PERHAPS WE ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM

Today, we are thrilled to welcome Justin Thomas Kay to the program! Justin is a YouTuber, creative director, and graphic designer based in Brooklyn. You may have seen him on GQ Rebranded, an episodic series about sports branding— how it works, the history behind it, and how he would approach it. Justin was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he cut his teeth in designing posters, album art, and other stuff for his band Sincebyman. He then entered the editorial world and worked with like every cool magazine, Complex, Fader, New York Times Magazine, Mass Appeal, and Victory Journal, to name a few. Justin then moved to the brand side, working for Nike, Google, YouTube,  Apple, and Red Bull. We are stoked to talk to him about his work on J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive and rebranding the Milwaukee Bucks. Justin is a legend. Enjoy!

We are thrilled to welcome Pete Freeman to the show! Pete, a willing 3rd, is a Center OG, the first employee. We are blessed with his presence this week as he’s in New York on business by way of sunny California! We talk about the rats of Erewhon, Alex is going to Coachella, Paul American, the Rizzler throwing out the first pitch at the Mets game, pool+, the subway footlong nachos, KFC toothpaste, Glen Powell’s Smash Kitchen, and more!

Diego Segura and Eliz Akgun are incredibly talented designers who reside in New York City. They caught Alex’s attention last year with their stunning work on the brand Leggs. Diego worked at COLLINS after dropping out of high school at 18; he runs a progressive studio called Family Office and has aspirations of business beyond branding. Eliz’s talent is boundless, as her artistic vision and learned hotkeys make her an exciting designer to watch for the future (big things to come). The duo joins the podcast this week to go back and forth with high energy, quick banter, lots of bits, and even more laughs. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it. It’s a fun one!

Alex and Kevin are back for a regular episode! The fellas discuss their favorite television shows, Ashton Hall and his morning routine, peak protein, funny baseball hats, Doordash x Klarna, Ordinary Eggs, Pepsi buying Poppi, and more!

Lisa Smith is the queen of the rebrand! She is renowned for her transformative work with some of the world's most cherished brands. Currently the Global Executive Creative Director at JKR, her strategic vision has played a pivotal role in the global rebrand efforts for clients such as Burger King, Nordstrom Rack, Impossible Food, and Manischewitz.Lisa, a listener of the pod, joins us to share about her life, her career, and her passion for the beach! We are excited to share this episode with you!

It’s been a while since since we’ve podded! We are so back! Back from vacations, back in the studio, back in your ears. We talk about our new favorite shows and their marketing promotions, the Oscars, Sweetgreen Fries, Duo Lingo dying and resurrecting, NikeSKIMS, Dove whole body deo, Dove x Crumbl, Graza Fizzle, Nathan’s canned water, Open AI rebrand, and more!

Happy Valentine's Day! We love love! We are happy to welcome Jackie DeJesu Center to the pod to break down the best and worst of the Super Bowl and Valentines Day! The brands are wildin out! We talk about Mountain Dew, Nike, Bud Light, Jesus, Coke, Totinos, Dunkin’, Liquid Death, Coca-Cola, Grillos, Skimms, Laneige, Sweethearts, MSCHF, Outback, Stonyfield, Denny’s Hormel, White Castle, and more!

Take a Gander, and give it a listen! We've got Katie Levy and Mike McVicar in the house! Katie and Mike are the creative duo behind Gander, a design shop in Brooklyn that creates thoughtful experiences for humans and propels brands with soul and substance. They are the studio behind some of the hottest CPG brands like: Graza, Yellow Bird, Pop Up Grocer, Magic Spoon, Behave, Gotham Greens, Banza, June Wine Bar, and many other bangers! Katie and Mike bring the energy as they advocate for the 4 day work week, rally for studios to come together and charge the same amount for work, plead for designers to come and work on their case studies, and shock Alex and Kevin with an on-air Magic trick! Check out their new website, which conveniently coincides with the episode launch! TAKE A GANDER! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT!

Happy New Year! We’re back, and we’re totally new and different! Nah, just kidding, we’re the same. We’ve got some goals, some things to improve, and a change to the show’s release schedule. We talk about our breaks, Brian Johnson, The Aaron Rodgers Doc, Ladder x Stavros, The Sandisk rebrand, the Walmart rebrand, RX Bar cutting out the BS, Halo Top Dry January flavor drop, Breaking News, The Pizza Hut Pizza Report, and more!

In the last episode of 2024, Alex and Kevin break out the Haterade and dole out awards for the worst of the year. Find out who wins Story Of The Year, Story Of The Year (Number 2), Brand Of The Year, Launch Of The Year, Bozo Of The Year, Snackflation Of The Year, Beef Of The Year, Misprint Of The Year, Mispronouncian Of The Year, Brand Partnership Of The Year, (Not Good) Person Of The Year, This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, And Good Thing We Didn't Buy This. Thanks for a great year! Cya next year!