Built for Brand

When no one knows your brand yet, what actually gets them to buy? Sometimes the thing that moves the customer isn’t your brand story at all. It’s the value proposition, the price, or simply showing up where they’re already shopping.

In this conversation, Greg Wise sits down with IQBAR founder and CEO Will Nitze to unpack how IQBAR grew from a Kickstarter experiment into an omnichannel business with products on shelves across Costco, Walmart, Target, and other major retailers. Will shares why the company moved beyond its original “brain food” positioning, why price itself is a form of marketing, and why sometimes the value proposition has a stronger brand than the brand itself.

Greg and Will also dig into what changes when a brand moves beyond the feed and into the real world. Will explains why brick-and-mortar has become more profitable for IQBAR than e-commerce, how a Costco pallet can function like a free Facebook ad, and why greater physical distribution makes top-of-funnel investments like radio and out-of-home increasingly valuable.

Key Takeaways:

• Why brands need the humility to follow what customers actually respond to, even when it means changing the positioning they started with
• How physical retail creates its own acquisition engine, turning shelves and pallets into real-world media that thousands of shoppers see without another paid impression
• Why omnichannel distribution can make brand marketing and out-of-home more valuable as a company grows

If every marketing dollar has always needed to prove itself immediately, this episode makes the case for what becomes possible when your brand gets big enough to show up beyond the feed.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Will Nitze

(05:46) Cold emails, mentors, and starting from zero

(11:58) Why Kickstarter was proof, not funding

(15:33) How Amazon built the growth flywheel

(21:08) What actually drives retail conversion

(26:38) Why brand alone does not convert

(29:01) Letting customer demand reshape positioning

(31:16) How Amazon led IQBAR into Walmart and Costco

(34:43) Building the online-offline growth flywheel

(42:24) When out-of-home starts making sense

Resources:

Will Nitze on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-nitze/

Check out IQBAR: https://www.eatiqbar.com/

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Brand and performance spent years being treated like two different jobs. Alexis Luerssen spent two decades proving they work better as one.

In this conversation, Greg Wise sits down with longtime Match Group marketing leader Alexis Luerssen to unpack what more than 20 years of building brands taught her about connecting brand investment to business growth. From helping Match normalize online dating to launching community-focused brands like BLK and Chispa, Alexis has watched the marketing pendulum swing from mass-reach brand building to performance obsession and back toward a more integrated approach.

Greg and Alexis also dig into why brand and performance shouldn’t live in separate worlds, how out-of-home creates a halo across the rest of the media mix, and why building trust with a community requires more than buying impressions. For Alexis, every marketing dollar should drive something, but measuring channels in isolation can cause marketers to miss how the entire system works together.

Key Takeaways:

• Why brand and performance can work toward the same growth goal instead of competing for budget
• How out-of-home, events, digital, and influencer marketing can create a halo that makes the entire media mix work harder
• Why understanding the community you’re trying to reach is essential to building the trust that drives long-term brand growth

If you’re still measuring brand and performance like they belong in separate scorecards, this episode makes the case for seeing the bigger picture.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Alexis Luerssen

(01:37) Reacting to Barbie’s iconic billboard

(06:36) How Match helped normalize online dating

(14:11) Why brand and performance belong together

(19:35) What Gen Z expects from brands

(21:02) How influencers reshaped the media mix

(23:30) Using OOH to drive measurable lift

(29:00) Building brands for specific communities

(31:47) Why community trust comes before growth

(34:25) What 20 years taught Alexis about brand

Resources:

Alexis Luerssen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisferraro/

Check out Match Group: https://mtch.com/

Beyond the Billboard: Barbie Movie

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Brand marketing can create something performance marketing cannot always deliver: an emotional connection that gives people a reason to care beyond the discount.

In this episode of Built for Brand, Greg Wise sits down with Liz Vanzura, CMO at Solo Stove and Board Member at Solo Brands, to unpack how she approaches building brands people genuinely want to spend time with. Liz shares how Solo Stove is evolving from a smokeless fire pit company into an outdoor lifestyle brand centered on togetherness, why experiential marketing helps customers see and feel what a brand stands for, and how those activations can be measured as part of a broader product launch ecosystem.

Greg and Liz also explore how to balance brand and performance marketing, why marketers need to follow the customer instead of getting attached to a specific channel or creative, and how Solo Stove actually increased performance by replacing sale messaging with a more emotional brand message. They also discuss the growing importance of real world experiences in an AI driven marketing landscape, the value of partnering closely with finance, legal, and IT, and why curiosity and adaptability are becoming essential skills for modern marketing teams.

