On Brand with Nick Westergaard

“Branding is thousands of tiny punches that add up.” And few deliver as many meaningful little punches as Bark & Co, the powerhouse brand dedicated to bringing joy to dog parents everywhere through innovative products and services like BarkBox. The company and its people love what they do and who they do it for. And it shows. This week, Bark’s Editor in Chief Stacie Grissom joined me for a chat on the On Brand podcast about all of this and much more.About Stacie GrissomStacie Grissom is the head of content at BARK, the company building a next-generation brand for dogs and dog people. Stacie leads the team behind the BARK’s interactive, humor-driven content strategy and is a co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Dogs and Their People. She lives in NYC with her rescue mutt, Pimm.Episode HighlightsWhat’s the difference between a dog owner and a dog parent? And, does it matter? It does to Bark & Co. “A dog owner is someone who looks at their dog as property. Not as a part of the family. A dog parent throws parties and cares about the gifts they get their dog.” It’s this seemingly small distinction that Bark has built its brand around.“We’re obsessed with dogs.” So how does Bark understand their audience? Do they develop complex personas rich with quantitative and qualitative demography? Not so much. “We only hire people who get dogs. Not everyone here has a dog but we all value dogs.”‘Hump Day’ is a little different at Bark. When your business is dogs, ‘hump day’ takes on a new meaning. Looking for way to celebrate the middle of the week with their fans on social media, Bark leaned into the innuendo. Would this offend some? Sure. But again, they know their customers.“If it makes us giggle we go ahead and post it.” This mix of culture, audience, and content, also informs their brand’s distinct voice, usually bringing a smile to their customers’ face.What brand has made Stacie smile recently? Stacie pointed us to the hip swimming trunks brand, Shinesty. “They’re super bro-ey. The way they about their products shows that they really know their audience.”To learn more about Stacie, connect with her on LinkedIn or check out her content at BarkPost. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The only policy you need is ‘don’t be a jerk!'” While this may seem like surprising legal advice, it shouldn’t be considering the source. In addition to being a lawyer, marketing professional, and podcaster, Kerry O’Shea Gorgone is one of the nicest (read: not jerky!) people both online and off. We discussed the legal implications of new forms of media, copyright, podcasting, and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.About Kerry O’Shea GorgoneKerry O’Shea Gorgone, JD, MBA, is a lawyer, podcaster, speaker, and writer. By day, she designs training programs for marketing professionals in her role as Director of Product Strategy, Training, at MarketingProfs. By night (and on weekends) Kerry writes for some of the most authoritative sites in the marketing and PR industry, including Mark Schaefer’s {grow} blog, Social Media Explorer, Entrepreneur, Spin Sucks, and MackCollier.com, and also contributes to Huffington Post.Kerry hosts the MarketingProfs weekly interview series, Marketing Smarts, named by Fast Company as one of the best business podcasts on the internet and one of “19 Podcasts Worth More Than an MBA” by Inc. The show features industry stars and authors like Chris Brogan, Ann Handley and Gary Vaynerchuk, as well as business personalities like Jon Taffer of ‘Bar Rescue’ and actress Jane Seymour. She’s also interviewed c-suite executives from organizations like IBM, National Geographic, Dell and the Baltimore Ravens. Learn more about her at KerryGorgone.com.Episode HighlightsLegal 101 — what’s the difference between a copyright and a trademark? “A copyright protects your bigger works — books, blogs. Trademarking is for smaller things — logos and phrases.” At the end of the day, Kerry warns that you have to decide to what extent you’re going to pursue small infringements.So, what should you protect as a brand? “Your employees’ privacy. Like Crackerbarrell saw this week when they fired ‘Brad’s wife.'” You should also protect your copyright — both what you share from others and what they share of yours.Can Snapchat sue Facebook? This week, as Facebook launched stories, a very Snapchat-like feature, students in my marketing class (which Kerry spoke to via Skype) asked if Facebook could be sued by Snapchat for copying the stories features. “You can’t copyright an idea. It has to be expressed. At this point, stories are so pervasive.”Podcasting tips? As you can see from her bio, Kerry is one of the most popular marketing podcast hosts. What tips can she share for businesses wanting to get started with this growing form of media? “Start with conversation research and listen. Figure out what your audience is into and see if you can be a part of that.”What brand has made Kerry smile