About this episode

Mark and David Lester discuss their journey in brand strategy and the innovative approach behind OLIPOP.

Mark Lester and David Lester are brothers who have turned a shared history of high-level brand strategy into a family legacy of innovation. David is the co-founder of OLIPOP, the prebiotic soda that has fundamentally changed the beverage landscape by blending gut-health science with the nostalgia of a classic cola. Mark, co-founder of the consultancy Squint, has spent his career at R/GA and We Are Pi shaping the strategic direction of global icons like Nike and Samsung. Together, they represent a unique bridge between the rigor of global brand building and the intuition required to launch a category-defining startup. What You’ll Learn in This Episode The hidden strategy of finding category value in plain sight How to break only one rule really hard to drive innovation Lessons from building a billion-dollar brand using global marketing rigor Why the discovery channel of the retail store still beats direct-to-consumer The unique dynamic of using brotherly advice to jump into the entrepreneurial unknown Episode Chapters (00:00) Intro (01:24) Growing up in Northern England with entrepreneurial roots (04:28) The Nashville hike that launched a business partnership (06:59) Concepts for…

More episodes of On Brand with Nick Westergaard

• Designing for Humans Instead of the Machine · June 8, 2026 · 28 min
• The Science (and Secrets) of Building Super Teams · June 1, 2026 · 33 min
• The Story Behind Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day · May 25, 2026 · 32 min
• Kindness as a Competitive Edge · May 18, 2026 · 33 min
• The Intuitive Intelligence Advantage in an AI World · May 11, 2026 · 30 min
• The Myth of the Rational Customer · April 27, 2026 · 29 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the On Brand with Nick Westergaard podcast page.