Episodes

  • Introducing: Cult Brand Secrets

    Introducing: Cult Brand Secrets
    Mar 2 2021
    Each year, The Gathering brings together disruptors from around the globe to learn from, and celebrate, the leaders behind iconic brands like Marvel, Skittles, Beats by Dre, Yeti, and the Dallas Cowboys. For the first time ever, these unique and enlightening presentations can be heard any time and anywhere on this podcast. Cult Brand Secrets is an anthology of the greatest and most influential presentations The Gathering has to offer, featuring experts that transcend branding to build cult-like adoration of their work. Additionally, host Chris Kneeland uses his own experience in associating with these brand leaders to highlight key trends and help you identify the most worthwhile takeaways. Join our Premium Channel to hear full length presentations at cultbrandsecrets.com.
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    4 mins
  • S1 E1: Spotify

    S1 E1: Spotify
    Mar 2 2022
    Spotify is a remarkable company and an amazing Cult brand. Birthed in 2008 as a viable alternative to music piracy, Spotify has always upheld the importance of properly compensating creators. In this episode, we hear Alex recount his personal journey and share how the Creative team at Spotify uses data to inform campaigns, Alex will share several examples of how marketing worked with the product, and the data, to create greater fan engagement. Learn more at CultBrandSecrets.com
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    38 mins
  • S1 E2: Marvel

    S1 E2: Marvel
    Mar 3 2022
    Mindy is the Senior Vice President over Global Marketing Partnerships for Marvel Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. She’s a horse lovin’ southern gal, now living in the glam and glitz of Hollywood, and applying her formidable experience with entertainment properties and big brands to the different Marvel franchises. As you listen to Mindy speak, you’ll note two things in particular. First, Marvel isn’t about superheroes. They have transcended beyond their characters and are really about epic storytelling and the power of the human spirit. Those are two things we need better represented in more brands and categories. Secondly, Mindy references the need to “Interact instead of transact''. To build a cult brand, you need to transcend the typical business to consumer relationship. Learn more at CultBrandSecrets.com
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    44 mins
  • S1 E3: Skittles

    S1 E3: Skittles
    Mar 9 2022
    Jane Hwang is the former Global Vice President over Fruit Confections at Mars, which includes Skittles. She has a manner that helped her organization be comfortable with being uncomfortable, which is perfect for such an offbeat brand. Skittles is the #1 globally selling non-chocolate candy. 200 million individual skittles are produced daily. Obviously when you’re that big so much of the brand’s success is based on manufacturing consistency and supply chain, and distribution within multiple countries. But Jane didn’t talk about any of that. Instead, she talks about consistent disruption in regards to consumer expectations, their storytelling, and the causes Skittles supports. She elaborates on the discipline to stick with something, like Taste the Rainbow has been a work in progress for nearly 30 years. With how transient the CMO position is, it seems like mediocre, or immature brands are reimagining their identity and value propositions every couple years. That’s the wrong way to do it. Learn more at CultBrandSecrets.com
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    43 mins
  • S1 E4: Douglas Atkin

    S1 E4: Douglas Atkin
    Mar 10 2022
    You’re in for a treat because Douglas Atkin is the OG of cult branding. He literally wrote the book on the subject. Back in 2005 he published a book called The Culting of Brands and he was first the first person I know who compared the beliefs and behaviors of actual cults - the creepy kind - with enviable organizations, like fraternities, fast growing religions, and brands. Douglas’ work led him to interesting marketing roles within professional service firms and the social gathering site MeetUp, but his career went to a whole new level when he was hired in the early days of AirBNB and deployed his thinking on cult brands to that business and contributed to their meteoric rise. Learn more at CultBrandSecrets.com
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    46 mins
  • S1 E5: YETI

    S1 E5: YETI
    Mar 16 2022
    In this talk, Bill will share a bit of his personal journey, where he spent some time at Under Armor, another fantastic Cult brand, and he’ll share three guiding principles that inform Yeti’s marketing mix. This is a great opportunity to experience Bill’s character and personality. He’s a rare individual in today’s marketing leadership landscape. Most of us pretend to have all the answers, all the time, to any question that is asked. But Bill doesn’t. He knows what he knows, and he knows what he doesn’t know, and his curiosity and enthusiasm for continued growth and learning is endearing, and hopefully it’s contagious, because the marketing industry would be a lot better off if there were more people like Bill in it. Learn more at CultBrandSecrets.com
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    44 mins
  • S1 E6: The North Face

    S1 E6: The North Face
    Mar 17 2022
    Tom Herbst’s presentation at The Gathering 2019 ranks among one of my Top 10 all time favorites. I’d like you to listen to Tom speak, and ask yourself how much you believe in what he’s saying. You should use Tom’s remarks as a barometer of sorts to gauge your own passion and level of enthusiasm for cult branding. As a business, the North Face is wildly successful at manufacturing and selling products expertly designed to help people thrive in extremely cold weather. But as a brand, North Face was dangerously close to losing its way. As it got bigger, it was becoming less beloved. In pursuit of greater profits, they were losing touch with the people who made their company great - both the customers and the staff whose buy in is so critical. And that's when Tom came in to help save the day. Learn more at CultBrandSecrets.com
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    47 mins
  • S1 E7: Lush

    S1 E7: Lush
    Mar 23 2022
    Brandi’s speech at The Gathering 2019 is why I’m so excited about this podcast series. Her presentation was incredible. In 30 minutes she articulated the essence of why Lush is such an incredible brand, and frankly I don’t know why more people don’t put Lush in the same category as Ben & Jerry’s or Patagonia or Swell water bottles when they talk about brands that masterfully adopt social justice platforms and almost behave more like charities than corporations. We should all take more time to learn about Lush, and then apply what we learn to our own businesses. As she’ll share, she’s been so loyal to Lush because Lush is a values first brand, and their values align with Brandi’s personal values. When your company is that overt about who you are and what you stand for, you will attract a different type of employee, people who are not only qualified to do the job, but are brand ambassadors who contribute in unique ways to your business’s success. Learn more at CultBrandSecrets.com
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    30 mins