Key Takeaways:

• Why Liz builds brand around togetherness by focusing on what the product represents emotionally, not just what it does functionally
• How experiential, performance, PR, and content can work together as one launch ecosystem when marketers measure the full value of an activation
• Why brand can outperform discount messaging when customers are fatigued by promotions and respond more strongly to emotional creative

If your brand is competing for attention in a crowded, AI-driven market, this episode makes the case for building stronger emotional connections, meeting customers where they are, and letting real consumer response guide the strategy.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Liz Vanzura

(02:48) From board seat to CMO in a month

(04:08) "I sell togetherness," not just fire pits

(07:56) Why brand needs to be shown, not just told

(10:24) IRL connection in the age of AI

(12:50) How Solo Stove picks its marketing channels

(18:11) Measuring the ROI of experiential marketing

(24:41) Finance, legal, and IT: a marketer's best friends

(31:58) The Father's Day risk: ditching sale messaging for brand

(40:35) What out-of-home marketing means to Liz

Resources:

Liz Vanzura on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-vanzura-7996321/

Check out Solo Stove: https://www.solostove.com/us/en-us/

Check out Solo Brands: https://solobrands.com/

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Most brands start with a product and then look for an audience. LMNT did the opposite. By solving a real problem, earning trust within an existing community, and listening closely to what people actually needed, the brand built demand before it ever made a major investment in growth.

In this conversation, Greg Wise sits down with Robb Wolf, Co-Founder of Drink LMNT, former research biochemist, and two-time bestselling author, to unpack the unconventional path behind one of the most recognizable brands in hydration. Robb shares how a free electrolyte recipe helped validate the idea for LMNT, why the company launched with less than $100,000, and how being forced away from traditional digital advertising pushed the team toward podcasts, partnerships, retail, and deeper customer relationships.

Together, they explore why the strongest brands feel human, how authenticity and emotion create trust, and why LMNT is investing in physical experiences like retail and out-of-home advertising as it enters its next stage of growth.

Key Takeaways:

• How solving a real customer problem and building community first helped LMNT create demand before investing heavily in traditional marketing channels
• Why authentic brand experiences and human connections can create more trust than digital advertising alone as brands compete for attention
• How staying true to a brand’s mission and voice helps companies build long-term loyalty, even as they scale into new markets and channels

If you’re trying to build a brand people trust, create demand without relying solely on paid channels, or turn a genuine customer problem into a lasting business, this episode offers a practical look at how authenticity, community, and customer connection can become the foundation for long-term growth.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Robb Wolf

(01:32) Reacting to LMNT's own billboard ad

(02:52) From research biochemist to near-fatal health crisis

(06:51) Finding KetoGains and the electrolyte clue

(09:26) Creating the viral KetoAid recipe

(14:30) Meeting future LMNT CEO James Murphy

(16:59) The 3AM call that changed everything

(27:26) Surviving the COVID ad blacklist

(33:47) What actually makes a brand feel real

(43:23) Why out-of-home advertising builds real trust

Resources:

Robb Wolf on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robb-wolf-008b996a/

Check out Drink LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/

Check out Robb Wolf’s Substack: https://robbwolf.substack.com/

Beyond the Billboard: ‘Life After Workout’ by LMNT

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Out-of-home marketing is no longer just about billboards. As digital channels become more crowded and AI makes content easier to create, brands are looking for new ways to build trust, create memorable experiences, and connect with audiences in the real world.

Greg Wise sits down with Stacy Minero, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer at OUTFRONT Media, to discuss the evolution of out-of-home into a broader IRL media opportunity. Stacy shares how her experience across agencies, Twitter, and Epic Games shaped her perspective on the power of physical experiences and why brands need to rethink how they build connections with consumers.

Together, they explore why IRL media is becoming a critical part of the modern marketing mix, how brands can use creativity and technology to create standout experiences, and why real-world connections may become even more valuable in an increasingly digital and AI-driven landscape.

Key Takeaways:

• Why IRL media is becoming a critical brand-building channel as consumers seek more authentic, trusted, and memorable experiences beyond digital feeds
• How brands can use out-of-home as a creative canvas to create campaigns that spark conversation, social sharing, and deeper audience connection
• Why marketers need to rethink measurement and media strategy by viewing IRL as a force multiplier that strengthens the impact of the broader marketing mix

If you’re looking to build stronger brand connections, break through crowded digital channels, or understand how physical experiences can shape the future of marketing, this episode offers a fresh perspective on why the real world still matters.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Stacy Minero

(01:38) Reacting to the trend of breaking the board

(03:31) Stacy's path from agency to Twitter to Epic Games

(05:02) The moment IRL became the future

(08:17) Redefining out-of-home as IRL media

(10:38) What's new inside OUTFRONT Media

(16:41) Closing the confidence gap with data

(20:14) Creative freedom and testing big ideas

(26:46) Why Gen Z is craving real-world experiences

(33:38) The future of out-of-home, five years out

Resources:

Stacy Minero on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacy-minero-79287b4/

Check out OUTFRONT Media: https://www.outfront.com/

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Brand marketing can feel difficult to defend when every dollar is expected to produce an immediate, measurable return. But the strongest brands understand that relevance, trust, and emotional connection are investments built over time.

