Decoding The 4 Reasons Brand FAIL (and how to avoid)

Summary

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Sweat Equity – "Decoding The 4 Reasons Brand FAIL (and how to avoid)"

Hosts: Alex Garcia & Brian Blum
Date: November 18, 2025
Main Theme:
This episode unpacks the four fundamental reasons brands crash and burn—and how marketers, founders, and creators can avoid these pitfalls. Alex and Brian use current, real-world brand examples and candid insights to illustrate each failure point. The tone is lively, irreverent, and pragmatic, blending humor with sharp commentary on marketing and culture.

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Episode Breakdown

1. Loss of Trust [00:00 – 05:51]

• Case Study: Prime (Logan Paul & KSI)

  • “Prime has seen one of the quickest rises and falls from grace that maybe in business history... The whole reason they have failed is loss of trust.” – Alex [00:58]
  • Manufacturing concerns (rumors of lead, carcinogens) and launching an energy drink targeted at kids shattered consumer confidence.
  • “How are you sneaking caffeine into kids? ...I already need my kid to chill out. Like, I’m already trying to medicate them.” – Alex [01:38]

• Building Trust in Brand Categories

  • Supplements: Trust about product safety and efficacy; Apparel: Trust about fit.
  • Example: Flamingo Estate launching Shilajit—smart messaging focuses on origin ("harvested from the mountains of Bhutan") to build credibility [03:30].

• Tactics to Build Trust

  • Behind-the-scenes content: “When you go see the founder at the manufacturer looking at ingredients…you feel so differently about the product.” – Brian [04:10]
  • Jocko’s Origin Jeans: Transparency about US-based production boosts trust and justifies premium pricing.
  • “Building trust is apparently one of the easiest ways to charge more.” – Alex [05:47]
  • Point made about luxury brands overusing 'Made in Italy' claims, as opposed to demonstrating true manufacturing authenticity.

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2. Misjudging the Market [05:51 – 14:25]

• Examples: Lululemon, Alo

  • Both are critiqued for sticking doggedly to polyester, even as informed, health-conscious customers worry about microplastics and health effects.
  • “They’re very fit, they’re very body conscious…Longevity thing is only going to grow. And they’ve completely misjudged the market.” – Alex [07:01]

• Industry Dynamics

  • Up-and-comers position legacy brands as "the enemy" (e.g., for using polyester), altering public perception from “luxury” to potentially “toxic.”
  • Anecdote: Former Yeezy collaborator pinpoints the shift and opportunity in attacking established brands with new, healthier materials.

• Marketing Recommendations

  • Alex proposes combative, awareness-raising campaigns (e.g., content blitzes and plant-based “exposés” targeting established brands on social media) [08:40].

• Product Messaging Missteps

  • Feastables (MrBeast’s chocolate): Switched from “better for you” to “social justice” messaging—misaligned with consumer priorities for taste and quality.
    • “You’re selling chocolate, dog. Like…you’re losing on taste to Hershey’s still.” – Alex [10:35]

• Parallel with AI Startups

  • Automatic skepticism from consumers when markets get saturated or promise too much—brands like Cluli failed to adapt.
  • “Started as this really disruptive controversy…to another AI note taker is like a complete misjudging of the market.” – Alex [12:31]

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3. Lack of Innovation [14:25 – 19:00]

• Case Study: Allbirds

  • Allbirds’ inability to move past its minimalist, wool-based shoe while maximalist aesthetics and more flamboyant products took over pop culture.
  • “We evolved into a world where minimalism was sort of getting rejected, and then they just stayed the same.” – Alex [15:54]
  • When Allbirds did innovate (e.g., clogs or “Uggs” competitors), it felt late and perhaps insubstantial.

