In this episode I talk with Fredrik Öst, founder of Snask, one of my favorite branding agencies. We talk about creating brands that make enemies and gain fans.

Bio:

"Freddie" was adopted to Sweden after being found outside a police station where he lived for 6 months. In the army they found out his heart is twisted backwards and an EKG will read it as if he’s dead. His love for design began with a job he took on creating posters and cover art for a local record label. After being told that they needed 10 years of experience him and his co-founders started up Snask with zero years of experience. The Snask team still see the “old conservative world” as their biggest enemy.

We talk about:

• The story behind Snask


• Building bold brands


• How they create a brand strategy for brands


• How Snask creates a culture of trust and creativity


• How to go beyond the 'BS' in client meetings


• The Shower beer project

In this episode I answer some of the questions I receive weekly. I talk about the value of design, how to facilitate and build authority with your design clients.

Thank you Jeffrey, Ruben and Juliane for the great questions!

• What is the value of design without strategy?


• How can you facilitate a workshop with your clients.


• How can you do a workshop with a company of one.


• How to translate attributes to design.


• How you can use moodboarding to define a common language with your client


• How can you build authoritiy in a client relationship?

Thanks a lot for the great questions. If you want your questions answered in the next Q&A episode, just visit speakpipe.com/letstalbranding

I would appreciate it if you could rate the podcast on Itunes, it will help in spreading the word about the podcast. Or you can subscribe to the newsletter on letstalkbranding.be to get weekly insights.

In this episode I talk with one of my branding heroes, Michael Johnson, founder of Johnson Banks, author of Branding in five and a half steps and thought leader on brand strategy and design. We take a deep dive into brand strategy, design and how to bridge that gap.

Michael's latest book: Now try something weirder is coming out by the end of may but you can get a chance to win an exclusive hand-signed copy before it releases. Join the give-away here.

We talk about:

• Michael's agency: Johnson Banks


• The Shelter rebrand


• Michael's book: Branding in 5 and a half steps


• How to move beyond jargon and talk about strategy


• The difference between being a strategist and being a designer


• How to inspire creative directions


• How design can affect the strategy


• Michael's new book: Now try something weirder. You can pre-order it here or join the give-away here to get a chance at winning an early copy.


• Where do idea's come from?


• A german stage and a series of penis pictures by Erik Kessels


• Michael's talk at typo Berlin


• Why you need to try something weirder


• How you can present design options


• Why you need to learn how to write


• Tone of voice and messaging

I talk about:

• Business language and how it is used to 'fake' expertise


• Learning the fundamentals of brand strategy before you can break the rules


• How I started using my designer skills in the strategy phase


• How we are different from business strategists

If you have any questions about strategy, branding or design, feel free to answer your question here. I will try to answer all your questions in the monthly Q&A episode. Looking forward to hearing your voices!

If you would like to get a chance at winning the book, join the give-away on letstalkbranding.be/douglas

In this episode, we talk about:

• Douglas his story, working at multiple advertising agencies


• The end of the DOT.com bubble


• Douglas plays the role as my therapist, where we talk about my dilemma being a designer that becomes more and more of a strategist


• Features, benefits, insights


• The article Douglas mentions: https://www.adweek.com/agencies/design-experts-weigh-in-on-ddbs-and-joans-new-visual-identities/


• What makes a good brief


• Overcoming the fear and doing the work

As always, if you would like to stay up to date, subscribe to the podcast and give me a rating.

If you are interested in learning more about the business of expertise, I'm giving away a free copy of the book, signed by David. You can visit letstalkbranding.be/david

We talk about:

• Positioning your creative business


• The 2bobs podcast


• Pricing


• Entrepreneurship


• Strategy vs execution


• Taking risks


• David's book: the business of expertise (affiliate link)

David also recommended 4 sources on positioning:

• Blair Enns: https://www.winwithoutpitching.com/about/


• David C. Baker website


• Philip Morgan


• Tim Williams of Ignition consulting

As always I would appreciate a rating on Itunes and subscribe if you want to keep getting weekly updates and interviews. If you want to get more insights on brand strategy and design, subscribe to the newsletter on letstalkbranding.be

We talk about:

• Eli's studio: a hundred monkeys


• Naming mistakes


• The importance of naming for logo design


• How to protect your name, legally


• How to work with clients on naming


• Eli's book : Don't call it that

If you are interested in winning a free copy of the book, signed by Eli, visit letstalkbranding.be/eli

Some of the topics we discuss:

• A purpose is not a message


• The difference between marketing and branding


• Twentyfirstcenturybrand


• Customer research


• The competitive value of branding in Neil's whitepaper

I would really appreciate it if your rate the show on Itunes. If you are looking for more weekly insights on brand strategy, please subscribe to the newsletter here.

We talk about:

• storytelling


• branding and marketing


• internal branding


• repeating the same message, over and over again


• listening to your customers


• how to be innovative


• finding your why


• the role of designers


• identity design

You can check out Wim's brand, Balls & Glory, here. If you wish to reach out to Wim, you can find him on LinkedIn

> Geoff was a former student of my online course on brand strategy: Activate your strategic brain. After he did the course we started talking and it was inspiring to me how Geoff started transforming his own business Studio Alumni and applying it in his own way.

In this episode we take a deep dive into the challenges and benefits of transforming your business from a graphic design studio to a branding studio where strategy is at the essence of what you do.

It's amazing to hear how Geoff is evolving his process and framework, client per client, project per project.

If you are interested in learning more about brand strategy, you can now get the course at a 30% discount, this discount will end on monday the 4th of March. Check out some of the free lessons and course info here.