In this episode of Built for Brand, Greg Wise sits down with brand marketing leader and advisor Amit Singh, whose career includes American Express, Nintendo, Starbucks, Goodby Silverstein, and Adobe, to unpack what decades of building global brands taught him about balancing long-term brand investment with short-term business pressure. Amit shares why marketers should think about every decision as a deposit into brand value, how Starbucks turned human connection into a global campaign, and why partnerships with the NFL, MLB, and Live Nation helped Adobe reach new audiences through passions they already cared about.

Key Takeaways:

• Why brand makes performance marketing more efficient by building relevance before a customer ever sees a conversion message
• How C-suite alignment helps marketers make the case for investments that may not produce results within a single quarter
• Why out-of-home remains a powerful channel for creating timely, contextual, and tangible brand experiences in a digitally saturated world

If you’re under pressure to prove every marketing dollar today while trying to build a brand that will still matter tomorrow, this one’s for you.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Amit Singh

(01:36) Reacting to Panasonic’s clever nose hair billboard

(03:41) Amit’s journey through global brand marketing

(09:11) The brand investment lesson that stuck with Amit

(11:16) Making the case for brand internally

(14:26) Building a global campaign around human connection

(21:48) When marketing metrics miss long term value

(30:02) Why brand is the moat you can’t build overnight

(32:31) Turning brand partnerships into demand drivers

(34:47) Why out-of-home still earns attention

Resources:

Amit Singh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitsingh5/

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Experiential marketing can create something digital channels struggle to replicate: a shared experience people genuinely trust.

In this episode of Built for Brand, Greg Wise sits down with Jimmy Knowles, Global Head Of Experiential at Canva, to unpack how Canva built its experiential practice from the ground up and turned physical experiences into a powerful expression of the brand. Jimmy shares why his team starts with the emotional response they want to create, how Canva Create grew from an internal gathering into a global experience, and why proving the value of experiential required looking beyond clean dashboards and traditional KPIs.

Greg and Jimmy also explore how experiential, out-of-home, social, campaigns, and lifecycle marketing can work together as one connected ecosystem, why AI may make physical connection even more valuable, and why trust could become the defining currency of experiential marketing.

Key Takeaways:

• Why Canva designs experiences by starting with emotion and working backward, rather than building around the easiest KPIs to measure
• How experiential, out-of-home, social, brand media, and lifecycle marketing can compound one another when teams collaborate from day one
• Why Jimmy believes trust will become the currency of experiential as AI makes genuine, shared human experiences increasingly valuable

If your brand is looking for attention people can feel, remember, and trust, this episode makes the case for building experiences that earn their place in the real world.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Jimmy Knowles

(04:52) What Jimmy learned from a decade in experiential

(06:32) Why great experiences start with emotion

(08:01) Building Canva’s experiential strategy from zero

(10:19) How Canva Create proved the power of IRL

(14:00) Scaling experiences from thousands to millions

(16:29) How AI connects physical and digital experiences

(21:19) Why OOH and experiential work better together

(24:03) Building bigger ideas through early alignment

(27:09) Why trust is the future of experiential

Resources:

Jimmy Knowles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitsingh5/

Check out Canva: https://www.canva.com/

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

AI is making it easier than ever to build products, create content, and launch campaigns. But as technology levels the playing field, brand is becoming one of the few advantages competitors cannot easily copy.

In this episode of Built for Brand, Greg Wise sits down with Sydney Sloan, Co-Founder and Chief Community Officer of The B2B CMO Project, and CMO of Scale Venture Partners, to discuss why brand has become a business imperative in the AI era. Sydney shares lessons from leading marketing at companies including Salesloft, Drata, Alfresco, and G2, along with insights from interviewing more than 50 enterprise CMOs about the future of marketing leadership.

Together, they explore how marketers can earn executive buy-in for brand investments, why human experiences matter more than ever, and how AI is making authentic brands even more valuable.