recently? Kerry pointed us to the outdoor brand Orvis. She recently had Orvis’ Simon Perkins on the Marketing Smarts podcast. She loved the engaging conversation and the real-life brand touchpoints she received afterward that made her smile.To learn more about Kerry, follow her on Twitter and check out her blog and the Marketing Smarts podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Too often today we over-survey our customers.” As Amazon’s first Worldwide VP of Customer Service, Bill Price is a legend in the field of customer service. As an author and advisor, he continues to drive home the fact that service is one of the most critical brand touchpoints. We discussed all of this and more on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.About Bill PriceBill Price is a Partner with Big Data player Antuit leading its global customer experience and customer service advanced analytics program and is President of Driva Solutions that has worked with over 150 clients to forge the balance between cost controls and greater customer loyalty.Bill co-founded the 9-country LimeBridge Global Alliance; chairs the 41-company Global Operations Council; has taught at the University of Washington and Stanford MBA programs; and is the lead author of The Best Service is No Service: Liberating Your Customers From Customer Service, Keep Them Happy, and Control Costs (Wiley 2008) and Your Customer Rules! Delivering the Me2B Experiences That Today’s Customers Demand (Wiley 2015).Bill served as Amazon.com’s first Worldwide VP of Customer Service and before that held senior positions at MCI, ACP, and McKinsey. He was named “Call Center Pioneer” in 1997 in its inaugural year. Bill graduated from Dartmouth (BA) and Stanford (MBA), and lives in Bellevue, WA.Episode HighlightsWhat’s this Amazon alum been up to recently? “Lately I’ve been focusing on the fact that we over-survey customers today. We keep sending out surveys and yet the survey response rate is declining. A lot of companies just fill in the blanks.”“Connecting the dots makes me excited about big data.” We need to supplement the survey with other actions along the customer journey. “We can have a data feed that starts to calculate a score as you’re going.” From there you can test out coupons and other incentives.Qualitative vs. quantitative insights. In writing Your Customer Rules!, Bill interviewed several service leaders like Nordstrom. “We learned that they valued statements like ‘You make it easy for me’ and ‘You recognize me.’ They don’t always know what they mean but they know they like them. They also know to look out for ‘failure statements.'” These are the opposites — ‘you don’t make it easy for me’ and ‘you don’t recognize me.’All companies are full of stories. While external-focused marketing stories can help communicate who you are, Bill noted that internal stories represent “tribal knowledge. Good brands collect stories. They don’t curate — they even share bad stories.” Stories help communicate what you value and what you want to avoid as a brand.What brand has made Bill smile recently? “I like to smile but don’t always get to do it!” One recent smile-worthy experience came during Bill’s most recent visit to his Tesla service center. A rep stepped forward and remembered him by name. “She remembered me — that’s one of the the three drivers in my book.” More importantly, she remembered that Bill liked to run. Little things can make a big difference.To learn more about Bill, connect with him on LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City — Jerry and I discussed the latest social media insights from the 2017 Infinite Dial study from Edison Research (I also explained why this is one of my favorite data sources). Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week's show.Beyond the Sound Bite Here's a link to the 2017 Infinite Dial study from Edison Research. Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we'll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If you want to be authentic as a brand, you have to be able to make a mistake.” As social media manager for Cision, Bruce Kennedy is on the front lines of the brand's online conversations. Last week, he was in the front row for our live podcast onstage at SXSW, where we talked about how brands need to be more authentic than ever to stand out today. I couldn't wait to continue this conversation with Bruce on this week's episode of the On Brand podcast.About Bruce KennedyBruce Kennedy is a social media manager at Cision, where he manages Cision's global brands. Previously, he worked in public relations in tech and entertainment, helping brands from early stage startups to household names like Red Bull, Disney on Ice, Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey, Techweek and more. Connect with him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter.Episode HighlightsWhat does brand mean today? "We're seeing this change — especially with social media. Increasingly the brand is who's behind the