• Contrast: Skims & On Running

  • Skims recognized cultural shifts (“maximalist culture”) and innovated product lines and campaigns (e.g. “a thong with a bush on it”—shock value and cultural relevance).
    • “Not saying that…a thong with a bush on it is innovation, but kind of is. They understand we’re in a maximalist culture.” – Alex [17:02]
  • On Running (On): “Operating at a whole different level” with product, content, and celebrity partnerships (Zendaya campaign).
  • A divisive campaign can still be a win if it brings cultural resonance and attention [19:00].

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4. Internal Blind Spots [19:00 – 22:47]

• Definition and Consequences

  • Brands lose ground when internal teams are out of touch with market or culture.
  • “You think about On, like, they clearly have a team that is tapped into culture…future thinking.” – Alex [19:37]
  • Nike is called out as an example that "had blind spots at every single realm," losing their original aspirational edge for a time.

• Recovering Culture

  • Recent efforts by Nike’s new CEO show it's possible to right the ship by re-focusing on core identity and market relevance.

• Strategic Reflection

  • As brands grow, keeping internal lines of communication to culture and market trends is crucial.
  • Lack of vigilance on these four points dooms scaling brands: “If we don’t emphasize trust, if we misjudge where the market is going, if we don’t innovate…and if we develop internal blind spots…we’re cooked.” – Alex [22:18]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Brand Trust

  • “Your goal should be from the jump: how are you going to build as much trust as possible?” – Alex [01:50]

• On Misjudging Your Audience

  • “Now they're like…mainstream awareness is shifting from like luxury to like…essentially bad for you.” – Brian [07:44]

• On Innovation’s Role in Survival

  • “Allbirds’s goal should have been a long time ago to…drop like the furriest shoe you’ve ever seen.” – Alex [18:16]

• On Internal Blind Spots

  • “Nike used to only be for winners and they were kind of starting to be for, like, fifth place.” – Alex [20:58]

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Key Timestamps

• [00:58] – Prime’s fall and loss of brand trust
• [03:30] – Supplements marketing: Flamingo Estate and trust-building
• [05:51] – Polyester controversy: Lululemon, Alo, and shifting perceptions
• [10:35] – Feastables’ messaging missteps
• [14:25] – Allbirds’ lack of innovation
• [17:02] – Skims’ campaign and cultural adaptation
• [19:37] – On Running’s marketing and innovation lead
• [20:58] – Nike’s identity drift and internal blind spots
• [22:18] – Alex’s summary of the four failure points

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Actionable Takeaways

• Prioritize trust with transparency (BTS content, ingredient sourcing, founder visibility).
• Stay hyper-attuned to market shifts and consumer sentiment—don’t get complacent or ignore smaller “bro science” or grassroots trends.
• Continually innovate in product and messaging to match (or, better yet, anticipate) cultural waves.
• Battle internal stagnation by keeping teams curious, open, and aware of both competition and cultural dynamics.
• “If you avoid these things with your brand…you’re in a good spot.” – Alex [22:47]

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Tone: Informal, direct, full of culture and humor, actionable for all marketers and founders.
Navigation: Skipped all ads and non-content for clarity and depth.

Transcript

[A]

Guys, welcome back. Sweat equity. So on today's episode, we're going to be talking about the four ways that brands fail. Usually we're talking about growth tactics and marketing strategies that work, but these are going to be the pitfalls that you want to avoid. So we're going to use super specific examples, and at the end of this episode, you'll know exactly what not to do on the journey of growing your brand. All right, let's get into it. Do you trust anything that comes out of Logan Paul's mouth?

[B]

Not Logan Paul, not Jake Paul. And I think the funniest thing that I heard in a while was when we were meeting with Greg from Bloom last Friday and we were talking about get w. Yeah. And he was like, why would I want to ever smell like Jake Paul? Does Jake Paul smell. Look like someone I'd want to smell like?

[A]

He looks very musty. And, you know, I think that was part of the Persona for a while. Maybe he'll clean it up, though. You never know.

[B]

But then it was like the other guy. Who's the other.

[A]

I hesitate to talk about Jake Paul, though, because he might, I mean, broken throw hands, ultimately cool. It's got to stay far away.

