Branding isn’t “make it pretty and pray.” It’s how consumers decide what to grab in a 3-second cooler scan— and how buyers decide if you’re worth the shelf space. In this episode of This Is Not Your Hobby, Julie sits down with Amanda DeVries, Creative Director + Founder of Eye Candy Design, to talk about branding from a bigger-than-your-local-market perspective: what works globally, what drives consumer behavior, and how to make your brand clearer (and more profitable) even if your budget is… limited.

What you'll learn in this episode:

Why “branding” is way more than your logo (and why that misconception costs founders real money)
What consumers actually respond to on shelf: clarity, cues, and emotional decision-making
The difference between design that’s cool and design that converts
How to tighten up your branding on a budget (without doing a full-blown redesign)
Practical brand alignment: how packaging, messaging, and your sales story need to match— or you’ll confuse buyers and shoppers

Best for:

Independent beverage brands (beer, cider, spirits, kombucha, THC/hemp, NA) who are prepping for wholesale/distribution; OR already on shelf and not seeing the velocity they expected; OR feeling like their packaging is “fine” but not doing enough heavy lifting.

Mentioned in this episode:

Eye Candy Design

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions

⁠Submit Your Bottlenecks⁠

The Open: A Canucks Fresh Start and Previewing the Olympics

Canucks Central

Olympics arrival and player perspective

The AI-powered Podcast Player