brand."Why those photos of your office that you post on social media matter. "More and more today people care about what's going on behind the scenes of brands." Authenticity is all about access.Live video has created a new branded content ecosystem. "For example, that Red Bull jump would be so much more today." You'd have live video before and after and lots of content leading up to the main event.How can smaller brands take advantage of some of the amazing things big brands are doing? We chatted about Disney's Jungle Book marketing. Specifically, a campaign using 360-video to showcase the digital King Louie character, voiced by Christopher Walken. "You may not have King Louie and Christopher Walken but maybe you can do a 360-video in an interesting place. Or with an interesting person."What brand has made Bruce smile recently? Wendy's! Bruce shared how their recent candid yet authentic Twitter exchanges have helped the brand stand out — both in the news and in the analytics.To learn more about Bruce, check out the Cision blog, where he is a regular contributor. In fact, he wrote a great recap of our SXSW episode just this past week.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Recently Rachael Sperling gave us a shout on Twitter for our live episode from SXSW (where Bruce was in the audience and asked a question). Thanks for listening, Rachel!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. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we have a special LIVE episode of the On Brand podcast — on stage from SXSW Interactive. Recorded last Saturday, March 11 in Austin, this episode featured a timely discussion of a big question that many brand builders are struggling with in these divisive times — should your brand take a stand socially and politically? Joining me were guests Duff Stewart of GSD&M and Heather Whaling of Geben Communication.Next week, I’ll be back with a full-length brand builder interview. In the meantime, enjoy this week’s special episode.About Duff Stewart and Heather WhalingDuff Stewart is a 27-year veteran of GSD&M, where he serves as CEO. Through purpose-based branding, GSD&M helps articulate and activate a client’s core purpose and creates simple yet powerful ideas that make a difference. With a passion for bold creative and a well-developed business sense, Duff has led a profitable agency turnaround over the past five years. Since becoming CEO, more than 75% of the agency’s roster is new and the team has expanded capabilities in digital, design, experiential and many other areas.His other brand experience at the agency includes Southwest Airlines, BMW, Walmart and Molson Coors Brewing Company. In addition to his many operational contributions, Duff has long served as a cultural leader. He helped define and articulate the agency’s core values: integrity, curiosity, restlessness, community, freedom & responsibility and winning.Within the Austin community, Duff is president of the board of directors for the Austin Theatre Alliance and has lent his time and talents to causes like the Anti-Defamation League, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, LIVESTRONG Challenge and the Texas Mamma Jamma Ride. He is also active in local, state and national politics.Follow Duff on Twitter.Heather Whaling is founder/president of Geben Communication. In 2016, she was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the Ohio Valley Region. After launching the company from her dining room in 2009, Heather’s fresh approach to best practices has helped Geben evolve into a highly respected, sought-after, award-winning PR firm. With offices in Columbus and Chicago, Geben was named the national media relations agency of the year by Ragan/PR Daily and a top 10 agency for startups by Agency Post.A board member of The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, Heather is a vocal advocate for issues impacting women and girls. Her perspective on paid family leave has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur.com, Refinery29 and a variety of local and national media outlets.Follow Heather on Twitter.And here’s the video we watched during the podcast — GSD&M’s “I Pee with LGBT” ad directed by Richard Linklater.More on I Pee with LGBT.I also wrote a post recently on why your brand should take a stand.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. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A brand is a relationship between a customer and an organization.” Don E. Schultz has spent his storied career navigating, teaching, and writing about that very complex relationship. He’s a Professor of Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University’s Medill School, President of Agora, Inc, and author of over twenty-eight books on marketing. He’s also this week’s guest on the On Brand podcast.About Don E. SchultzDon E. Schultz, BBA (University of Oklahoma), MA and PhD (Michigan State University) is Professor (Emeritus-in-Service) Integrated Marketing Communications, The Medill School, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL and President of Agora, Inc., a global marketing, communication, and branding consulting firm. Schultz consults, lectures, and holds seminars on integrated marketing communication, marketing, branding, advertising, sales promotion, and communication management in Europe, South America, Asia/Pacific, the Middle East, Australia, and North America.He is the author/co-author of over twenty-eight books and over one hundred and fifty trade, academic and professional articles and serves on the editorial review board for a number of trade and scholarly publications. