On Brand: A Podcast About Branding For Brand Builders, By Brand Builders

“Your brand is the tiny moments. Not the the things case studies are written about.” Ian Greenleigh has spent his career understanding how tiny moments and shifts in access and influence can do big things. He’s used these shifts to his advantage and help brands like Bazaarvoice and The Economist Group. This week he sat down and shared his thoughts on digital branding, thought leadership, and big data on the On Brand podcast. Ian Greenleigh Ian Greenleigh is author of The Social Media Side Door (McGraw-Hill), Digital Strategist at The Economist Group, marketing consultant and speaker. Previously, he was the Director of Marketing at Olapic, and before that, Senior Manager of Content and Social Strategy at Bazaarvoice. His words and ideas have been featured in Harvard Business Review, AdAge, Digiday, U.S. News & World Report, Adweek, Mashable, CMO.com, Econsultancy, the Smithsonian Institution Archives, and in many other places, including the famous NASDAQ marquee in Times Square. As We Wrap … Recently, Stacey M

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed some new data on Snapchat use that reinforces why this is a social network we’re spending more and more time talking about. Specifically, use among millennials is through the roof. 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 one big reason Snapchat is worth $16 billion (Business Insider). We also announced the newest speaker to join the Social Brand Forum line-up for 2015 — TEDx Cambridge producer and Oratium CMO Tamsen Webster. Remember to register now and save for this premier digital marketing experience. Get to know Tamsen by listening to her recent appearance on the On Brand podcast. You can also follow her on Twitter. 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. This week we’ll be talking to author and di

“Instead of focusing on big data, we should be focusing on big relevance.” Steven Van Belleghem is a thought leader known for his mind stretching books and keynotes. His latest book, When Digital Becomes Human, explores the sometimes conflicting poles of businesses communication — the digital and human side. Van Belleghem shares with us why these aspects are really complementary this week on the On Brand podcast. About Steven Van Belleghem Steven is a thought leader on the transformation of customer relations and the future of marketing. He is an expert in inspiring companies to become true customer-centric organizations in this high speed digital world. His talks inspire companies about the smart usage of technology in the customer relationship without forgetting the human side of business. His keynotes are mind stretchers for business leaders. A very energetic and pragmatic keynote speaker, Steven shares his vision in speeches and workshops around the world. Steven is a bestselling author of business books.

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – we discussed the latest update to Facebook — and it’s one that many small businesses will like. That’s because the social social giant announced that in addition to customer reviews on Facebook pages, restaurant pages will now feature critics’ reviews from sources such as Bon Appétit and Condé Nast Traveler. 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 on how Facebook search now includes restaurant reviews (Mashable). 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. This week we’ll be talking about what happens when digital becomes human with Steven Van Belleghem. 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

“A Ferrari is more than a way of getting from point A to point B. It has a power over you that goes beyond reason.” Luxury brands can do that. However, changing consumers and media dynamics require us to rethink luxury branding in the digital age. Brand strategist and author JP Kuehlwein joined us for a discussion on this very topic. About JP Kuehlwein JP Kuehlwein is Executive Vice President of Frédéric Fekkai, a New York-based prestige salon operator, hair care brand and fully owned subsidiary of Procter and Gamble. He is also an Outside Director of Smith & Norbu, a Hong Kong luxury optical frame maker. Previously, JP was Managing Director of Global Strategy & Innovation – Premium Consumer, spearheading Procter & Gamble’s capability and business development in the premium brand space. JP is a recognized strategy expert, global brand builder, and accomplished marketing leader. He has a 20+ year track record of translating consumer and branding insights into transformational propositions that win in the marke

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – we discussed how Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley teased his upcoming presidential campaign announcement with a Snapchat message. He’s not alone. Hopefuls Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul are just a few of the candidates who are turning to Snapchat in the upcoming race. 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 on the Martin O’Malley Snapchat campaign announcement (CNN). The campaigns aren’t the only ones embracing Snapchat — Campaign Coverage via Snapchat Could Shake Up the 2016 Elections (NY Times). 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. This week we’ll be talking about luxury branding with JP Kuehlwein. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iT

“You have to live the values and promise of the brand. You can’t just tell people how good you are.” As Vice President of US Strategy and Insights for McDonald’s USA, Steve Levigne understands better than most how consumers are changing and what that means for brands. After twenty two years under the golden arches, Levigne took some time to chat about the past, present, and future for this great American brand. About Steve Levigne Steve Levigne is Vice President of US Strategy and Insights for McDonald’s USA. He’s responsible for integrating consumer, business, and industry insights into actionable plans to help drive the U.S. business. His contributions in these areas have helped McDonald’s strengthen their industry leading position, and realize their most successful period in their history. His career spans 30 years of demonstrated leadership creating value through brand building and performance improvement, including roles at McDonald’s USA and Midas International. While at McDonald’s, he has earned many a

