What to Do If Your Brand Sucks with Ernie Harker
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“If you start off on the wrong foot and your brand isn't in line with the attitudes or personality of the brand, there's confusion.” Or, to put it bluntly, your brand sucks. That's the title of strategist Ernie Harker's new book. We discuss how to ... not build a brand that sucks this week on the On Brand podcast. About Ernie Harker is a creative branding mastermind. He recently published Your Brand Sucks, a book that reveals why most companies get branding wrong and reveals the secrets he has used to assist dozens of companies define a clear image and personality for their brands. One...
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Measuring Brand Dominance with Jonathan Tuttle
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“Good things take time to build.” In his work as Founding Director of the digital marketing agency Revenue Ascend, Jonathan Tuttle helps brands of all shapes and sizes build good things. How do you know if something in marketing is good? Measurement and ROI—and we spent a lot of time talking about best practices and more this week on the On Brand podcast. About Jonathan Tuttle Jonathan Tuttle is the Founding Director of Revenue Ascend, a leading digital marketing agency based in Chicago. The firm is focused on driving new growth and generating measurable ROI. The agency was designed to...
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Building a Social-First Brand with David Brickley
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“People want to interact with people—not brands.” David Brickley has been helping brands interact with their people through his agency STN Digital and his two podcasts Business of Social and Entrepreneur Wrap. This week he joined me as a guest on my podcast to talk about how to build a social-first brand. About David Brickley After working with his first-ever client, Kobe Bryant, David Brickley used that as motivation to launch STN Digital in 2013, and has since grown an award-winning team of some of the best talent in the industry. STN Digital is an expert at launching brands and...
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The Art of Visual Storytelling with Dan Roam
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“We are profoundly visual creatures. We respond to what we see more than anything else.” Dan Roam has spent his career helping people master the art of visual communication and storytelling. His books from Back of the Napkin to his latest, The Pop-Up Pitch, help organizations and individuals put this system into action. I couldn't wait to discuss all of this with him this week on the On Brand podcast. About Dan Roam Dan Roam is the author of five international bestselling books on business-visualization and communication clarity. The Back of the Napkin was named by Fast Company, The...
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Choosing Your Customer with Jonathan Byrnes
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“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! About Jonathan Byrnes Jonathan Byrnes is founding partner and chairman of Profit Isle, a highly successful MIT spin-off SaaS software company that helps organizations increase profits by 10–30 percent using its profitability analytics and...
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Qualitative Research in Branding with Duane Varan
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“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 mix of both quantitive and qualitative research. Dr. Duane Varan is a leader in the field of qualitative research and was my guest this week on the On Brand podcast. About Duane Varan is CEO of both MediaScience and HarkConnect. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Australian Prime Minister’s Award for University Teacher of the Year, and is a global pioneer in developing new...
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How Native Ads Build Better Brands with Dan Greenberg
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“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. About Dan Greenberg is the CEO and Founder of Sharethrough, the largest independent native advertising platform that powers in-feed native ads for publishers...
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What the Pandemic Means for Brands with Emmanuel Probst
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“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. About Emmanuel Probst background combines over 15 years of market research and marketing experience with strong academic achievements....
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Why Conflict Is Critical in Storytelling with Norman Bell
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“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! About Norman Bell is a storytelling and presentation coach, award-winning speaker, theater and film actor, and author of the book, The Story Powered Speaker: How to Own the Stage, Enchant your Audience, and Grow Your Business Using the Magical Power of Storytelling. Norman is passionate about helping purpose-driven entrepreneurs and organizations...
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Branding Through Science and Story with Jenna Arkin
On Brand with Nick Westergaard
“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. About Jenna Arkin , Vice President of Innovation at ECOS, uses her unique background in both chemistry and design to innovate safer,...
info_outline“Every day we spend with our fellow human beings, we can contribute to making their life a little bit better—making them a little bit smarter, a little bit more thoughtful, and so on—or not.” It’s rare that a single guest has appeared three times on the On Brand podcast. However, when Tom Peters calls and wants to talk about empathy and extreme humanism in the middle of one of the most challenging times in work and life, you answer the call. I’m thrilled to share my most recent conversation with Tom Peters on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.
About Tom Peters
Called “the Red Bull of management consultants,” Tom Peters is a leading business management guru and founder of the Tom Peters Company. He continues to be in constant demand for lectures and seminars. In 2017, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Thinkers50 and the Jack Covert Award for Contribution to the Business Book Industry from 800-CEO-READ. Peters is the bestselling author of seventeen books, including In Search of Excellence (with Robert H. Waterman, Jr.), which is often cited as among the best business books ever written.
These tumultuous times demand deep engagement, human connection, and, yes, Excellence. In response, Tom has launched his Excellence Now campaign, which includes a trio of tools designed to help you and your team take action.
Episode Highlights
“We (management gurus) are carrying a sin around on our shoulders. We behave as if the Fortune 500 is the economy.” In fact, this over-indexed group is only a microcosm of the jobs in the modern world of work. Furthermore, when it comes to impact, Tom stressed the importance of what local small businesses can do.
TTDN–Things To Do Now. This feature pops up in Tom’s new Excellence Now course but, as I reminded him, it was a big part of the Tom Peters Seminar cassette tapes I listened to on my way to my first post-college job. (“How old are you?!?” Tom jokingly asked me.) So what’s one thing listeners should do now? “Know your people. Really know them.”
Resume values vs. eulogy values. One topic we kept coming back to was David Brooks’ philosophy on resume values vs. eulogy values.
“Hard is soft and soft is hard.” We came back to this oldie/goodie once again as well. Why is Tom still talking about all of this? This simple quote provides an answer.
What brand has made Tom smile recently? Tom shared a remarkable experience he had during a visit to the town hall in his hometown of Dartmouth, Massachusetts. “They were decent—they were the human face of the town.”
To learn more, go to tompeters.com and excellencenow.com.
As We Wrap …
Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show.
On Brand is sponsored by my book Brand Now. Discover the seven dynamics to help your brand stand out in our crowded, distracted world. Order now and get special digital extras. Learn more.
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