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Direct Marketing, the associate editor of the Journal of Marketing Communications, and the International Journal of Integrated Marketing Communication.Schultz is a member of the American Marketing Association, American Academy of Advertising, Advertising Research Foundation, Business Marketing Association, Direct Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research, and the International Advertising Association, as well as the director and US Chairman for Brand Finance, London. He also provides consultancy services to a broad variety of marketing organizations, agencies, media and non-profit groups around the world. Schultz has received numerous awards, including the AAA (American Academy of Advertising) Ivan Preston Outstanding Contributions to Research Award in 2014.He lives in Chicago with his wife Heidi who is also his business partner.Episode HighlightsNorthwestern University has been teaching advertising since 1903! To say that Schultz teaches at one of the most historic institutions for advertising instruction is an understatement. “In the 1980s — with so much new technology emerging — we started asking, ‘how do we bring all of this together?'” And that’s how integrated marketing communications was born.“You have to start with customers,” says Schultz. “What do they need? You’re really not trying to sell anything. Persuasion is out of date. It’s a reciprocal process of solving problems for the customer.”Even integrated marketing communications needs reinvention. “We found we needed to adapt or adjust the process. Today it ends with a sale and operates from campaigns. How do we get beyond solving the individual issue? We need to think about lifetime customer value. How do we get to be more responsive?”What skill is timeless for marketers? “The technology is coming so fast. If we started teaching the technology, it’d be out of date by the time students graduate.” What skill is timeless and valuable for marketers? “An innate curiosity about people. It’s very important to immerse yourself in culture.”What brand has made Don smile recently? “Wimbledon. Those people really understand branding and how their brand relates to the world.”To learn more about Don, you can send him an email at dschultz@northwestern.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“A brand is a set of promises. If you break that, you hurt the brand.” With a storied career in advertising including his current gig as co-founder and creative director of the Velocity Partners agency, Doug Kessler has spent his career helping brands create and communicate promises to their communities. This week, Doug stopped by the On Brand podcast for a chat about content, creative, and strategy.About Doug KesslerDoug Kessler is co-founder and creative director of Velocity Partners, the London-based B2B content marketing agency — and Content Marketing Institute Agency of the Year. Doug has written a lot about content marketing including the B2B Content Strategy Checklist, Insane Honesty in Content Marketing and Crap: Why the Biggest Threat to Content Marketing is Content Marketing.Episode HighlightsWe started the show with … crap. Doug has spent a lot of time writing about crap. Or specifically, what we need to avoid creating as content marketers. As he notes, “the biggest threat to content marketing is content marketing. Content makes too much sense to go anywhere.”Content quantity vs. quality. So what about the million-dollar question, ‘how much content should you create?’ Doug’s answer: “Do as much as you can above a certain quality level. Every piece you put out can either help or hurt your brand.” What you really have to do is …Create a content brand. You have to be more than just a brand builder and a content creator. You have to develop a content brand. But it’s harder and harder to hit a home run.How can you produce a content marketing home run? As Doug notes, “the first step is to aim for it.” This sounds obvious but so many of us fall prey to internal and external constraints that keep our content in the middle of the bell curve. That said, you still need to be strategic instead of following creative whims. “At Ogilvy in the ‘80s, we used to say, ‘you can always get attention from a gorilla in a jock strap.’”B2B content isn’t necessarily harder. “It’s different. Not all pieces have to do everything. There are heart pieces and there are head pieces. We need more content that celebrates the Simon Sinek ‘why.’”What brand has made Doug smile recently? “A B2C example is Everlane for their radical transparency in their supply chain and their margins. Thank you! For B2B, I’d say GE.” Doug then reminded us of their Hammer ad (below).To learn more about Doug, check out the Velocity Partners website and follow Doug on Twitter.