[B]

The other guy was like, Sean o'. Malley. Like, why would you want to smell like Sean o'? Malley?

[A]

No, they got the musty starting five as the ambassador. So the reason I bring up Logan is I think prime has seen one of the quickest rises and falls from grace that maybe in business history. I mean, you know, I think they were the fastest company to maybe 200, 300 million in sales. Now they're down 50% year over year. I mean, that's a catastrophe. And in a market where most of your revenue is wholesale dependent on, you know, 12 to 18 month purchase orders in advance. And the whole reason that they have failed is loss of trust. So the brand obviously did two things that was really bad. Number one is their manufacturing got taken into question. Like, everyone was like, oh, is there lead in this? Or are there, you know, carcinogens, whatever it may be? But also they tried to release an energy drink for kids and Crazy. Yeah. I think in. In retrospect, like, you just think about how everyone's adhd, medicated, all this. It's a very sensitive topic, you know, and when you have so much influence, then it's very possible to, you know, influence people in the wrong way. And I think that was what was so threatening about Prime Energy. Like, yo, how are you sneaking caffeine into kids? I already need my Kid to chill out. Like, I'm already trying to medicate them. So I think the first one is loss of trust. You know, as a brand, like your, your goal should be from the jump. Like, how are you going to, how are you going to build as much trust with people as possible? I mean, think about any supplement industry, right? Like, there are so many different ways that you build trust. I think in the apparel industry, one of the best ways is to have people trust that it's going to fit, right? Like, they want to be able to trust that the pants are going to be the right length, that the cut is going to be good enough. You know, obviously in the supplements industry, they need to trust that the product is going to work. But even then, how do you establish that trust? You know, you prove out the manufacturing, right? Like you say, this is where we're sourcing the product. Think about Flamingo Estate brand. We used to talk about a lot on here. It's so funny. They're kind of moving into the supplements industry. I mean, it comes for all of us. But they're releasing Shilajit, right, which is like this, you know, black sludge ingredient, whatever. I guess it boosts your tea.

[B]

And yeah, there was such a human era.

[A]

Tang Ali, dude, I feel like 2024 was the peak of like, misinformation and supplements and I, I, you were part of it, bro. Look, look, I get it, but your.

[B]

Hooks in the past were crazy.

[A]

All I'm saying is she legit, you know, is something that probably a lot of people have tried and Flamingo Estate is a smart, savvy marketing brand. And so instead of saying, like, we're dropping Shilajit, they're like straight harvested from the mountains of Bhutan, you know, like, they were like, really lean into, like, why their shilajit works. So I think there's some different ways to, you know, enhance trust of your brand. But above all else, that is the number one pitfall that I think any brand should look to avoid at all times is how do we lose, how do we avoid losing trust?

[B]

I, I think that's why you're seeing all of these brands create this BTS content.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When you go see the, the founder at the manufacturer looking at ingredients, talking with a scientist, doing XYZ thing, you feel so differently about the ingredients that are in there, about the product you're buying. Like, I have zero worries. I just saw the man, like, work with a scientist to formulate this and I saw him, yeah, like rigorously test or like, push back on XYZ thing because he needed it to be better than. Than the last or whatever that makes you feel different about a company. Jocko did this for his company Origin Jeans, which is like, I think it was like a denim. Yeah, it's a denim company, but built all in the U.S. right. And so, yeah, U.S. based. And so for the whole, for the whole thing, it was like he went into manufacturer and he's like showing around and like showing how everything works and the process of. Of it all. And it's like it's. It's key. And I think it's even why, like there's a lot of brands or people are losing trust with a lot of luxury brands. Because the luxury brand would be like made in Italy. But then it's like, oh, just like the final touch.

[A]

Find it out.

[B]

Yeah, the final touch of the product is in Italy. Therefore I'm allowed to say made in Italy.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

But when you then see the say, up and coming fashion brands that are doing BTS and showing like them in Italy for the entire process and then they, you know, then their price is higher, who are you going to trust more?

[A]

Totally.

