Today on Obsessed Show, I’m excited to chat with the founders of creative agency, SNASK, Fredrik Öst & Erik Kockum. "Freddie" was adopted from South Korea and raised in Northern Sweden after being found outside a police station. Erik is a confused and misunderstood misfit genius who believes that the feeling of freedom and allowance of making mistakes is the key to creativity.
Today we’re going to talk about how they formed SNASK 14 years ago, in the face of conventional wisdom, and the meaning behind their mantra – "Make Enemies & Gain Fans."
So without further ado, please enjoy this conversation with SNASK.
#snask #branding #designpodcast
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We’re back with Vigor Branding principal, host of the Forktales podcast, and author of the new book, The Bullhearted Brand, Joseph Szala. If you’re a long-time listener, you may recall Joseph from all the way back in season one.
Today we talk about his latest evolutions, including how the Grits & Grids podcast led to his new show, Forktales, and what led his to launch his latest book, The Bullhearted Brand on Kickstarter.
So without further ado, please enjoy the latest conversation with Joseph Szala.
Valerie Aurilio, General Manager, and Phyllis Murphy, Executive Creative Director
Today on Obsessed Show it's a two for one sale... I'm chatting with Valerie Aurilio, General Manager at Landor & Fitch, and Phyllis Murphy, Executive Creative Director, at Landor & Fitch.
If you're doing any design work in the branding space, there's very little chance you haven't heard of Landor, and as we record today on the evening of November 3... spoiler alert, we didn't know who won yet.
But Valerie and Phyllis are literally branding America’s future. Together, they are leading a partnership with the America 250 Foundation to execute a multi-year campaign that builds Americans’ awareness and understanding of the nation’s 250thanniversary in 2026.
So without further ado, please enjoy this conversation with Valerie Aurilio and Phyllis Murphy.
Howard has a unique design point of view. Over the past 25 years, he has served scores of Fortune 500 companies, including Pfizer, CVS/Caremark, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, and SAP, by leveraging the concept of simplicity to activate customers and employees. He challenges design teams across the world to bring humanity to brands.
You could say Howard was born to design. Maybe we'll dig into that story in a moment. After founding a NYC-based design company at the age of 28, which was purchased by Omnicom in 2001, Howard joined Siegel+Gale in 2004. Since then he’s brought simplicity, a global perspective and systems thinking to designing brand programs for some of the largest companies on the planet.
As many of you may know, I'm a total branding geek at heart, so I'm incredibly excited to chat with Howard about the future of branding, and to learn more about Siegel+Gale.
Today on Obsessed Show I’m chatting with Jessie McGuire.
Jessie McGuire is the Managing Director at brand design studio ThoughtMatter, leading a team of artists, writers and strategists to create daring designs and identities for everything from art museums, communities and brands to a range of institutions and organizations. She has been integral in shaping the purpose and creative vision of ThoughtMatter, spearheading projects and campaigns that reflect the agency’s culture and mission, including protest posters for the 2017 Women’s March, a modern redesign of the U.S. Constitution and the recently launched For The People docuseries. Jessie has also worked to raise awareness and support for socially progressive causes such as March for Our Lives, Girls Write Now and The Joyful Heart Foundation as well as on community-minded projects for The New-York Historical Society, Downtown Staten Island and The Center for Arts Education.
Jessie holds a BFA in Communications Design and Advertising Art Direction from Pratt Institute and a MPS in Branding from The School of Visual Arts. Before joining ThoughtMatter, she managed and worked on projects for billion-dollar brands owned by Kimberly-Clark, P&G and Colgate Palmolive. In addition, Jessie formerly served as the Advocacy Chair on the board of directors of the New York chapter of AIGA, and is a regular speaker at conferences across NYC.
When Jessie is not designing, she can be found running in Brooklyn—alone, in a race or after her two kids.
Eric Thoelke, President, TOKY
Eric Thoelke (pronounced “toky”) brings more than 30 years of real-world experience in brand strategy and design of complex projects. Eric is responsible for leading a team of designers and brand strategists who create new names and visual brand identities, design print and online experiences, and solve branding challenges. His work has been recognized by Communication Arts magazine, won platinum and gold awards in Graphis, has been featured in design annuals from the AIGA, the Type Directors Club, Print magazine, HOW magazine, Brand New, and many others.
Eric has served as a judge for design competitions across the country, including the Communication Arts Design Annual, and has presented ideas on design and culture at conferences from San Diego to Pittsburgh. Eric was selected as one of St. Louis Magazine’s “Great Minds” of St. Louis, and a “Buzz List” recipient from ALIVE magazine for co-founding the Midtown Alley Design District. Eric is a co-founder of St. Louis Design Week and co-led it for its first two years.
Today on Obsessed Show I'm chatting with principal consultant at Illig, Ed Illig.
Ed is a Marketing & Brand Design Strategist + Outsourced Fractional Marketing Lead | Problem solver, revenue driver, creative leader, experience creator, strategist, marketer, integrator, designer, inventor, thinker, writer, director, illustrator, producteer, adventurer. Dreamer.
SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, Please enjoy my conversation with Ed Illig.