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Recently Matt Reno gave us a shout on Twitter for our episode featuring Brad Flowers. Specifically, Matt said he “poured some bourbon, opened the sketchbook, and chilled while listening to an insightful branding podcast.” Thanks for listening, Matt!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. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City — Jay and I discussed Facebook’s newest feature for businesses — job listings! That’s right, when Facebook polled businesses they found that finding the right people was the top need. Listen for the full sound bite and enjoy these useful links to the news, trends, and tips included in this week’s show.Beyond the Sound Bite Here’s the full story at Business Insider – Facebook is taking on LinkedIn by letting businesses post job listings. Remember, the Social Sound Bite is just the appetizer! On Monday morning we’ll serve up a fresh new episode of the On Brand Podcast. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Until next week, see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“When you don’t answer your customers — you’re sending them a message.” Today we have to meet our audience on an increasingly diverse array of traditional and digital media touch points. None has garnered more headlines over the past year than Snapchat. Jed Record joined us in Iowa last fall for the Social Brand Forum. Since then, both Snapchat and the emerging story media format have evolved even more. We discussed all of this on this week’s On Brand podcast. About Jed RecordA consultant, speaker, and educator, Jed Record guides corporate teams through the quickly changing landscape of emerging marketing technologies. He teaches marketing at Meredith College’s School of Business. Jed’s clients include both start-ups and global brands such as Lenovo, eBay, Thomson Reuters and Quintiles Transnational. He has worked with Toyota, Capital One, SanDisk and others on influence marketing campaigns as well.Episode HighlightsInstagram stories vs. Snapchat stories. One big thing that’s changed since last summer/fall has been the emergence of Instagram’s own story feature. Recently, Instagram’s daily story stats have overtaken Snapchat total user counts. Does this automatically spell trouble for Snapchat? Not necessarily. “It’s a major millennial media platform. It is a highly different audience. If this is your core audience, this is still where you should be.”Why millennials still favor Snapchat. “Snap was the platform where their parents weren’t. It’s a very personal network.” Instagram stories may help preserve this feature. Just as parents and older demographics were starting to check out Snapchat, they had a new reason to stay on Instagram.The ‘story’ is a new media format. Whether it’s Snapchat stories, Instagram stories, or Facebook’s new story feature, one thing is clear. The story is an emerging new media format, composed of real-time photos and videos further personalized with sketches, scribbles, and emojis. How will you tell your brand’s story?“This is another form of communication but it’s not just another communications course.” Jed was very clear that though these are new formats and channels, we need to make sure that marketing curriculum doesn’t get lost teaching the tools. We need better instruction on distilling complex brand messaging into concise, ephemeral stories.What brand has made Jed smile recently? “Applebee’s. Out of the blue, they make me smile by tweeting at me.” Jed also pointed to exceptional service from American Airlines and Toyota.To learn more, check out Jed’s website and follow Jed on Twitter.As We Wrap …Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community …Recently Jasko Besic gave us a shout on Twitter for our episode featuring Brad Flowers. Thanks for listening, Jasko!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. Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RSS. Rate and review the show – If you like what you’re hearing, head over to iTunes and click that 5-star button to rate the show. And if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review. This helps others find the podcast. OK. How do you rate and review a podcast? Need a quick tutorial on leaving a rating/review in iTunes? Check this out. Remember – On Brand is brought to you by my new book — Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. Order now at Amazon and check out GetScrappyBook.com for special offers and extras. Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices