On Brand: A Podcast About Branding For Brand Builders, By Brand Builders

Dr. Richard Winters is an emergency physician and director of leadership development at the Mayo Clinic. In addition to working with leaders internally at Mayo, Dr. Winters delivers programs that help healthcare leaders worldwide. We discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Dr. Richard Winters Dr. Richard Winters is an emergency physician at the Mayo Clinic. As director of leadership development for the Mayo Clinic Care Network, Dr. Winters delivers programs that train leaders at all levels of healthcare organizations worldwide. As an executive coach, Dr. Winters provides coaching for Mayo Clinic leaders. Winters graduated from the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in 1994 and returned to Mayo Clinic in 2015. Previously, Winters served as managing partner of a democratic physician group, department chair of an emergency department, president of an 800-physician medical staff, and CEO/founder of a startup managed care organization that struggled to survive amidst the complex r

Beth A. Livingston is a professor, consultant, author, and speaker focused on human resources, gender & diversity, and the management of work & family—all in the service of the employee experience. She’s also a colleague of mine at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and co-author of the new book Shared Sisterhood. We discussed all of this and more, this week on the On Brand podcast. About Beth A. Livingston Dr. Beth Livingston is the Ralph L. Sheets Associate Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business. She’s also an internal advisor with the Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest, a NIOSH Center of Excellence, and the faculty director of the Dore-Tippie Women's Leadership program. After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Florida, and her MBA from the University of Kentucky, she began her career at Cornell University in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations before moving to the Midwest. She studies and teaches human resource mana

Patrick Holly has worked for agencies like R/GA and brands like Apple, Uber, and Harley Davidson, where he served as brand director. Currently, he's Upwork’s Executive Creative Director leading a team of writers, art directors, designers, and strategists who are changing the way the world thinks about work. We discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Patrick Holly Patrick Holly is a multidisciplinary creative whose career has run the gamut from agencies like R/GA and AKQA, to brands like Apple and Uber, to building a content platform with Steph Curry. He currently serves as Upwork’s Executive Creative Director leading a team of writers, art directors, designers, and strategists who are changing the way the world thinks about work. Prior to joining Upwork, Patrick was the brand director at Harley Davidson, overseeing content, PR, social, and brand partnerships. When Patrick is not working, he spends most of his time on two wheels or watching Sex and the City reruns with his wife

Lee LeFever literally wrote the book on explanation. In addition to being the author of The Art of Explanation and Big Enough, he’s the co-founder of Common Craft where he helps leading organizations simplify their explanations through guides, videos, and visuals. We discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Lee LeFever Lee LeFever is the co-founder of Common Craft and the author of two books: The Art of Explanation and Big Enough. Since 2007, Common Craft has won numerous awards, worked with respected brands like LEGO, Google, Intel, and Ford, and created original explainer videos that have earned over 50 million online video views. Today, Common Craft produces educational guides, ready-made videos, and digital visuals that are used by educators in over 50 countries. Lee and his partner Sachi are Common Craft’s only employees and work from their home off the coast of Washington State. Episode Highlights Why is it so hard for us to explain things? “We do it every day and we can

Todd Irwin is the Chief Strategy Officer and Founder of Fazer. The brand strategy agency has worked with Fortune 500 brands like Coca-Cola and Nike as well as SMBs and startups. Todd joined me this week on the On Brand podcast to discuss Fazer’s positioning-based brand strategy methodology. About Todd Irwin Todd Irwin is the Chief Strategy Officer and Founder of Fazer, a brand strategy and creative agency. He has developed a compelling brand strategy methodology that delivers business-to-brand strategic alignment to position companies more competitively in markets. Todd brings 30+ years of brand strategy experience, helping big brands such as Coca-Cola, Nikon, Verizon, Walmart, Pepsi, Ann Taylor, Macy's, Olive Garden, and The New York Times, as well as a host of SMBs and early-stage funded growth companies.   Episode Highlights “Branding is a tangible asset,” Todd noted, defying the popular theory that brands are intangible—and thus not always seen as a valuable aspect of the business. “Brand is the product,

