The Push

Brand strategy is easily derailed. All of a sudden, the whole company invites itself into the room, sales invents three new offer names, the CEO wants the brand to feel “premium”, and nobody can accurately explain what the business does. In this solo episode, Jack Ferguson answers brand strategy questions from Reddit that cover a spectrum of issues that arise within companies. He covers: How to stop brand strategy meetings turning into philosophy clubWhat to do when your positioning, U...

In Part 3 of this series, the rubber hits the road. After breaking down brand diagnostics and strategy in the previous two episodes, this episode moves into what gets built: brand assets, how to prioritise them, and how they compound (or don’t) over time. Brand Strategist Jack Ferguson is your host. He discusses: Which brand asset is the most important, and whyWhat Asset Hierarchy is and how to think about itThe trade-offs between ease of consumption and distinctivenessWhen a name change is s...

Most definitions of ‘brand’ focus on what a company produces, like logos, names, and design systems, but fail to explain what brand is, how it drives commercial outcomes, and how it is measured. In Part 1 of this series, we define brand comprehensively while keeping it accessible to marketers and non-marketers alike. From that foundation, we break down how brand shows up in real buying situations, how it influences decision-making through different memory systems, and how it can be meas...

Buyers don’t experience brands as funnels. They encounter them mid-scroll, mid-conversation, mid-doubt, mid-purchase, to name a few examples. So why does marketing still plan as if people move predictably from awareness to purchase? This episode's guest Jelena Veselinovic joins host Jack Ferguson to rally against this phenomenon while drawing on 25+ years of marketing experience, including 18 years at Coca-Cola and 3.5 years as Head of Brand Marketing at Miro. Now operating as a fractio...

In this episode, Brand Strategist Jack Ferguson hosts Strategic Growth Architect Mats Georgson, former Global Brand Director at Sony Ericsson, to discuss how brands achieve large, sustained growth and how most category-based thinking caps it. Mats was the first marketer to work on Bluetooth, giving him deep, practical insight into rapid global adoption, and years later completed a research project analysing how 150 brands achieved disproportionate growth. Together, Jack and Mats explore why s...

This episode explores disproportionate leverage and how it shows up when immersion is treated as critical brand building work, not a nice-to-have. Rather than chasing deliverables or premature answers, your hosts examine immersion as a diagnostic imperative, the strength required to defend it, and the consequences of bypassing it. This episode is co-hosted by Brand Strategist Jack Ferguson and Brand Identity Designer Tutai Marongere. In this episode, you’ll hear: Why Tutai deliberately...

Most brands try to eliminate waste. This episode explains how this approach is limiting. We break down Positive Wastage, how it shows up in practice, and why it repeatedly drives brand growth, marketing outcomes, and long-term relationships, even when not intentionally planned for. Your co-hosts are: - Brand Strategist - Jack Ferguson. - Brand Identity Designer - Tutai Marongere. In this episode: Jack shares how positive wastage shows up when you build things without forcing outcomes inclu...

In this episode, host Jack Ferguson breaks down the real drivers of revenue growth by going back to first principles. No tactics worship, just the underlying forces that move product. He talks about: - How 28 retail launches helped him isolate the true impact of tactics - You can grow revenue and still lose market share, and why many brands mistake this for promotional success. - The danger of trying to compensate for weak demand with better creative or more advertising. - What marketers ...

Every marketer has questioned whether this career’s really for them; especially after getting blamed, burning out, or being abandoned when times get tough. Chanel Clark joins Jack Ferguson and shares stories of being pushed out, made redundant on day one of lockdown, and writing $8 ad copy to survive, before turning it all into The Marketing Club, a 12,000+ strong community that’s kept countless marketers in the game. In this episode: - Jack talks about why marketing becomes the easiest funct...

Every marketer has lived through a project that started smoothly and ended sideways. In this episode, co-hosts Jack Ferguson and Ben Reeves discuss scope creep. They share war stories, practical scoping habits, and mindsets that keep you sane when a client says, “Can we just add one more thing?” If you deal with unclear briefs, have underquoted projects before, or work with clients who expect magical turnarounds, this one’s for you. On this episode: Jack shares how instant quotes backfire whe...

Friends was a hit sitcom released in the 90s, known for its feel-good humour and iconic characters. The show’s success is a sight to behold, maintaining popularity even to this day. Though not only was it loved by millions, but it's also a case study in superb branding. In particular, its theme song is the perfect distinctive brand asset. In this episode we break this down and discuss why. Evidence-based brand strategist Jack Ferguson is your host. He discusses: How...

Marketing careers don’t stall by accident; they stall because the way agencies hire, reward, and manage talent leaves a lot to be desired. This episode is co-hosted by: - Brand Strategist Jack Ferguson and - Fractal Marketing Agency Owner Gerard Doyle Here’s what the episode covers: Gerard shares a story of how a prominent brand fired an agency in the midst of a talent shortage, only for it to backfireGerard explains why the best marketers are often the first to leave when agen...

Building a brand is hard enough; but when you’re a marketer, the challenge intensifies. You feel the pressure to be perfect, and every misstep feels like you “should’ve known better.” Brand Strategist Jack Ferguson and Founder of the Marketing Club Chanel Clark co-host this episode. In this episode, Chanel shares how leaning into authenticity and vulnerability, rather than perfection, built her credibility, grew the Marketing Club to 10,000 members, and turned simple diary-style LinkedI...