[B]

You know what I'm saying? And so like, it's. That's actually a good video idea for me on like BTS being. It's not just this idea of like people want to see. It's if you want to build trust, the best way to do it is to. Right.

[A]

And building trust is apparently one of the easiest ways to charge more.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. So that's one of the biggest ones we want y' all to avoid is. And also emphasize. Right. I mean, this is more of a playbook for like, what should you be focused on avoiding? Yes. But that's also a focus on like, how do you take advantage of these things? Yeah. So. So, you know, building trust, biggest thing you can do for your brand number two is misjudging the market. Now this one, I think we've seen so much product form factor innovation in the last few years. Like we talk about create grooms. All these people that took products that were powders, turned them into gummies, and now they're thriving. Right. Like, you know, there's a million and one examples of that. But the two brands that I see that are really struggling with misjudging the market, I think are Lululemon and Aloe. So both products obviously still very heavily in the polyester game, like kind of leaning into that athleisure, you know, plastic clothing revolution. And it's like we're coming up on a Lot of people who have seen a lot of misinformation. Well, either misinformation or correct information that is saying that that affects your hormones, that affects, you know, your. There's microplastics getting your bloodstream, whatever that is. And so I think it's the longevity movement grows. You're going to see all these people who, you know, Lulu is typically going after a pretty fit consumer. Same with aloe. They're very fit, they're very body conscious. They're always thinking about ways to protect their health. This longevity thing is only going to grow. And they've completely misjudged the market because if they had dropped some sort of like cotton, you know, blend by now, or if they had just at least like gotten into that space, maybe they would have a chance. But there's going to be a revolution of companies that are going to release clothes that are competitive to them, that don't have the same materials, or maybe they won't. But, you know, ultimately they're getting challenged by a lot of different folks, and it's because they're not staying ahead of the trends in the market.

[B]

And one thing you're noticing too is like, they're becoming the. By the. They're getting challenged by all these up and comers. And the up and comers are positioning them as the enemy because of this. Right, right. And so they're now like, their mainstream awareness is shifting from like luxury to like, to. To essentially bad for you. Yeah, right. And. And I was talking to somebody last week who fucking works on Yeezy and shit. Like, and, and has helped develop all of their. A lot of. Not all, a lot of their products. And he was talking about the biggest opportunities in fashion because he also has like a huge, huge wholesale business. And one of the main things is, is that he's like, he's attacking the Lulus and the Aloes and, and basically was sending me videos all over the weekend of like, exactly what you're talking about. Like these brands using polyester, these brands using these bad fabrics that are bad for people.

[A]

Well, there's a couple of them, like, I don't really know. I think there's like Riker and there's like a couple of others that like, you know, feels like Lauro Piana when I'm working out. Like, like that. But, you know, and they're kind of going for that luxury piece. But if you were a savage, you know, like, if you were actually a good marketer, I would give you some game. I would start running crazy, crazy like theme page marketing against Lululemon. Right? Like it's crazy what you could do if you were like an activist investor with our brains. Like I would probably just start putting out crazy news headlines like, you know, about polyester and then just throwing a Lululemon and aloe logo on it and just being like, yo, big, big producers, you know, are disrupting your hormones by 83%. But if you are someone who is in their shoes, if you had a clothing brand that was trying to, you know, maybe you're bamboo or tencel or like one of these different materials, how are you going to, you know, raise market awareness about this problem? Right. Like that's what I would be focusing on as a long term play is how am I going to shift people's perceptions against these market leaders with content, everyone's on their phone. So you know, what are you going to do? You're going to show up on IG and tick tock as much as you possibly can. So you're going to run as much a, a disruptive campaign across maybe like 50 to 100 theme pages, pushing out new style headlines and just talking about how poly restroom you up. So anyways, misjudging the market is like so critical. Like I, I think, you know, and even back to prime, even back to feastables, right? Like I think Feastables, he's misjudging the market in a way. Initially he went better for you, I think. And then they like paid me for a video.