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed a recent question I got while speaking at the Roller Skating Association’s annual conference. It was something I hear frequently from businesses looking to leverage more user generated content in their social media marketing — what about bad content? 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 Need proof that I keynoted the Roller Skating Association’s annual conference? Here’s photographic evidence (Instagram). Curious to learn more about my speaking services? Check out my speaking site nickwestergaard.com. 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. This week we’ll have Steve Levigne of McDonald’s on the show. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, and RS

You might not know Marc Hershon by name but chances you are familiar with his names. That’s because Hershon is the man behind some of the most memorable brand names of our time including BlackBerry, Swiffer, and Dasani. What’s in a name? More than you might think. Marc Hershon breaks it down on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast.  About Marc Hershon Marc Hershon is senior manager of naming and verbal identity in the San Francisco office of Landor, where he’s responsible for using storytelling and creativity to develop brand voice, copy, taglines, names, and nomenclature systems for corporate and consumer brands. Marc comes to Landor from Lexicon Branding, where he worked for more than 20 years and served as creative director from 2010 to 2014. During his time there he helped to create such memorable brand names as BlackBerry, Swiffer, and Dasani. As a solo consultant for several years, Marc worked with clients such as Garmin, Sony, and Christopher Ranch to create nüvi, Crackle, and Monviso, respectiv

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed emojis in email subject lines. Specifically we looked at a new study from email marketing platform MailChimp on how and when emojis are used in email. It even included which emojis are used most often in email marketing. 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 MailChimp’s Most Popular Subject Line Emojis (MailChimp). Why the Apple Watch is taking the emoji to the next level (Daily Dot). 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. This week we’ll have Marc Hershon — the man who named the BlackBerry — on the show. 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 t

“Branding is blocking and tackling.” Guy Kawasaki would know. As a brand evangelist for some of the biggest brands in history including Apple, Android, and Wikipedia, Guy knows that “bringing the good news” is a lot of work. I couldn’t wait to talk to the quintessential brand evangelist about what it takes to do his job on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Guy Kawasaki Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva, an online graphic design tool. Formerly, he was an advisor to the Motorola business unit of Google and chief evangelist of Apple. He is also the author of The Art of Social Media, The Art of the Start, APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur, Enchantment, and nine other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College. As We Wrap … Recently Mattias Kindell gave the show a shout about our recent episode featuring social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson. Thanks for listening, Mattias! Did you hear something you

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed a couple of new features on Pinterest. As a driver of 40% of social commerce, brands of all shapes and sizes are looking to promote their wares via Pinterest. This week the social network announced enhanced paid advertising features as well as the ability for businesses to schedule pins using tools like Buffer. 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 Buffer’s announcement — Introducing Buffer for Pinterest (Buffer). Beyond Buffer, other marketing platform partners were announced as well including Percolate, Sprinklr, Spredfast, Curalate, Ahalogy, Expion, Newscred, Shoutlet and Tailwind. View the whole list at AdWeek. 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. This week we’ll have Guy Kawasaki on the show. L

“I’m a teacher in everything I do.” As an international speaker, author, consultant, and educator, Mark W. Schaefer does a lot of teaching. On top of that, he’ll join us in Iowa this fall as a keynote at the Social Brand Forum. I couldn’t wait to talk with Mark about his new book The Content Code, marketing curriculum, and everything in between on this week’s episode of the On Brand Podcast. About Mark W. Schaefer Mark W. Schaefer is a globally-recognized author, speaker, educator, and business consultant who blogs at {grow} – one of the top marketing blogs of the world. He teaches graduate marketing classes at Rutgers University and has written four best-selling books including The Tao of Twitter (the best-selling book on Twitter in the world) and Return On Influence, which was named one of the top business titles of the year by the American Library Association. His clients include Dell, Adidas, and the US Air Force. He has been a keynote speaker at prestigious events all over the world including SXSW, Marke

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed a couple of new features on Twitter. First, users can now opt-in to receive Twitter direct messages from users who don’t follow them. This could have a big impact on brands using Twitter direct messages for customer service. We also looked at a new feature that will help the network crack down on cyber-bullying.  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 Twitter’s New Direct Messaging Feature Is an Opportunity for Brands (The Wall Street Journal) Can Twitter clamp down on online bullying? (Marketing Interactive) And this week were were also joined in studio by my daughter who got to see the station’s “pit” (Instagram) 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. This week we’ll have author, strategist, and Social B

