Branding Deep Dive with Ahmed Cheema

ALM is the first muslim interest fraternity in America, and our guests on this episode are Shaheer Ali, Hammad Fazlani, and Bilal Ayub who have all been a part of the ALM leadership team at different points in the journey. 

The story of ALM is unique because most organizations spend a long time trying to get visibility and brand recognition and by the time they get there they have already experienced the ups and downs of the journey. ALM quite literally stumbled on to the scene with major media coverage from the beginning and had to learn and adapt very quickly. 

In this interview the ALM leadership team is extremely transparent about the pros and cons and the thought process behind the decisions they’ve made. This episode is value packed for anyone interested in building an organization from the ground up. 

Key Takeaways: 
1. People join people, not organizations
2. Listen to your customers/audience and see why they are joining you. There often is a disconnect between what the founders/marketing team thinks and the reality of why people are coming. 

Singer Vehicle Design is a company that does resto-mods on 1989-1994 Porsche 911 Coupes or Targas. These resto-mods cost upwards of $400,000 each. Yasser Mushtaq, a big fan of Singer, joins the show to discuss how this company effectively positions themselves as the go to resto-mod company for this very niche market. 

Key Takeaways: 
1. Find your niche
2. Charge a premium

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:20 - Introduction to Yasser and Singer
04:55 - What is a resto Mod
06:15 - Find a Niche market
10:52 - Personalization is a good way to differentiate your product/service
12:38 - Why do they only work on those specific porsches?
16:20 - What separates Singer from other Resto Mod companies
20:20 - Methods for finding your niche
24:10 - How do you create trust with your niche market?
26:35 - What allows you to charge a premium for your product/service?
30:00 - Why you shouldn't use the lowest price as your differentiator
34:25 - Why did Top Gear not actually drive the car?
37:15 - Singer also makes watches?
39:25 - Pricing Strategy
46:50 - What would Yasser like to see done at Singer
48:44 - Yasser's favorite Brand (New Balance)
50:19 - Outro

Intel recently released an ad campaign where the mac from the original I'm a PC and I'm a mac ads is now considering PCs. Mohammad Nadeem joins the show to discuss why Intel is going after Apple and what lessons we can learn from a branding/marketing standpoint from this campaign. 

Key Takeaways: 
1. Know your target audience 
2. If you're playing on a character from the past, make sure you keep their personality consistent 

Timestamps: 
0:00 - Intro
1:00 - Introduction to Mohammad Nadeem
3:10 - The new Intel Ad campaign and the original campaign
13:30 - Crafting your narrative 
15:50 - Why is Intel going after Apple?
18:58 - Initial thoughts on the new Ad
20:10 - Will this attention lead to an increase in sales?
25:17 - Why the new ads didn't hit the way the old ones did
29:55 - Live Roleplay of creating an ad campaign
40:05 - How desperate intel is
41:00 - Apple's relationship with processors (intel and samsung)
46:40 - Key Takeaways

Jaraad Huq and Yosef Siddiqui join the show to discuss branding lessons from the NCAA march madness tournament. 

Key Takeaways:
1. Find ways to get people bought into the story
2. Create a platform where Cinderella stories can happen

Maseer Rabbaig joins the show to discuss Volkswagen's April fools joke this year. The company claimed that it was changing its name to Voltswagen to signify that it was going towards an electric future. However, this announcement was leaked a few days early and VW played along with it until finally saying it was a joke later on. 

Key takeaway from this episode:
Be conscious of your brand's personality when posting content. 

Rafi Hussaini joins the show to dive into the the branding of Gymshark.  

Key Takeaways from this episode: 
1. Focus on Customer Service
2. Take feedback from the influencers you are working with

Check out the weekly rundown at theweeklyrundown.substack.com

Ahmed Nadeem joins the show to discuss the the branding of the Audi RS6 Avant.  

Key Takeaways from this episode: 
1. The story that matters is the story your customers are telling one another
2. Branding is about creating positive connections with your target audience

Email us your favorite car at [email protected]

Check out the weekly rundown at theweeklyrundown.substack.com

Ammar Alqouqa joins the show to discuss the Stellantis merger and branding lessons he learned from being a youth director. 

Key takeaways from the Stellantis merger:
1. The name change makes the internal hierarchy clear
2. There is power in a name

Key takeaways from Ammar's time as a youth director: 
1. Understand the audience
2. Use surveys to get feedback from your target audience

Omar Ilyas, co-founder of Paani, joins the podcast to discuss the journey of branding an international non profit from scratch. This episode is part 2 of the discussion. 

Omar Ilyas, co-founder of Paani, joins the podcast to discuss the journey of branding an international non profit from scratch. This episode is part 1 of the discussion.