[B]

Did you, I don't think did you end up making it?

[A]

I posted it on TikTok. Basically saying he's, you know, their sourcing of cocoa is helping kids in Africa.

[B]

Yeah, I was gonna say they went from like that better for you angle.

[A]

To, to like social justice type. And I think that just completely misjudged what the market wanted. Like, bro, you're selling chocolate dog. Like, yeah, you're losing on taste to Hershey's still.

[B]

And like, and it's different when the whole brand like is started around that, that premise. Like there's that Tony's chocolate.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

From the beginning that was their premise right down to how the, how, how the chocolate is like, is like formed like the, the way that the, the. It's like a piece of art on the chocolate.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It all represents that story. Right. Versus Feastables. Like changing the angle better for you chocolate. And Hershey's has these bad ingredients and so we're going to take down Hershey's. And now I was like, well, Hershey and I Get it?

[A]

Like now it's like Hershey's is pushing slave labor. Not. Yeah, because I'm giving water wells in, you know, Uganda. It's like, come on, bro. Yeah, I just want the good chocolate, you know, I mean. But anyways, so I think misjudging the market is something that you need to be very in tune with consumer sentiments. Right. Like he should have known that like that was not the answer. You know, like and I think extrapolating it out because what I at least my goal with everything we're talking about is that this would apply to any marketer or founder. Misjudging the market right now is like, bro, if you were launching an AI company, people are default skeptical of you. If you have your, you know, three minute YouTube video promising the world and it's in some sort of like well lit environment like this and you're like, oh, we're going to be the new AI SEO tool. Right. Like, I don't trust you. Yeah, I think you're capping.

[B]

It happened with icon.

[A]

Icon. It's happened with Cluli. Yeah, Cluli is cooked. Like Cluli is a perfect example of this. Bro just misjudged the out of the market. Like started as, you know, this really disruptive controversy.

[B]

30S and doesn't cuss anymore. Yeah, that was interesting. I've never seen you do that on a pod.

[A]

I just self censored.

[B]

That was really weird.

[A]

Did it felt like I was like choking. I was the AI.

[B]

You're like misjudged up.

[A]

Yeah. Maybe that was some relationship. Anyways, so clearly, you know, going from a disruptive, controversial thing to another AI note taker is like a complete misjudging of the market. Like you're, you're clearly like going into something saturated expecting for your distribution mode to win.

[B]

Like no, you know what I'm thinking about a brand that's actually done except one of these things very, very well is crate gummies.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the reason I'll say that is like the first one, right. When we talk about building trust, what did he do? He went and got all of the top selling Amazon gummies and like tested to see the purity and how much creatine is actually in all of them. Right. Because of that he showed how much creatine is actually in his gummy is this has each gummies 2.5 grams or whatever it is. 1.5 grams. Like that's what's in every. Every single gummy and like proved it. Where I think he's missed the mark is just Volume of content around owning the space. But I also think there's people like Peter too, and Huberman who have done that for him and. And Rogans of the world who have talked about how beneficial creeping is.

[A]

I'm gonna have some crazy game just in case anyone wants it. Hopefully no one from hims is listening to this, but like himss is in the telehealth space, right? Meanwhile, ways to well and ways to well is crushing right now because of what you just said. There's like the bro science ecosystem underneath all of the mainstream, right? And I think we've seen the market shift from default trust of mainstream to default trust of bro science in a. In a way that's not even getting quantified right now. Hams is too slow to move into BPC 157 and like CHGCU, like all these different things. But like, I don't know about you, I know like five guys who are straight up injecting a tanning peptide into their shed. You know, like they're tanning, okay, that.

[B]

Replacing heard of the tanning peptide. I don't know anybody that.

[A]

Several people doing this. It's not just like random guys, you know, and. And where they smoke, there's fire, right?

[B]

They're so funny.

[A]

We know so many guys hitting peptides on the side.

[B]

I hit peptides, I want like I on the pod.

