A Privates Conversation with Kejal MacDonald of Thinx and Tushy
Release Date: 10/27/2020
'Splain Ya Later
Brandsplaining
It’s our party and we’ll…end it when we want to. That’s right, we’re bringing Season 1 of Brandsplaining® to a close in order to explore other show concepts for the upcoming NEW season. Hear what we’ve got in store and why it’s the most athletic thing we’ve done yet. A very special thanks to all of our incredible guests from this season—we had so much fun ‘splaining branding with you all. Season 2 drops soon, so stay tuned.
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Be Kind, Unwind with Tyler Calder Of Girls’ Night In and Whiled
Brandsplaining
There’s not a more appropriate way to end 2020 than with an episode all about staying in. We chatted with Tyler Calder, the Director of Content for Girls’ Night In—a community and weekly newsletter exploring the ways we unwind, take care, and make friends into adulthood. Girls’ Night In also just launched The Lounge: a new membership platform for connecting IRL and online, and Whiled: goods designed for downtime.
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The Burn Identity with Ida-Sofia Koivuniemi of Evil Queen
Brandsplaining
Ready for some un*match*ed entrepreneurial insights that will help you light your industry on fire and blow away the competition? Perfect, because this week’s episode is wick-ed good. We spoke with Ida-Sofia Koivuniemi, the founder of Evil Queen—a candle company committed to bringing light and attitude into homes around the world. Basically, they’re making candles fun again.
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Laughing Over Spilled Milk with Mike O'Hagan of JOI and Explorer Cold Brew
Brandsplaining
You’re nuts if you think we’d do an episode about branding nut milk and not make that joke. This week is all about joy and JOI and we had a lovely conversation with Mike O’Hagan, the chief strategy officer of JOI, who also happens to be a buddy of ours after working together to launch their first site in 2019.
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Gary Christmas and Happy Holidays
Brandsplaining
Do You Hear What I Hear? Some Jingle Bell-y laughs and minds being (snow)blown. That’s right, It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Great Branding and in this episode Allie and Lyndsay brandsplain all of the strategies and tactics that make the holiday branding so compelling...and how you can incorporate them into your business year-round. Gather round the fire as they break down the two pillars of holiday branding—spectacle and story—and share magical background stories to classic campaigns.
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Boxers or Creative Briefs with Eleanor Turner of The Big Favorite and Argent
Brandsplaining
This episode is a panty dropper. Oh man we are already sorry for writing that line BUT we promise it sorta makes sense given that today’s episode is all about underwear. And even wilder: recycled underwear. Keep your pants on while we explain: this week we spoke with Eleanor Turner, the founder and CEO of The Big Favorite, which is a company making super soft and circular understuffs (their brilliantly coined term for undershirts and underwear) for men and women.
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Allie and Lyndsay Stomp on Your Podcast Dreams
Brandsplaining
This week we’re dropping a new and fun episode series called “Bcc”. And nope, not blind carbon copy, but ‘business casual conversations.’ These episodes take our guests off the thread so founders Allie and Lyndsay can have unfiltered, 1:1 chats to impart branding insights, experiment with new ideas, and pull back the curtain on creative entrepreneurism.
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Joke & the BeansTalk with Ibraheem Basir of A Dozen Cousins
Brandsplaining
We hope you’re hungry, ‘splainiacs (okay, wait, this one is actually really good) because today’s episode is full of beans—emotionally and topically. Did you know that expression means ‘lively; in high spirits’? Which works out great because our guest today is the founder and CEO of A Dozen Cousins, Ibraheem Basir, and his joyful energy and branding insights will put you in high spirits indeed.
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Get Niche or Die Trying with Kate Kennedy of Be There in Five
Brandsplaining
This week we talked with the word razzle-dazzle in human form: Kate Kennedy from the brand and podcast, Be There in Five. Kate is a former market research professional, author of a #1 new release book Twinkle, Twinkle, Social Media Star, seasoned entrepreneur, and pop culture commentator. (A quadruple threat, if you will.)
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Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Drink with Adrian Molina of Aviation Gin
Brandsplaining
Bottoms up, 'Splainers, (a working fan group name we're playing around with), because our new episode will leave you shaken (with laughter) and stirred (emotionally). Our guest this week is Adrian Molina, the Senior Brand Manager for Aviation American Gin—a renegade brand that has become a household name, re-energized an entire segment, and used self-aware, tradition-bucking humor to do it.
info_outlineToday’s episode is a g*damn treat because we got to talk to the hilarious, wicked smart Kejal MacDonald about her time working for Tushy and Thinx—two iconic brands that have mastered the art of using humor to humanize taboo topics.
Kejal is a literal brand master—with Masters Degree in Branding—and currently runs a marketing agency called Zuzu Digital, so it was a pure delight to pick Kejal’s brain about her time with these brands and hear her insights on the power of comedy to eliminate isolation and shame and bring a sense of truth and humanity to taboo topics.
A little background on the two brands we talked a ton about: Tushy makes bidet attachments that have introduced America to the derriere way that much of Europe and Asia has been accustomed to for decades—and they’ve relied on an arse-nal of puns to help them get the message to butts all across the US. They’ve been featured everywhere from Forbes, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times. We both have one and can attest to their greatness. Also, we took on Tushy for our Slogan Challenge that you can watch here.
Thinx is a feminine hygiene company known for their revolutionary reusable period underwear, their candid, bold voice, and getting their ads rejected from being on the New York subway. They also have a brand called SPEAX which is incontinence underwear, and BTWN which is specifically geared towards menstruating adolescents.
We covered a lot of ground with Kejal on a lot of really strong takeaways for anyone running a brand. Like:
- How hyper-specificity in your marketing allows for easy ideas
- Why EVERYONE should be using humor in their business...especially the ones most afraid of it
- How humor creates community and a rapport and relationship with your consumer
- Levity and inclusion and undoing stigmas
- How Ben & Jerry’s are killing it rn
- The link between laughter and brand likeability
- Thinking of brands as people with personalities
- Why you should stick with your strong POV
- How consistency and commitment are two keys in comedy
- Why puns get a bad rap
- And a thousand great tangents and callbacks and anecdotes in between...including a Bubba Sparxxx story you have to hear.
You can follow Kejal at @KejalMacDonald and @zuzudigital or at www.zuzudigital.com
Minute markers for your skimming pleasure (how dare you):
9:18 Spiller Qs
19:18 Branding Qs