The OnBrand Podcast

Branding management is not just for large global brands that need to fiercely guard their reputation and assign billions of dollars to the right advertising channel. Branding management is for every business that wants to resonate and engage with their target audience. It’s for every brand that needs to develop a powerful digital marketing strategy that demonstrates its value and

Is your father constantly dropping your kid? Does your girlfriend hit three SUVs as she parallel parks? Is your dad rubbish at cooking for himself? Probably not. Yet brands still resort to stereotypes when looking to connect with consumers. Does this lack of imagination of what an evolved human is today come from laziness, ignorance, or something else? Where does humor end, and res

Can hope, humor and optimism tackle the problem of tribal politics?   The European Elections in 2019 finished with the highest voter turnout in two decades, and the first increase since the very first election in 1979. Unlike former election campaigns, this push was led by a piece of highly emotional storytelling that had tremendous impact - resulting in the most highly effect

The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is both a music conference and festival, widely recognized as the global meeting point for the creative industry around electronic music. ADE consists of a daytime conference & festival and night-time festival program, with more than 1000 events across 200 locations. Which basically means that the city of Amsterdam breathes electronic music for f

“For too long, brands have been too focused on short-term revenue, and not on the long-term impact of what we’re doing.” The business case for brand activism is clear, but what are the limits and opportunities of brands stepping in to solve our climate crisis? Can brands really step up to support systemic change?    Pairing agency insight with long-standing experien

“I tell designers that on Halloween they should go dressed as who they pretend to be on social media.” Everyone is trying to figure out how to quantify the impact of design so they can get a real seat at the leadership table and elevate the impact of design inside of their company. But what if they are asking the wrong questions and trying to fix the wrong things?  In thi

“If you make something for everyone, it won’t really appeal to anyone.” In an age of worn-out brand tropes and increasingly predictable marketing strategies across the globe, how does one build a modern brand that maintains cultural heat while appealing to increasingly broad—and global—audiences? In a world where brands are all racing toward a predictable middle-ground, b

As the industry continues to accelerate towards performance marketing, are brands eschewing their cultural significance in the relentless pursuit of the unmemorable? Are we, as an industry, focusing too much time and budget on momentary snapshots, rather than creating lasting memories?  Tiina Salzberg, Executive Strategy Director, and Kalle Hellzen, Executive Creative Directo

Stefan Fountain believes that if public relations were a fruit, it would be an avocado: simultaneously the most overrated AND underrated. And also similarly placed in the wrong botanical (marketing) category. In the 1900s, the definition of public relations was coined as 'a program of action to earn the public's understanding and acceptance'. Since then, it has been a practice bot

Companies are 'woke-washing.' Has ‘doing good’ become appropriated for the wrong intent?  The concept of "purpose" has become something of a cliché—a fashion accessory in the world of business. Corporate leaders preach about it, employees desperately crave it, and consumers are buying into it more and more. But is it even possible for a company to have a conscience? To