[A]

And. And it's like, that's to me if him bro's ending right now Peptide. And I think like, you know, someone like hims, like, they're not doing nad, plus they're not doing a lot of these peptides, which is just an enterprise brand, failing to see that the bro science is actually outperforming, you know, so they miss stretching the market there anyways. That's one. So stay in tune with stuff. And if you are like seeing like, where there's smoke, there's fire, like, you know, trust your intuition that things are happening around you. Like, what people are actually talking about is what's going to reflect in the consumer market in like two years. Next one is a lack of innovation. So this, you know, again, I feel like a lot of the brands that we've talked about, honestly, have like, probably struck out on all four of these. But the brand that I think, you know, had a massive lack of innovation was. Was Allbirds. I think they're one of the. And any of those D2C darlings that kind of failed from that initial cohort, they just never innovated. But with Allbirds, you know, you Think about, like, a shoe that was, like, made of wool. It was like a very basic minimalist silhouette. Like, we evolved into a world where minimalism was sort of getting rejected, and then they just stayed the same.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Like, they never were able to innovate the brand's positioning out of anything. I think about, you know, look at the difference between Alberts and Skims. Like, Skims just put out a thong with a bush on it.

[B]

They were going to be a huge focus on my art direction.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Segment. But I left it to. For. For something else because, like, what you leave it for? I don't know yet. I don't know yet, to be honest. Like, I think I'm going to go more on, like, a tactical. Use this art direction if you want to achieve X feeling.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Use this art direction. Right. And because Skims, if you saw it, like, it was like this game show.

[A]

No.

[B]

Campaign. It was like. It was so good, dude.

[A]

It was, like, out of blurry, out of focus about them so much. But they're also doing so good, bro.

[B]

And, like, we talk. So I don't want to derail this. Like, they talk about. I always love that I say that, but I continue to do the thing. Like, I. I'll say, like, I don't want to derail this, but I'll continue derailing it.

[A]

That's kind of the point.

[B]

Yeah. Right. It's just like, sorry, but I'm gonna keep going. People are. Yeah, dude, you talk about volume content, like their Nike skims campaign and drop. Do they make, like, 40 pieces of content?

[A]

Yeah. Crazy.

[B]

Crazy.

[A]

It's crazy.

[B]

But I love it.

[A]

Yeah. So, I mean, you know, I just think, like, not saying that. I'm not saying that, you know, a thong with a bush on it is innovation, but kind of is. And the reason it is innovation is because. Kind of is. And the reason it's innovation, though, is because they understand we're in a maximalist culture. Like, the culture shifted massively. And so their product innovation department knows that. Right. And they're. They're doing these things to grab attention, understanding that, like, bro, Allbirds hasn't released a. When's the last time you saw a headline about them that wasn't just like, this stock is going to zero. Right.

[B]

They actually just launched an issue.

[A]

What is it?

[B]

I don't remember. I saw this in the last week, and I literally was like, oh, wow. Like, Allbirds did something.

[A]

So they released a clog. Is that.

[B]

I don't know if it was a clog.

[A]

Warmest release. They're getting into the Uggs game. Like some private equity management consulting douchebag was like, uggs is vulnerable. You got to get in there. And so, like, Albert is trying to, like, get in that. Which, you know, is cool. But like, these also, again, they're just not a maximalist culture. Right. Like, I think, like, Allbirds's goal should have been a long time ago to, you know, try and. I mean, they're. They're in the wall game. Right? Like, bro, just drop like, the furriest shoe you've ever seen. Yeah. You know, like, make that super poofy.

[B]

You know who was. Who's great at innovation that was on.

[A]

On is crushing on is killing it.

[B]

And they're crushing on so many sides. Like, their content is amazing.

[A]

It's amazing.