Cindy McGovern is the founder of Orange Leaf Consulting and author of the new book Sell Yourself, which helps people create authentic personal brands that they can live day in and day out. We discussed how to do this work and how it intersects with organizational brands this week on the On Brand podcast. About Dr. Cindy McGovern Dr. Cindy McGovern is the founder of Orange Leaf Consulting, which helps organizations, entrepreneurs, and individuals create dynamic and robust sales processes. Before launching her business, McGovern was a college professor of communication as well as a successful sales professional. She has worked with hundreds of organizations of all sizes and specialties across the globe and is now one of the most sought-after business and sales authorities.   Episode Highlights “Personal branding IS challenging,” Cindy clarified early on. “It’s holding up a mirror. A personal brand represents who you are, how you behave, what you say, how you react to others and how they react to you. A persona

Branding expert and author David Aaker returns for his third appearance on the On Brand podcast. While he thanked me for having him back, I thanked him for continuing to create interesting work. His latest book is The Future of Purpose-Driven Branding which we discussed this week on the show. About David Aaker David Aaker, is the author of over one hundred articles and 18 books on marketing, business strategy, and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods on brand building that are used by organizations around the world. His latest book is The Future of Purpose-Driven Branding.   Episode Highlights Purpose vs. mission. We jumped right in with a big question that David takes on in the first chapter of his book. What’s the difference between purpose and mission? “Purpose starts as a why question. Mission is a how question.” The two are related but different, which is why David addresses both in his book. Brand as a lens. I jokingl

Michelle Mazur is a messaging expert who helps brands of all shapes and sizes craft their own unique and powerful messages. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. But with her “3-Word Rebellion” approach—drawing on social movements and her background in market research—Michelle helps brand builders simplify and clarify. She shares how this week on the On Brand podcast. About Michelle Mazur Dr. Michelle Mazur is a messaging expert who works with brilliant business owners who are shaking things up but having trouble talking about it. She combines the tools of successful social movements with the qualitative research skills she earned in her Communications Ph.D. to help them craft their powerful, captivating message. The author of the 3 Word Rebellion, host of the Rebel Uprising podcast and featured in Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and Inc., she knows that speaking about what you do in a clear and captivating way is the key to reaching the people you could help the most and making more money in your business.   Episode

Guillaume Wiatr is the author of Strategic Narrative and the Principal/Founder of MetaHelm, a strategy consulting firm specializing in helping business leaders unlock profit and energize their team with a shared narrative grounded in their organization's purpose. His work teaches leaders how to build a strategic narrative. We discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Guillaume Wiatr Guillaume Wiatr is the author of Strategic Narrative: A Simple Method That Business Leaders Can Use to Make Everyone Understand Their Business, Get Behind it and Believe In It. His company, MetaHelm, guides CEOs, founders, and business owners to align teams and accelerate innovation adoption. A former big-firm strategy consultant, Guillaume has founded four ventures. He is sought after by senior executives of companies like Alaska Airlines, the Gates Foundation, Generations For Peace, AIG, L'Oréal, Spencer Stuart, GAP, Google, Microsoft, and the US and French governments. Guillaume teaches and mentor

As Director of Strategy at Smashbrand, Siena Dexter helps both online and offline brands refine their point-of-sale positioning and packaging. Believe it or not, in 400+ episodes, we haven’t spent that much time talking about these incredibly important topics and touchpoints. Sienna and I discussed point of sale, packaging, and testing this week on the On Brand podcast. About Siena Dexter Siena Dexter is Director of Strategy and Associate Partner at Smashbrand, where she works with FMCG brands to create branding and packaging that’s proven to perform at point of sale through quantifiable data. Working internationally at agencies in London, Dusseldorf, and now Idaho, Siena has positioned brands from startup challengers to multi-brand enterprises for proven commercial success.   Episode Highlights We don’t talk about packaging and point of sale enough … Not to be confused with Encanto’s Bruno, we don’t talk about these important topics nearly enough as we’re distracted by the abundance of shiny new—often digit

