Challenge the category, not the consumer- Fred Hart's branding principles
Update: 2025-10-15
Description
“People don’t read - they recognize. If I have to say I’m cool, I’m not cool. But if you look at me and know it, that’s the ultimate power of branding.”
What do challenger brands get wrong about design? Why do some refreshes fail while others build billion-dollar brands? And how do you know when to pivot - or just stay boring?
In this episode, we talk to Fred Hart - the Colarado based brand strategist and CPG trade show enthusiast - about what makes great brands stand out, scale smart, and avoid getting lost in alphabet soup.
We dig into 2025 trends, AI and subjectivity, the influencer brand bubble, and Fred’s five brand principles (including “People don’t read. They recognize.”)
We get into:
- Design as strategy, not decoration
- Building distinctiveness vs. chasing trends
- How to test without killing creativity
- The rise (and risks) of influencer brands
- What makes a great refresh actually work
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