On Branding

There are few things people love more than their dogs. And BarkBox, a subscription-based business that enables dog owners to surprise their precious pooches with a monthly selection of toys and treats, has tapped into this love in a big way. The brainchild of Henrik Werdelin and two fellow dog lovers – Matt Meeker and Carly Strife – BarkBox grew from a casual “side business” to a fully-fledged enterprise with Bark & Co, complete with a media property, adoption service, and e-commerce site. Bark & Co even designs its own products under Henrik's direction. He leads design, content and future product development for the company. Originally from Denmark, Henrik has taken his entrepreneurial prowess across the globe – spending time in London, Paris, and currently New York. His extensive experience includes serving as Entrepreneur in Residence at Index Ventures, a leading venture capital firm, where he worked with start-ups that turned into household names like Rent t

There’s nothing more powerful than the truth. This is the principle Chuck Kent, director of brand content for Chicago-based B2B branding firm Avenue and contributing editor for Branding Magazine’s Branding Roundtable, has built his career on.  At the heart of effective marketing and branding is the ability to tell stories – and what better way to arrive at a company’s “simple brand truth,” as Chuck calls it, than through honest and meaningful discussion? In an era where content is king, interviews are one of the most easily utilized tools marketers have to allow great brand stories to tell themselves. A copywriter turned creative director at BBDO, now a content strategist and industry journalist, Chuck understands this better than almost anyone. Whether he’s crafting compelling content for his clients, which include household names such as Motorola and Wrigley, or facilitating dynamic and informative conversations for the Branding Roundtable, Chuck relies on the

This episode of On Branding is brought to you by Circles Conference, a creative conference for the creative community. Learn from world-changing thinkers and innovators, to inspire, create, and repeat. Attend this September 18th and 19th in Grapevine, Texas, to mingle with speakers like Jessica Hische, Kathleen Shannon, the Heads of State, and more. To grab your tickets before their gone, visit circlesconference.com. Kathleen Shannon is known for being kind of a powerhouse. A designer, creative director, and strategist wrapped up into one moving, shaking, phenom among the design community, Kathleen brings a sense of pizzaz and energy to every single brand project she touches. Spiritual. Whimsical. Buzzing with life. She is the co-founder of Braid Creative, working alongside her sister Tara Street – the two are a yin-and-yang between complimentary right-brain, left-brain skill sets. Offering creative visions and, yes, a shoulder to lean on during what can often be an intense branding process, Kathleen he

As far as German engineering goes, it's - well - the gold standard. Have you heard the phrase? Volkswagen's ads are famous for this: "That's the power of German engineering". From the scripts of car commercials, appliances, watches, and other consumer products, it is the unspoken moniker for all things thoughtful and richly designed in both form and function.   But, what about razors? Rigorously engineered by craftsmen and production workers to deliver an exceptional shave, when you're using a blade - on your face, or your legs - quality matters.   Today, we're digging deep into the world of Harry's, co-founded by Jeff Raider. If the name sounds familiar, you may know him as the co-founder of Warby Parker, where he's implemented design thinking and hands-on business leadership to deliver branded experiences that inject delight and B-Corp do-goodness. Still on-board with Warby Parker, Jeff runs Harry's, overseeing scale, social impact, and brand personality to ensure the finest of experiences to men

Cap Watkins, Design Lead at Etsy, didn't set out to be a manager. He never imagined himself taking 12 talented designers under his wing, managing expectations, workflows, processes, and design collaboration. But, as it turns out – Cap is actually loving it.   Cap, who once studied creative writing, pivoted into the intersection of startups and design early on in his career. The scrappiness, he says, has made him better at what he does. He's planted roots at Formspring, a global social network for Q&A conversation, as well as Zoosk, an online dating service that uses big data and algorithmic patterns to identify potential suitors. Cap also spent time at Amazon, before making the switch to Etsy, where he dug his heels into usability and organizational operations.   Today, we're talking with Cap about Etsy, 2014’s prestigious Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Award recipient, about showing the "messy" underbelly of your design work, celebrating failure within culture, and why de

