The Brand Builder's Playbook

From tennis rackets to Beyoncé, Microsoft to Apple…brand legends David Aaker and Marcus Collins have seen it all, and they’re here to close out our series with a masterclass on brand-led leadership. In the final episode of this season of The Brand Builder’s Playbook , hosts Jim Stengel and Ryan Barker reflect on the journey through our previous seven episodes before welcoming two of the biggest vo...

Brand building or performance? TV or TikTok? Data or gut? Every marketer wrestles with how to spend smarter, not just more. In the seventh episode of The Brand Builder’s Playbook , hosts Jim Stengel and Ryan Barker, along with guest co-host Kate Lamberton, dig into the art and science of the marketing mix. They explore how brands can cut waste, make every dollar work harder, and balance the short-...

What do LEGO, Megan Thee Stallion, and a Ford Mustang have in common? They’re all proof that the right partnership can supercharge a brand. In the sixth episode of The Brand Builder’s Playbook , hosts Jim Stengel and Ryan Barker, joined by guest co-host Lindsey Wehking, explore why not all partnerships deliver equal value…some enhance brand equity, while others can dilute it. This week’s guest is...

  Every CMO faces the same question: how do you balance long-term brand equity with short-term performance marketing? In the fifth episode of The Brand Builder’s Playbook, hosts Jim Stengel and Ryan Barker, along with guest co-host Lindsey Wehking, tackle one of the most heated debates in modern marketing: brand versus performance. Is short-term activation enough, or does long-term brand buil...

This week on The Brand Builder’s Playbook, Jim, Ryan, and Cait dive into one of marketing’s toughest questions: how do you prove the ROI of a brand? In a world where every dollar spent needs justification, they explore how marketers can connect creative storytelling to measurable business growth. To help unpack it, they’re joined by Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s Chief Marketing & Communication...

The consumer sets the price. That simple truth reframes how we think about brand strength and its real business impact. In the third episode of The Brand Builder’s Playbook , hosts Jim Stengel and Ryan Barker, along with guest co-host Cait Lamberton (Professor of Marketing at Wharton), unpack one of the most powerful—and often misunderstood—outcomes of strong brand building: pricing power. Our gue...

How do you turn customer love into business growth? In the second episode of The Brand Builder’s Playbook , the team explores how emotional connection fuels measurable results, from loyalty and repeat purchase to long-term enterprise value. Jim, Ryan, and Lindsey dive into what it really means to build “Brand Love,” using BERA’s Love Curve to unpack how the most emotionally connected brands outper...

Welcome to the very first episode of The Brand Builder’s Playbook , a new limited series hosted by Jim Stengel (Host of The CMO Podcast) and Ryan Barker (CEO of BERA.ai), and this week joined by guest co-host Lindsey Wehking (Chief Strategy Officer at Nonfiction Research). In this 8-part series, we’ll build a practical playbook for 2025—designed to help brand leaders navigate an era of uncertainty...

The Brand Builder’s Playbook is here. Hosted by Jim Stengel and Ryan Barker, this 8-part series dives into how the world’s top marketers are building resilient, revenue-driving brands in an era of AI, shifting consumer expectations, and constant disruption. Featuring unfiltered conversations with senior marketing leaders and insights from experts at Wharton and Nonfiction Research. Episode One lau...