the world like Johnson & Johnson and Pepsi build standout brand experiences. We discussed how to tame this beast and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Darren Coleman Darren Coleman has over 2...

“One of the thing’s that’s hardest to do is continue to grow.” As Vice President of Marketing and Growth at Hubspot, Kieran Flanagan has helped the inbound marketing giant do just that. He's responsible for managing all of HubSpot's global demand, acquisition of new users, monetization of freemium funnels, and leading the global marketing team. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s epis...

“Experiences bring brand values to life.” As leader of the creative team at BASIC, Steve Denekas spends his time crating experiences for brands like Canadian Club, Levi’s, and Dodge. As a designer, he brings a thoughtful process to everything he does. We discussed how he brings this design mindset to brand experiences this week on the On Brand podcast. About Steven Denekas Steven Denekas leads the...

Why a “cold shower” you may ask? Because we know that cold showers are good for us, and yet, we avoid them. Marketers have chores they need to do that they avoid. As a third-generation business owner and seasoned marketer, Ryan Cote knows a thing or two about what marketers should be doing. We discussed this on this week's episode of the On Brand podcast. (NOTE: Your friendly neighborhood podcaste...

“You have to think of your marketing on every channel today. If you're a restaurant, you can't just put a picture of garlic knots on Instagram.” This week on the On Brand podcast, we got to talk about food and marketing — specifically content marketing in the food and hospitality industry — with the one, the only David “Rev” Ciancio. About Rev Ciancio Rev Ciancio is a Senior Marketing, Branding an...

“Presentations are valuable content.” And yet, they often go underutilized. More challenging still, these prominent content delivery systems aren't branded consistently. Enter James Ontra. Author of the book Presentation Management and Co-Founder and CEO of Shufflrr, James joined me this week on the On Brand podcast for a discussion of all things related to branded presentations. About James Ontra...

“As marketers we retreat to the mean — to trendy best practices.” What’s required is out-of-the-box thinking. As the founder of Unthinkable Media and author of the new book Break the Wheel, Jay Acunzo knows a thing or two about pushing beyond the everyday and inspiring others to create and share exceptional stories. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast....

“The reality is that many want to be innovative and disruptive and they’re just not.” Starting as a marketer at Motorola to founding Media Frenzy Global, Sarah Torville has spent her career helping disruptive brands tell their stories. We discussed all of this and more on this week's On Brand podcast. About Sarah Tourville Sarah Tourville is the CEO and founder of Media Frenzy Global, a global PR...

“It’s imperative. You must design your culture. It plays such a big role.” Educator, author, and designer Josh Miles has made his mission helping organizations understand the need for culture design in our rapidly changing digital world. His new book Great Mondays charges organizations with developing a company culture that employees will love. We talked about how to think and act differently when...

“We're more and more distracted today. There's more and more noise. What hasn't increased is attention.” In our noisy, distracted world, it's harder than ever to get our audience's attention — to say nothing of making sure that they remember and refer us. What we need is clarity of message. This week on the On Brand podcast, I was joined by Steve Woodruff who talked about his new book Clarity Wins...

“Marketing is the balance of the irrational and the rational.” Someone that would utter this truth would naturally have some ideas that are out of the box. Drawing on his career at Microsoft and Motorola, Jeremy Dale has gathered stories on what makes a standout business — from authenticity to causes — in his new book The Punk Rock of Business. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s epis...

“Twenty or 30 years ago, business did not have to be connected to society.” Today this is not the case. Author and strategist Alberto Lopez-Valenzuela helps organizations overcome this challenge at several different levels. As Chief Executive at Alva, he helps organizations connect data sets to answer big questions such as this. As author of The Connecting Leader, he helps those at the top lead th...

“Hold off until you have something to write home about.” As a podcaster and branding thought leader, Case Kenny offered insights on personal branding that many miss. Namely focus — both on your brand credentials as well as the right channels. We discussed all of this and more during our discussion on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Case Kenny Case Kenny is an entrepreneur and wr...

“The science is just sitting out there in academia.” That’s why consultant, educator, and author Will Leach decided to package it up in a revolutionary new book. Marketing to Mindstates is about looking beyond traditional market research by understanding and appealing to your audience when they’re in the optimal mindstate. We unpacked this concept and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About...

“Webinars are a fundamental campaign we’re overlooking.” As Todd Earwood said that in the first few minutes of our interview it rung true. Webinars are a powerful direct marketing tool and yet we overlook them in favor of shinier new things like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. We discussed how to avoid this mistake and strategies for better integrating webinars into marketing campaigns this wee...

"Stop being Switzerland!” This could sound like vague advice but it's so important today. Translated it means that your brand can’t be neutral anymore. There’s so much noise you have to stand out. To help, marketers and serial co-authors Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio have penned the new book The Laws of Brand Storytelling, which launches this week. Both joined me on the On Brand podcast to...

“You’re going to get judged by your video.” If this quote scares you, you’ll want to listen to this week’s episode. With 80% of online content set to be video by 2019 more brands are pushing into the space. However, many are afraid of looking stupid. We talked about using video to build your brand and your business this week on the On Brand podcast with Wistia cofounder and CEO Chris Savage. About...

“Word of mouth influences 50% of all purchases yet no one has a strategy for it.” Ask any business what drives the most leads and sales and the answer is almost universally — word of mouth. Yet, as Jay Baer notes, we leave it largely to chance. That's why he and Daniel Lemin co-authored Talk Triggers, a new book to provide a reliable system system for word of mouth. We discussed all of this and mo...

“It’s no longer enough to sell the sizzle. Customers today want to know what’s behind it — what the brand stands for.” While many (mis)categorize branding as simply a logo or a department or responsibility within the marketing department, strategist and author Mono Amodeo sees branding as a way of managing an organization. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand po...

"Consumers deserve perfect info about businesses everywhere. We can all agree on that." Going out of the gate, Jeff Rohrs reminded us of what's at stake with all of the information about businesses online. As Chief Marketing Officer at Yext, Rohrs is on the leading edge as brands work to manage all of the digital knowledge that's available today. Chances are, what you've thought about already is j...

“If you don’t care about having a lifelong relationship with your customers then keep doing what you’re doing.” But if you want to understand the customer journey and build that relationship, you have to understand the data behind it. Kevin Dean is President of Marketing Services at Experian. He joined me this week on the On Brand podcast for a discussion about how data and systems driven brand lo...

Who are you? Why do you exist? Why should people care? Amber Williams, founder and brand strategist at Punkyflair, helps brand builders answer these top-of-mind questions day in and day out. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Amber Williams Amber Williams is a passionate brand strategist and the founder of brand storytelling agency Punkyflair. A...

“I joke that I’m good at impressions — you have to do voices.” Why would a marketer need to be good at doing impressions? As founder of Cobblestone Creative Co, Kate Boyd uses this skill to help mirror the voices of the solopreneurs she serves as she creates marketing and sales systems. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Kate Boyd Kate Boyd is t...