Key Takeaways:

• Why AI is making brand the most durable competitive advantage as product differentiation becomes harder to sustain
• How marketers can build trust with CFOs by proving brand investments through small, measurable wins before asking for larger budgets
• Why memorable real-world experiences and consistent brand execution create demand that digital channels alone cannot deliver

If you’re trying to justify brand investment, navigate the rise of AI-driven buying, or build a company people remember long after they leave the feed, this episode offers a practical playbook for turning brand into a long-term growth strategy.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Sydney Sloan

(01:35) Reacting to a billboard that gets it right

(03:22) Building brands that lead the market

(09:17) Why CMOs need a seat at the table

(11:52) Making the business case for brand

(16:46) How to earn a bigger brand budget

(20:37) Why AI makes brand even more valuable

(24:42) Building brand without a big budget

(27:58) Winning buyers in the real world

(31:52) Why brand is your competitive moat

Resources:

Sydney Sloan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydsloan/

Check out Scale Venture Partners: https://www.scalevp.com/

Check out The B2B CMO Project: https://www.b2bcmoproject.com/

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Brands are not built everywhere at once. They are built one account, one market, and one moment at a time.

In this episode of Built for Brand, Greg Wise sits down with Casey Patterson, Director of North America ABM at Snowflake, to unpack how account-based marketing can turn out-of-home into a precise, revenue-minded growth lever. Casey shares how her team combined billboards, field marketing, gifting, internal content, and sales follow-up to double account engagement, attract more than 500 event attendees, and create over six million impressions around a single strategic customer.

Greg and Casey also explore why brands are increasingly built one place at a time, how “unreasonable alignment” with sales improves marketing decisions, and why AI should free marketers to create more human, tangible experiences, not fewer of them.

Key Takeaways:

• Why account-based out-of-home can make high-value buyers feel seen without requiring a massive national brand budget
• How Snowflake layers OOH with field events, gifting, SDR outreach, and sales intelligence to create coordinated “swarm” campaigns
• Why automating repetitive digital execution can give marketers more time for creativity, experiential campaigns, and real human connection

If your ABM strategy still lives entirely inside digital platforms, this episode shows what becomes possible when you take the brand beyond the feed and build it where your buyers actually are.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Casey Patterson

(01:14) Reacting to DHL’s maze billboard

(08:30) Inside Snowflake’s account-based swarm campaign

(12:48) Why brands can start in smaller markets

(15:14) Letting sales lead account prioritization

(17:17) What unreasonable alignment with sales looks like

(21:52) How agentic ABM changes the marketer’s role

(23:22) Using AI to create more human marketing

(27:26) Why out-of-home is already back

(29:08) Measuring OOH through account impact and revenue

Resources:

Casey Patterson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casey--patterson/

Check out Snowflake: https://www.snowflake.com/

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Most marketers focus on everything that happens before the customer buys. Nathan Rosenberg believes the most valuable marketing happens after the experience ends.

Because the true test of a brand is whether people leave with a story worth retelling.

In this episode of Built for Brand, Greg Wise sits down with Nathan Rosenberg, Chief Marketing and Brand Experience Officer at Virgin Voyages, to explore how memorable experiences turn customers into active storytellers. Nathan shares how Virgin Voyages built a distinct place in a crowded category, why marketing teams need to influence the product experience, and how the brand designs moments people will photograph, share, and talk about long after leaving the ship.

Greg and Nathan also unpack why out-of-home is more important in a digitally exhausted world, how humor and five-word creative drive recall, and why Nathan once pulled down a billboard his team had already printed.

Key Takeaways:

• Why the strongest brands create memories people naturally want to share with others
• How humor, context, timing, and simple creative make out-of-home campaigns more effective
• Why brand teams should measure stories, recall, rebooking, and customer emotion alongside traditional marketing metrics

If your marketing stops when the campaign ends, this episode will challenge you to build an experience that keeps selling long after the customer leaves.

Highlights:

(00:00) Meet Nathan Rosenberg

(01:42) Reacting to Berger’s contextual billboard

(05:40) What gets cruise-curious buyers onboard

(09:00) Building the Virgin Voyages brand experience

(12:26) Measuring brand through the smile index

(12:58) Why the experience is the brand

(13:42) How post-trip stories create demand

(17:57) Keeping the brand in the consideration set

(20:09) Why humor and simplicity win in OOH

(25:05) Why out-of-home matters more than ever

(36:48) Finding the stories customers already tell

Resources:

Nathan Rosenberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-rosenberg-1993392/

Nathan Rosenberg on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathandr/

Check out Virgin Voyages: https://www.virginvoyages.com/

Follow Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwise/

Follow OneScreen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onescreen-ai/

Subscribe to OneScreen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onescreenai

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/