Jocelyn Ring's world is filled with whiteboards, markers, and ideas – for brands, for companies, and for people. Jocelyn is a "visual facilitator" and strategy consultant at her own company, The Ring Effect, working with brands and their stakeholders across virtually every level of the organization to better communicate processes, vision, and long term goals. She draws, she doodles, and she brainstorms conversations in realtime, giving everyone at the table a chance to see themselves in a new light.   Jocelyn's work history is represented as a fascinating "bio sketch" you can find on her site. She's one of those gifted creative minds that can produce incredible left brain and right brain work. For instance, she studied economics AND art history — naturally — at Hamilton College before working at Deutche Bank on things like mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity for the likes of Honeywell, Tyco and ITT Industries. Later, Jocelyn made the leap into marketing by earning her MBA from

In last week's Part I episode with Neale Martin, branding and marketing consultant and CEO of Sublime Marketing, and author of "Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore", we uncovered the basic foundations of HOW habits are formed and WHY they matter to marketers. Today, we're jumping into the functions of habit – trust, lies, the business of behavioral marketing patterns – and how YOU can take action to implement proven research into your brand strategy. If you're listening, Tweet us with your reaction to this show at @BrandFever, using the hashtag #OnBranding.

Dr. Neale Martin is the kind of marketer that tries to understand why you buy the same brand of toothpaste, peanut butter, and batteries year after year, without so much as blinking at the other competitors on the shelf. He studies why consumers shop at the same stores, buy the same products, and get into the same type of "comfortable" relationships with brands, that we often slip into with other humans. Neale is a habit marketer and consultant who has worked with emerging technology companies, B2B corporations, and consumer facing brands since the early 90’s. A Ph.D. graduate from Georgia Tech who left the academic world of papers and publishing, Neale got his wings in the emerging telecom business. His top clients include such established brands as Sprint, Samsung, Cisco, and Texas Instruments. Neale is the author of Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore, and an accomplished speaker, making the rounds at TED events and book publishing workshops. Today marks Part I of our in-depth conversation wi

Julie Cottineau, Founder and CEO of BrandTwist and Brand School Master Class, is all about twisting, moving, and shaking — your brand, that is. Fitting, since the former VP of Brand at Virgin has much to celebrate these days. Her background is so rich with experience, studying communications at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, later taking up arms at ad agency Grey Worldwide, before going on to lead innovation at Interbrand. Before founding BrandTwist and the Brand School Master Class, Julie was working shoulder-to-shoulder with Richard Branson at Virgin, learning hands-on how to scale new products and delight consumers in the airline, hotel, and retail industries along the way. Today, she advises and consults emerging brands on their brand strategy, positioning, and unique opportunities in the marketplace. Julie has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs, founders and CEO's to bring products and services to market, through group-led sessions that encourage clients to reframe their thinking. W

Sure, you could measure success by how many plays or comments you've gotten on your new brand video. You could ask people to visit your website, or spread your work of art around on social media, hoping it all goes "viral". Or, you could get a drilldown of data on that video, like heat maps that show where - exactly - your video hooked viewers, when audiences started to drop off, or turn your video into a lead collection tool through clickable calls to action and email collection. The choice is yours. But Wistia seems to be making it clear. Today, we're giving you everything you need to know about how to harness the power of video, straight from Wistia's CEO, Chris Savage. How to measure engagement minute-by-minute, what the best call-to-action strategy should be, and Chris' top tips on how, when, and where to create new video content on the regular. Tune in, subscribe on iTunes, and be sure to share this episode. As always, you can let us know what you think on Twitter or Facebook!