Brett Hyman is the president, CEO, and founder of NVE Experience Agency, which was recently named Ad Age’s Experiential Small Agency of the Year. As an expert in building and activating meaningful brand experiences from consumer products to Comic-Con, I asked Brett to help us define some of the labels used (and misused) in experiential marketing during our conversation on the On Brand podcast. About Brett Hyman Brett Hyman is the president, CEO, and founder of NVE Experience Agency, a privately-owned brand experience and production company with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London. Guided by 16 years of global agency and brand leadership experience, along with the principle that the right moment will transform someone forever, Hyman leads NVE’s team of cross-industry experts to deliver culturally connected campaigns and transformative experiences for some of the world’s most iconic brands and Fortune 500 companies including Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, Apple, Pandora, Lincoln Motor Co., Hennessy, Tinder,

Gina is CEO/Chief Creative Officer of The Craftsman Agency, where she focuses on creating magical experiences and immersive stories for brands like Disney and Microsoft. Where does one start with experiential marketing and brand experience? We discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Gina Michnowicz Gina Michnowicz is CEO and Chief Creative Officer of The Craftsman Agency, where she focuses on creating magical moments through custom experiential marketing and immersive storytelling for B2B and B2C brands. With past clients including Cisco, Disney, Paramount, and Microsoft, Gina has led projects from concept to delivery of immersive digital experiences, experiential installations, websites, and bespoke advertising campaigns. Gina’s work spans from marketing and sales within brands, to agencies, to management consulting. Her time in management consulting has strengthened her ability to think both strategically and creatively, leading teams to push the envelope with work that surp

Bobby G is a brand growth consultant, author of the forthcoming book Build Your Brand like you Give a Sh*t, and the founder/principal at Propr Design, a Baltimore-based B2B brand growth agency. Bobby and the Propr team advise on and implement strategies that help B2B brands scale through better positioning, messaging, design, web, and marketing. We discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Bobby Gillespie Bobby G is an award-winning creative director, brand growth consultant, author of the forthcoming book “Build your Brand like you Give a Sh*t,” and the founder/principal at Propr Design, a Baltimore-based B2B brand growth agency. Founded in 2014, Bobby and the Propr team advise on and implement strategies that help B2B brands scale through better positioning, messaging, design, web, and marketing. They believe that the measure of ultimate success is enabling and empowering clients to succeed without them. Propr is built on a gritty work ethic and innovative ideas that deliver u

Dorie Clark has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. In addition to being a consultant for brands like Google and Microsoft, Dorie teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School, and she is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine. We discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Dorie Clark Dorie Clark helps individuals and companies get their best ideas heard in a crowded, noisy world. She has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. She was honored as the #1 Communication Coach by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards and one of the Top 5 Communication Professionals in the World by Global Gurus. She is a keynote speaker and teaches for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School. She is The Wa

Bill Price was Amazon’s first Vice President of Global Customer Service and is the founder and president of Driva Solutions, dedicated to creating and sustaining highly effective customer contact strategies and operations, locally and globally. He is an analytics and customer experience expert with over 35 years’ experience directing operations and consulting leading companies and he’s my guest this week on the On Brand podcast. About Bill Price Bill Price started Driva Solutions in September 2001 to help companies achieve the delicate balance between cost containment and greater customer loyalty, co-founded the 9-country LimeBridge Global Alliance in early 2002, and is the lead co-author of three books: The Best Service is No Service, Your Customer Rules!, and The Frictionless Organization.  Bill served as Amazon’s first Vice President of Global Customer Service and before that was Vice President & General Manager of MCI Call Center Services, COO & CFO with a start-up software company in San Francisco, and

