Why do brands that have been around for a hundred years still have to remind people what they actually are? In this episode Ethan Decker sits down with copywriter and brand strategist Rachel Allen of Bolt from the Blue to talk about why so many marketers and founders are frozen right now, and what the science of uncertainty has to do with it. Rachel brings years of work writing and shaping brand voice for founders and fractional CMO clients, and Ethan brings the psychology behind why some of her hardest won lessons work. Expect talk of potato chips, beef tallow skincare, snake oil, and a healthy debate about how weird a brand is allowed to be before it stops being trustworthy. Great for marketers, copywriters, and founders wondering whether it is finally time to shake up their brand, or whether that is exactly the wrong move.
Main Topics
Why so many experienced marketers are suddenly second guessing everything that used to work for them
The evolutionary reason humans crave certainty, and what that means for how a brand should show up
Why even massive, decades old brands still have to remind people of the most basic thing they do
Finding the line between staying consistent and getting boring, and why being different enough beats being the weirdest
How outdated copywriting formulas linger long after they stop working, and how to tell timeless from trendy
Links to Additional Resources
Bolt from the Blue Copywriting, boltfromthebluecopywriting.com
Featured Cover: The Highwomen's cover of Fleetwood Mac's The Chain
https://open.spotify.com/track/5e8PbJLuCaGj1wEaSRIMV0?si=0800475da8ff4506
If you have ever felt like your brand voice needs a total overhaul, or wondered if anyone actually knows what your product is made of, this one is for you. Subscribe to Cover Brand for more, share this episode with a fellow marketer stuck in analysis paralysis, and head to appliedbrandscience.com to dig further into the science behind the stories.