“A name introduces you to the experience.” In short, words and the stories we create with them matter. Jonathan Littman would know. He’s named just a few things over the years. As the author and co-author of nine books he’s a leading thinker on how innovation happens and how brands can use storytelling to create narratives that snowball. As you can imagine, I couldn’t wait to chat with Jonathan on this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About Jonathan Littman Jonathan Littman is the co-author of The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation, two bestsellers about the legendary design strategy firm IDEO that have combined international sales of over 700,000 copies. Jonathan has been nominated for a Pulitzer, won two Computer Press Awards, and a New York Press Club Journalism Award and the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism. He is the author and co-author of nine books, including two popular books about famous computer hackers, The Fugitive Game and The Watchman. A former Contributing Edi

“How do we create the perception of trust?” That is the million dollar questions for individuals and brands alike. And it’s a central question addressed in Heidi Grant Halvorson’s new book No One Understands You and What to Do About It. I couldn’t wait to talk to this successful social psychologist speaker and author about trust, perception, first impressions, and everything in between on this week’s episode of the podcast. About Heidi Grant Halvorson Heidi Grant Halvorson is a social psychologist who researches, writes, and speaks about the science of motivation. She is the author of the new book No One Understands You and What To Do About It, as well the national best-seller Nine Things Successful People Do Differently. She is also Associate Director of Columbia Business School’s Motivation Science Center, and a frequent contributor to Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and Business Insider. Heidi is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the S

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed a new retweet feature from Twitter plus speculation on the social network’s acquisition. As Twitter’s stock price crept up Tuesday, so did rumors of a potential takeover from not one but two different suitors including Google! 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 Twitter officially lets you retweet with comments now (Mashable) Twitter’s stock price rises after Google buyout rumours – not for the first time (The Guardian) Google buying Twitter would be like Microsoft buying Yahoo (Business Insider) 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. This week we have psychologist, speaker, and author Heidi Grant Halvorson. Last but not least … Subscribe to the podcast – You can subscribe to the show via iTunes, Sti

“If you lie, you die.” While severe, truer words have never been uttered about brand building in the digital age. Siegel+Gale Chief Strategy Officer David Srere joined us for a conversation about simplicity, organizational purpose, brand experience, and, of course, how one goes about quantifying all of this. Enjoy this week’s episode of the On Brand podcast. About David B. Srere David first learned the art of simplicity from a college history professor, who refused to read beyond the first three pages of any assignment his students turned in. “If you couldn’t say it in three pages, it just wasn’t worth saying,” he recalls. David did more than just learn the lesson; he became a lifelong proponent of the power of a clear, credible, compelling story. As Chief Strategy Officer, David applies that philosophy to his oversight of Siegel+Gale’s strategic practice areas and activities. A noted authority in the corporate branding field, he has pioneered the notion of organizational purpose as an integral part of the br

On this week’s Social Sound Bite – recorded live at the KXIC studios in Iowa City – Jay and I discussed Twitter’s recent release of the Periscope live-streaming video app. What does this mean for Meerkat, the tech set’s darling of late? This week we take a look at Periscope vs Meerkat. 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 great breakdown of Periscope vs Meerkat (BusinessInsider). Was Meerkat ever even a hit? Why Meerkat is dying – and it’s taking U.S. tech journalism with it (BGR). Perhaps it’s too early to tell which app will be the winner. As Gary Vaynerchuk has said, what if Snapchat suddenly adds video? Check out Gary’s LinkedIn post on Periscope vs Meerkat. 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. This week we have Chief Strategy Officer of Siegel+Gale David Srere. Last but not least … Subscribe

Each month as part of the On Brand podcast, we take a look back on the month that was. We reflect on the brand builders we chatted with here on the podcast and also discuss the biggest stories and pop-culture funnery that made up our brand zeitgeist. To help with this, I’m joined by our special contributor Meghann Foster. Let’s take a look at March 2015! The Brand Zeitgeist Report: March 2015 Twitter Turns Nine — Okay. On the show we reported that Twitter turned 10 but that’s just because — in honor of their ninth birthday — they released their top 10 tweets. (Who doesn’t get 9 and 10 confused every now and then?!) Kidding aside, we looked at the top tweets and shared our thoughts on Twitter today. Speaking of social media use today … Infinite Dial 2015, Meerkat, and More — Tom Webster was in the March zeitgeist! The month began with Tom’s episode of the On Brand podcast and was followed by Edison Research’s most recent release of the Infinite Dial study, which examines the adoption of digital media. We share