Sunny Bonnell is co-author of the best-selling business book Rare Breed and Co-Founder of C-suite branding consultancy Motto. No stranger to starting fires and creating ideas worth rallying around, she and her team work with founders, leaders, and teams to build innovative brands. We discussed all of this and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Sunny Bonnell Sunny Bonnell is no stranger to starting fires. As Co-Author, of the best-selling business book Rare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different, and Co-Founder of MOTTO®, a C-suite branding partner that works directly with founders, leaders, and teams to create Ideas Worth Rallying Around™, Sunny revels in and works with brand innovators that shape our world. She is a fierce visionary, high-octane keynote speaker, and provocative columnist with Fast Company. Her palpable drive and brazen philosophy have garnered clients like Virgin, Google, Microsoft, Hershey’s, and more.   Episode Highlights Why so flammable? After rea

Jacob Ross is CEO of PebblePost, a pioneer in the practice of programmatic direct mail. Once the leading channel in sophisticated direct marketing, many cast print mailers aside in favor of shiny new digital channels. Jacob explained why this thinking is flawed and how you can embrace a smarter approach to integrated and impactful direct mail during this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Jacob Ross Jacob Ross brings 20+ years of adtech experience to his role at PebblePost, which invented an entirely new marketing channel: programmatic direct mail. The platform combines online signals and offline data to reach current and prospective customers at home with personalized mail. Current customers include Mejuri, Lulu and Georgia, ModCloth, and Parachute.   Episode Highlights We opened our conversation talking about the brand of direct mail. “Direct mail is both sophisticated in terms of data and modeling but it’s also been labeled as junk mail.” “Advertising is eating us alive,” Jacob notes. “That’s w

Daniel H. Pink is the author of the New York Times bestsellers A Whole New Mind, Drive, To Sell Is Human, When, and his latest The Power of Regret. His books have sold millions of copies, have been translated into 42 languages, and have won multiple awards. We discussed everything from the role regret plays in marketing to the power of a good visual (even on simple signage) this week on the On Brand Podcast. About Daniel H. Pink Daniel H. Pink is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of seven books—including his latest, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward. His deeply researched works include the New York Times best sellers A Whole New Mind, Drive, To Sell Is Human, and When. His books have sold millions of copies, been translated into 42 languages, and have won multiple awards. Over the past decade and a half, he has also hosted a National Geographic Television series, studied the comic industry in Japan, created a popular MasterClass on sales and persuasion, written the liner note

Maddy Osman is the founder of the Blogsmith, an SEO content writing agency for B2B technology brands. An expert in content creation and strategy, she's the author of the new book Writing for Humans and Robots. We discussed all of this and her University of Iowa roots this week on the On Brand podcast. About Maddy Osman Maddy Osman is a digital native with a decade-long devotion to creating engaging, accessible, and relevant content. After teaching herself web design at age 11, she found her true passion in content creation—learning the intricacies while transitioning from technical to creative SEO marketer. Maddy's journey from freelance writer to founder and CEO of The Blogsmith yielded numerous insights to share about content creation for enterprise B2B technology brands. Her efforts earned her a spot in BuzzSumo’s Top 100 Content Marketers and The Write Life’s 100 Best Websites for Writers. Maddy has spoken for audiences at WordCamp US, SearchCon, and Denver Startup Week. She's also the author of the new

Robert L. Dilenschneider has been called “Dean of American Public Relations Executives.” As founder of The Dilenschneider Group, he provides strategic advice and counsel to Fortune 500 companies and leading families and individuals globally, with experience in fields ranging from mergers and acquisitions, crisis communications, marketing, government affairs, and international media. I couldn’t wait to talk about all of this—including his new book The Public Relations Handbook—this week on the On Brand Podcast. About Robert L. Dilenschneider Robert L. Dilenschneider is founder of The Dilenschneider Group. Headquartered in New York and Chicago, the firm provides strategic advice and counsel to Fortune 500 companies and leading families and individuals around the world, with experience in fields ranging from mergers and acquisitions and crisis communications to marketing, government affairs, and international media. Prior to forming his own firm, Dilenschneider served as president and chief executive officer of