As far as agencies go, iStrategyLabs is a force to reckon with. It's disruption set ablaze, next generation branding for next generation brands seeking out strategy that stretches the status quo. Just taking a look into their portfolio is like looking into a kaleidoscope of digital inventions on the edge – its GE Social Fridge, Redd's Apple Launcher, emergency PiePal pizza button, and Ford data visualization at DC Week are just a few top projects that've been known to turn heads. Agency. Studio. Workshop. Mad scientist's lab. The company has worked with the world's behemoth retail, tech, hotel, automotive, beverage and broadcasting corporations, from GE to Disney, Audi to Walmart, Geico to Red Bull. Peter Corbett is ISL's fearless leader, a man who's a DC-area celebrity, and whose many hats – from programming to production – have earned him standout brand projects in just six years. Today, Peter talks to On Branding about why brands are seeking out experiential brand partners, how agency lea

Whether or not you work for brands or buy from them, it's a universal truth – every brand in the world has its own look and feel that makes it appealing. Food brands have their own unique taste that keeps people addicted. Music is becoming a powerful new way to trigger emotional resonance to a brand, as we discussed in our first (ever) episode with Songza co-founder, Eric Davich. But scent. Ah, yes. Scent. The forgotten sense. Chances are, you've walked into a Westin, Bloomingdale's, Hard Rock Cafe, or Hugo Boss — among other casinos, restaurants, and hotels — and have noticed your heart rate booming. Suddenly, everything seems more friendly, more possible, more attainable. Not just the store, either. You feel more posh, more friendly, sexier, savvier, smarter, swifter. You check-in, buy the pants, stay for dessert, or decide – oh, what the heck, I'll just play one more round of blackjack. That, right there, is the art and science of scent branding. And in fact, 84% of people in a scen

There is, perhaps, no other online web magazine revered so highly by creatives than The Great Discontent. Every Tuesday morning, a new interview featuring the greats – Tina Roth Eisenberg, Jessica Hische, Debbie Millman, Jessica Walsh, and Merlin Mann are a few of the A-list creative talent that’s been profiled. What makes you get up every day to create? Who do you make art for? What is your creative calling? These are a few of the questions TGD asks each week — and the answers are never the same. Ryan and Tina Essmaker, the brains behind this beloved brand – a creative journal that explores what moves the makers – are native Michiganders now smitten with Manhattan. He, a web designer. She, an artist and writer. One subject. One photo. A tribe of thousands. What was once a side gig, something to come home to and work on at the end of the day, The Great Discontent is now a full-time pursuit. Read the announcement: TGD Takes The Leap They’ve quit their day jobs. They’ve

Last week, we brought you Part I of our conversation with brand builders and designers Megan and Mike Gilger of Wild Measure and The Fresh Exchange. Together, the pair have designed the branding behind Clyde Oak and White Whale, and have worked in collaboration with Over, Gap, Nordstrom, and Madewell. This week, we dive in even further. Does design work intensify "on location"? How does Wild Measure use Podio, Basecamp, and Google to keep in contact? And, when design saturates the senses 24/7, how does an artist stay committed to an authentic, signature style? Tune in, subscribe on iTunes / Stitcher / and Vimeo, and be sure to share this episode. As always, you can let us know what you think on Twitter or Facebook!

Every once in awhile, you meet a designer who was, truly, born to do what they do. To them, designing is like breathing. It's something they have to do in order to even exist. Charles Eames, Massimo Vignelli, Milton Glaser – these are people whose names are ubiquitous with branding and design, people who are - and were - truly one with their craft. It just so happens that Megan and Mike Gilger are those people – they work together, they live together, they share a life together, and they design together too as Wild Measure. The pair, once based out of Traverse City, Michigan now call Raleigh, North Carolina home. They work as Wild Measure, a name they chose to represent their wild spirit-yet-strategically grounded approach to building brands through stunning visual identities – Megan is especially gifted in hand-drawn typography, Mike has a natural talent for photography. Their latest work was in collaboration with iOS app Over, to create Obaby – something we'll talk about in more dept

