Author Archives: Nick Westergaard
Sharpen Your Message into a Velvet Machete with Amber Hurdle
“People are going to have a favorable impression of your brand or a negative impression of your brand. Then, when you add social media reach on top of that, it can get really great or really crazy.” That’s why you have to brand—with clutter-cutting messaging and compassion—from the inside out, starting with your employees. Especially in the midst of the pandemic we find ourselves battling both personally and professionally. Brand strategy expert Amber Hurdle discussed all of this and more, this week on the On Brand podcast. 
Game-Changing Brand Strategy with David Aaker
“Branding people have not formally gotten into the strategy world.” And vice versa. And that’s a problem according to branding and marketing legend David Aaker, author of several books including his latest Owning Game-Changing Subcategories. It’s a book that’s coming out at a game-changing and turbulent time in the world of business and beyond. We discussed all of this and more, this week on the On Brand podcast.
Immersive 3D Branding with VR Expert Ashley Crowder
This week’s podcast interview was originally scheduled to take place live on stage at SXSW. Unfortunately, a nasty pandemic got in the way of this. However, I still wanted to talk with VR expert Ashley Crowder about her work as CEO and Co-Founder of VNTANA, a company that helps brands build out new online realities (which may be more relevant now than ever before!). We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.
The Economics of Attention with Jamie Mustard and Holt McCallany
“Attention is the defining business challenge of our time.” This prolific idea was noted by not one but two guests this week. Jamie Mustard is a strategic multimedia consultant who helps create brands, ideas, and messages that stand out. His new book The Iconist features bold examples from the world of business, art, and music including the story of Mindhunter actor Holt McCallany. We’re lucky to be joined by both Jamie and Holt this week on the On Brand podcast.
Why All Startups Need a Brand Book with Mona Bijoor
“Vision and strategy require a lot of thinking about brand.” Mona Bijoor would know. She spends a lot of her time thinking about and helping early-stage founders startup, scale, and grow their businesses, which, as she notes, involves more thinking about brand than most realize. She’s also the author of the new book, Startups and Downs, The Secrets of Resilient Entrepreneurs. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.
Branding for Growth and Scale with Kristin Luck
“Marketers today have to be data junkies.” Kristin Luck would know. She’s founded two marketing analytics companies that were so successful both ended up being acquired. Today she helps founders and executive teams scale and monetize their businesses. What role does branding play in all of this? We discussed that very topic and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.
Generating Unlimited Brand Story Ideas with Melanie Deziel
“The biggest disservice we’ve done with content marketing is giving such high expectations without the tools to fulfill them.” When it comes to upping your content marketing game, most struggle with obstacles related to time, talent, and treasure. Luckily, StoryFuel founder Melanie Deziel’s new book The Content Fuel Framework can help you with all of this. We discussed all of this and more this week when Melanie returned to the On Brand podcast.
Flipping the Script on Flip Flops with Jeremy Stewart
“Your feet take you on these adventures. You should have quality flip flops that you keep for a long time. That really became our core story.” That spark of an idea led Jeremy Stewart and his wife to found premium flip-flop brand Hari-Mari. In doing so, they essentially created a new market that involved changing behavior around what we put on our feet in warm weather. He took some time to share the story of founding the company and building the brand this week on the On Brand podcast.
Creating a Conversational Brand with Nick Usborne
“Bad writing can undermine everything you’re trying to do.” As someone who started out as a marketing copywriter and who still spends a lot of time today teaching business writing and writing books, I couldn’t wait to talk to copywriting and web writing expert Nick Usborne about how the words we use help us build better brands. We discussed this and much more this week on the On Brand podcast.
Marketing as Attraction vs. Marketing as Retention with Wayne Mullins
“Marketing is your ability to attract and keep customers. Most confuse the definition of marketing with the definition of advertising.” This week on the On Brand podcast, I chatted with Wayne Mullins, Founder of Ugly Mug Marketing. We talked about how to avoid checklist marketing (a favorite topic of mine), investing in the right end of the customer experience, and the role of social media today. Enjoy!
