Author Archives: Nick Westergaard
Choosing Your Customer with Jonathan Byrnes
“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! 
Qualitative Research in Branding with Duane Varan
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/onbrand/Duane_Varan_On_Brand_.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download“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 …
How Native Ads Build Better Brands with Dan Greenberg
“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 podcast.
What the Pandemic Means for Brands with Emmanuel Probst
“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 discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podcast.
Why Conflict Is Critical in Storytelling with Norman Bell
“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!
Branding Through Science and Story with Jenna Arkin
“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 story, differentiation, communicating science, and more.
Building an Influential Brand with Kyle Hjelmeseth
“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 this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.
Measuring Experiential Marketing with Jonathan Yaffe
“I’ve been completely obsessed with this—not only how do we prove the ROI of these specific experiential programs but how do we do it at scale.” Jonathan Yaffe was one of the first marketing hires at Red Bull following the brand’s entry into the U.S. market. His first task? Quantifying their experiential marketing efforts. Today he does this for numerous brands through his company AnyRoad. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.
How Brands Can Overcome Chaos with Michael Zipursky
“There was a big group of people who were able to fare very well during this time and it was those who took action.” As CEO of Consulting Success, Michael Zipursky has worked with hundreds of clients across industries on overcoming the chaos and uncertainty this past year has presented. We discussed how brands can plan, pivot, and take action this week on the On Brand podcast.
Sonic Branding with Mastercard’s Raja Rajamannar
“If you look at designing a brand logo in a visual form, there’s an infinite amount of material. With sonic branding, you have no choice but to create your own playbook. You need to understand the impact that sound has on people’s emotions.” Sonic branding was one of the many marketing and media disruptions I discussed this week with Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for Mastercard and author of the new book Quantum Marketing.