What if we told you that a small piece of your most treasured childhood memories could be recreated, and that you could give those memories – that nostalgia – to your own child? Today we'll meet Gina Munsey, founder of children's clothing brand Lenka and the Fawn. Gina is an accomplished writer, editor, blogger, and mother who's been on a mission to return the international children's retail experience back to simplicity. Less excess, less mass production – more handmade, more small run, more meaningful traditions. Born and raised in the former Yugoslavia, Gina has since moved from Europe, but her European upbringing is woven boldly through her creative pursuits, and now, she's bringing her keen design eye for simplicity, durability, and familiarity to American audiences with the launch of the brand this past November. Interested in marketing strategies, conscious consumerism and quality brands?  Listen to our Zady episode here. Lenka and the Fawn is supposed to feel like a home away fr

For nonprofits, one of the most frustrating parts about trying to change the world — and do business — is the gap. The gap between cause and effect. Between time and money. Between effort and visibility. It doesn't always seem fair, does it? And yet, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, there are 1.5 million tax exempt organizations currently operating each year in the United States. That's where Beespace comes in. Beespace is a nonprofit incubator to profit the world. Located in New York City's Silicon Alley neighborhood, the space was co-founded last year by Marissa Sackler and Simon Isaacs, both accomplished cause marketers and philanthropists that work in the nonprofit space alongside charity:water, the United Nations, and Gather. The incubator will host six nonprofit organizations over two years, offering in-house design, business, and human resource talent, all of which are critical resources that help these budding brands focus on making an impact. We sat down to chat

It's official. We're living in the age of post-"click here" advertising. Brands are learning by doing, and sharing their stories as they go. Now that banner ads, flashing marquees and poorly designed calls to action are history, how are brands aligning with interactive developers to provide an intuitive, pleasing mobile experience — with added benefits? Brands are quickly buddying up with Kiip, a service that discovers where fans and users live, work and play through micro analytics and behavior tracking. By rewarding its brand evangelists with perks as they complete a run, cross off a to-do, or win a game level, Kiip plugs right into all those positive feedback chemicals that — as the name suggests — "keep" people coming back for more. Ryan Lessard works in New Business Development at Kiip, where he teams up with app developers and the world's biggest brands, doing the math to figure out which brands are best represented on which mobile platform. In this episode, Ryan explains how the compa

On today's show, we'll meet Seb Williams-Key, Founder and Developer of Yoga Studio, a mobile app that's got the worldwide yoga community rolling with excitement and rave reviews from the likes of Mac Life, The Guardian, and Greatist. This episode is Part I of our series on mobile app rewards through Kiip, a platform that connects brands to mobile users by rewarding them for doing just that — using apps on a day to day basis to complete normal tasks. Seb is a financier turned mobile technology enthusiast, and together with his wife Jules, has developed a way for people across the world to get their daily routines in while enjoying branded benefits. Thanks to Yoga Studio’s partnership with Kiip, users are receiving sweet perks for doing their poses, from companies like Barkbox or American Apparel, based on factors like age, gender, and yoga experience. Let's hear a bit more about what it's like to turn a mobile app into a brand all its own.

What's in a name? A typeface? A branded book app? On today's show, we sit down with Willem Van Lancker, Product Designer and Co-Founder at Oyster, the new New York City-based app that's branding itself as the "Netflix of books" with unlimited titles and genres by thousands of authors, publishing houses, and open source content. The app, which launched exclusively on iOS devices in Fall 2013, has just added its iPad edition to the product lineup this past October, with plans for expansion on Android devices on the horizon. Willem, a RISD graduate with a keen eye for the minutiae of design, brings his experience from Apple, Google, and IDEO to every part of Oyster's operation. His commitment to unobtrusive reading interfaces pays homage to classic literature, and his skill set bridging tradition with modernity is nothing short of fascinating for those interested in outstanding digital customer experiences. Listen (and read) on!