The Brand Bloc® (Newsletter)

👀 The 50% off gut punch: timing, trust, and the 90% factor you can’t ignore

Edition 69 | August 24, 2025 How a badly timed email proved the case for segmentation, and why the right color speeds the path from brand awareness to loyalty. Here are 3 (another quick one!) brand bytes to elevate, inform and inspire you this week: 1. The secret to happier customers? Email segmentation So *now* you want to have a sale??? This was live footage of me getting one brand’s 50% off email just two days after my full-price order arrived. GIPHY Devastated. If you send emails,...

6 days ago • 3 min read

🤫 “Quiet cracking,” content gold, and AI just made this 3x harder

Edition 68 | August 17, 2025 This workplace red flag might be too quiet to spot, and how one brand’s impromptu call to their top customer turned into a *profitable* million-dollar ad. Here are 5 brand bytes to elevate, inform and inspire you this week: 1. KFC’s “Kentucky Fried Comeback” KFC One wedge. Two words. Thirty-five point seven million views in a single day. KFC’s Potato Wedges made a splash this week on social media thanks to their announcement of its comeback. Famous for their...

13 days ago • 4 min read

👕 When merch becomes media, and brands start a league of their own

Edition 67 | August 10, 2025 Quick one this week! Just 3 good bytes to elevate, inform and inspire you: 1. Brand storytelling, in-house. Cookie Jar & A Dream Studio Dick’s Sporting Goods is playing in a league of their own. On August 7, the brand launched Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios, an in-house content and production studio dedicated to human-centered sports stories. “This is where it’s all heading: brands launching their own entertainment studios,” says one Business Director on LinkedIn....

20 days ago • 2 min read

🤖 The “Bad Bot” report, designer coffee, and 1000 followers required for this

Edition 66 | August 3, 2025 Your 5 news bytes for the week. Here’s what’s shaping brand and digital culture: 1. Bot math and the “Bad Bot” report. I, Robot (movie) One of the creators I admire posted a YouTube video this week that had more likes than views. 🧐 The math wasn’t mathing. Or maybe it was. Because bots now account for more than half of all internet traffic, with “bad bots” making up 37% of all internet traffic. They fake clicks, mass comment, inflate analytics, and distort...

27 days ago • 4 min read

🕵️‍♀️ High-converting listicles, 3 website changes to stay ahead, and your AI might be a mole

Edition 65. AI is rewriting the rules for websites and listicles (ever heard of ’em?) quietly dominate the top of the funnel. Let’s unpack it all. Here are 5 brand bytes to elevate, inform and inspire you this week: 1. ChatGPT and confidentiality, lol: can it keep your (brand) secrets? Giphy Podcasts continue to be a unique channel for very high-profile people to reveal very high-profile things about their brands and businesses. And this week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman did just that — as he...

about 1 month ago • 4 min read

🚀 36 years to glow up and 3 hours lost to AI

Edition 64. This brand glow-up took 36 years. While this couple lost 3 hours to AI. From brands playing the long game, to AI playing tricks... Here are 5 brand bytes to elevate, inform and inspire you this week. 1. Turn the world into your (brand) runway. Vexels Brand swag isn’t just cool merch. It’s a walking, talking ad that sparks conversation and builds loyalty. Put your logo (or clever brand phrase) on a soft tee or water bottle, and you’ve got free marketing that travels IRL. Picture...

about 1 month ago • 5 min read

🎙️ The latest SEO changes, brand power plays, and one 619-million reason to hit record

Edition 63. A major shift *just* happened in SEO, and why the half-billion podcast audience is growing, but its creator base is... shrinking. Here are 5 brand bytes to elevate, inform and inspire you this week. 1. Tennis meets business: a champ and a coach. UPS / Gauff / Grede To know me is to know that I love tennis (and that I’m a tennis grand slam champ in my imagination). 🎾 So I was extra geeked to see a real-life champ across my LinkedIn feed this week talking small business. This global...

about 2 months ago • 4 min read

😱 Nike nightmares, Target takeovers, and brands... ghosting?

Edition 62. A spooky Nike spot, one brand disappears, and this streamer group takes over Target overnight for an unprecedented (but chaotically on-brand) product launch. Here are 5 brand bytes to elevate, inform and inspire you this week. 1. Nike’s “Scary Good”: the sports scaries are in. Nike Sports horror seems to be all the rage as a new media category— Perhaps kicked off with the trailer teaser for Jordan Peele’s HIM, which dropped earlier this year. Nike wants in on, what I’m calling,...

about 2 months ago • 4 min read

🎥 $200K streams, a viral brand’s big exit, and how messy can be good

Edition 61. Live streamers are a different breed, but here’s what they can teach us about speed. Plus, the new tool I’m testing for automations, and why automating everything *isn’t* always the answer. Here are 5 bytes to elevate, inform and inspire your brand this week. 1. Streamers shipping content at lightning speeds. Twitch I may or may not be spending too much time on Twitch these days. But it’s research, I swear! 🤭 I’m exploring the live stream format and observing how audiences...

2 months ago • 3 min read

🤕 “Tech neck,” the better tracking tool, and soap... in a beer can?

Edition 60. How one brand uses this looking-down-at-your-phone habit to sell product, and the (free) tech switch I recently made to improve and track site traffic. Here are 5 bytes to elevate, inform and inspire your brand this week. 1. A posture problem? HiZoo I just spent a few moments with my head back and neck up, because two days ago, I learned “tech neck” was a thing. This ad for HiZoo’s neck and shoulder massager is dominating my feed, and it reminds me of Jamby’s “performance...

2 months ago • 4 min read

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