Blog Archives
How to Navigate Product Launches During COVID-19
Business Class from American Express interviewed me about the topic of launching during this pandemic.
The article outlines 5 key points:
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Communicate with customers.
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Be mindful of messaging.
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Put the customer—not the brand—first
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Evaluate the risks vs. rewards of launching.
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Know your customers.
Read the full story here.
EP043 – Dan Kurzrock, CEO and Co-Founder, ReGrained
Dan Kurzrock was brewing beer as a hobby in college when he realized that only 10% of the ingredients used to make beer actually end up in any pint of beer. All-in-all, we waste 40% of all edible food.
Today Dan runs ReGrained, a mission-driven ingredient platform that leverages technology and culinary science to transform beer waste into food. Dan is a thought-leader in food waste business models, “edible upcycling” and the circular economy for food, and he made it onto the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2018.
The consumer brand is selling supergrain puffs like hotcakes despite a pandemic-related pivot into eCommerce.
All the facets of Dan’s brand is what made this a longer and deeper conversation than you are used to from Hitting The Mark, but it is for all the right reasons. ‘Eat up’ is the motto, listen up is where to start!
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EP042 – Trevor Milton, Founder and CEO, Nikola Motor Company
Trevor Milton is the founder of Nikola Motor Company, the hybrid truck company that has 6 vehicles in the making, most of which have not seen the light of day yet.
I talked with Trevor only days after he took his company public, ringing the stock exchange bells via video during the pandemic. Trevor is only 38 years old and has a reported net worth of 7.2 billion dollars.
Here he is on Hitting The Mark to talk with us about the Nikola brand, which, despite not having an actual truck on the roads, is now more valuable than Ford.
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EP041 – Mikael Soderlindh, Co-Founder and CEO, Knife Aid; Co-Founder and Director, Happy Socks
I want to borrow a line from the great David Letterman and say ‘My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.’ He, of course, is the Co-Founder of Happy Socks and has just launched a new brand.
Happy Socks, the immensely iconic and much-loved brand has reached 90 countries and every continent – with concept stores all around the world, from LA to Tokyo, Happy Socks can be found in over 10,000 fashion apparel boutiques.
But today Mikael is sharpening your knives! Get to know his new venture and find out what he learned from creating Happy Socks. He talked to me from Sweden about all things branding, and needless to say, his brands, and this conversation, are bigger than socks and knives.
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EP040 – Lisa Vogl, Founder and Director, Verona Collection
I hustled to get Lisa Vogl on the show because the idea of starting a brand specializing in hijabs that is catering to the Muslim population and launching it successfully at Macy’s to me was fascinating on many levels.
In fact, Verona Collection is the first modest fashion brand to be launched, featured, and sold in an American department store. Lisa is a young passionate entrepreneur driven by authenticity. I greatly enjoyed this swift interview with her about her brand’s strategy and I believe it shows.
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Positioning is focusing and focusing starts with ‘No’
Giving Brand Therapy on the Business Therapy show on KNVC 95.1 in Carson City, Nevada.
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EP039 – Danh Tran & Bob Stevens, Founder & COO, Buttercloth
In a rare move, we have a Founder and COO duo on the show for a brand tale that includes an aspirational economic migrant story from designing clothes for Barbies, literally, at Mattel, to making a pitch so successful it landed them a quarter-million-dollar deal with investor Robert Herjavec of Shark Tank fame.
Danh and Bob are running LA-based Buttercloth, a brand that is a typical internet-born D2C brand, so much so that they don’t believe in experts like myself. And they told me so during my show.
The company produces what they claim to be ‘The World’s Most Comfortable Shirt,’ a slightly unbelievable claim that they are justifying to the world now. Big risks brought big rewards and bootstrapping, even on the branding level, was no showstopper to their success.
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EP038 – Tim Dodd, Co-Founder & CEO, Sweet Flower
Tim Dodd is a venture capitalist turned Co-Founder and CEO of Sweet Flower, Southern California’s largest and leading independent cannabis retailer. A dispensary that is by and for LA., Sweet Flower leads with a clear brand positioning and a high sense for design in a sea of sameness.
My chat with Tim came at a nerve-wracking time when L.A. was knee-deep in the coronavirus pandemic, but Sweet Flower seems to have been well prepared to weather the storm. There is much to learn from Tim as we not only talk about branding but also the operational challenges of running a dispensary.
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The Brand Therapy Book Launch Livestream With Chris Do and The Futur
Diving into some lessons from my book, talking about private label brands, China, and everything in between.
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How E-commerce Brands Can Strive After COVID-19
A leadership discussion with Tom Karwatka, CEO of Divante, on the future of retail branding in a changed world.
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The Post Host
Fabian Geyrhalter is the Principal of FINIEN, creating clarity for brand transformations.
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