[B]

Like, in the last, just six months, year, like, man, like, I. I look at them from, like, the running space as a. As a, you know, one of the larger brands. And typically the larger brands are just like, they're. They're not doing their thing. They're not. They're not innovating even on the content side. And on is like, operating at a whole different level. They're operating like the Bandits. Right. Like, we talk about the. What do you do when you. You surpass 20 to 50?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

On's doing it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And they're doing it exceptionally well.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, the Zendaya thing could have been seen a bit as a miss. It could have.

[A]

Not, like, I think it was a hit.

[B]

I think it was good. I think it was very good. It was.

[A]

The.

[B]

The reason people were saying it was potentially a miss was because she doesn't run. But their whole positioning there was. Yeah, it's a lifestyle shoe as well.

[A]

Like, but you have to be a little bit divisive these days anyway. You can't be scared about the most. You know, the biggest purists in the running community come, like, for sure. Those people are never happy about anything.

[B]

No, dude. Oh, my gosh. You look at Reddit on. On Bandit, you look at Reddit on Nick Bear, etc, like, yeah, I keep hating. Crazy.

[A]

I know.

[B]

He's running up the mills, though.

[A]

Yeah. Appreciate it. Appreciate the pub. So, last one, which I think plays directly into what you just said. So to recap, we got. Loss of trust is the number one thing you want to avoid. Number two, you cannot misjudge the market. You have to trust what you're seeing, what's around you, what you're hearing, what people are doing. Right. Like, what are actually people actually doing, not what you're reading in the headlines. Number three, lack of innovation. Like, you got to be innovating your product to the culture at that time. And number four, which I think is exactly what you just talked about, is having internal blind spots. So you think about on, like, they clearly have a team that is tapped into culture. Like, they are tapped into future future thinking, you know, marketing initiatives. Like, they're seeing that Zendaya's star is rising. They know that she's got Dune 2 coming out. Right? Like, okay, so if we have a huge upcoming moment for this celebrity, like, obviously want to get ahead of it. And I feel like a company that has a lot of internal blind spots is Nike. You know, I think they don't ever do anything. I mean, they've, they've gotten better since this new CEO came on. Honestly, they're kind of like rediscovering their identity. But for a while there, it seemed like they had blind spots at every single realm where they were investing. The lack of innovation and what was like their original core products and even.

[B]

Their core messaging as a whole.

[A]

And the core messaging starting to remarks inclusive instead of aspirational. You know, like, Nike used to be only for winners, and they were kind of starting to be for, like, fifth place. And so, you know, internal blind spots is the other thing I think makes brands fail is when you start growing and you don't emphasize your. Your culture enough and that stuff doesn't trickle throughout, you know, the entire org.

[B]

I'm in a position right now where I love watching, like, the rise of Nike again because, man, you like, Nike's greatness as a, as a company was some of the. As a kid, like, you loved consuming Nike and you felt every. You felt a specific way when you would see anything from Nike on tv, on, on social, in an East Bay magazine, like, and it was all pushing the same story. And then, yeah, it got washed up, but couldn't agree more. Yeah, I think it's, it's interesting to see, like, the, the companies that are doing those four things that are growing at insane rates. Absolutely insane rates.

[A]

It's like, you, you need to know what to focus on. Yes. And I think our last episode, what you talked about with the art direction is, you know, the biggest thing as a brand founder is you're going to eventually have downtime. Yeah, I go through this with the brand that we've incubated through Nibble, where all the time I'm like, all right, just check the dashboard. Orders are good. Meta ads are firing. Google's firing, we're scaling. Right? And the truth is like there's work that does not have real time application to be done for art direction but also these four different things. You know, like it's if you, if, if we don't emphasize trust, if we misjudge where the market is going, if, you know, we don't innovate on our product offerings and if we develop internal blind spots and we're cooked.

[B]

Agreed.

[A]

But if you avoid those things with your brand in your marketing team, I think you're in a good spot. All right. Well if you all enjoyed that episode, please like subscribe as per usual and leave a comment. What you want us to see next? Because yeah, I mean we're doing these for you guys. We want them to be as helpful, actionable as possible. Obviously we got big holiday season coming up, 2026 planning's going down so keep us posted later.