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A Brave New Podcast


Jan 17, 2024

Rob works with business leaders to build identities for their organizations, products, and services. More than a name or logo, Rob believes an identity is defined by clear, focused beliefs, expressed through compelling words, and substantiated by consistent actions. His specialties include strategic positioning, naming and messaging, brand architecture, qualitative research, and organizational change. Prior to launching Heirloom, he was global head of brand architecture and naming at HP, and previously held strategy director roles at several leading, international brand consulting firms.

Rob is the author of Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for your Company, Product, or Service, the most complete and detailed book about brand naming. He has also written about brand strategy and naming for leading publications such as Harvard Business Review, AMA.org, Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, Business Insider, The Guardian, and VentureBeat.  Rob also hosts How Brands Are Built, a popular branding podcast and blog.


What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • What it was like for Rob to work alongside the legendary Alina Wheeler co-authoring the 6th edition of Designing Brand Identity.
  • Both Josh and Rob’s reflections on the impact that Alina Wheeler had on the brand and design communities in her lifetime
  • What you can expect from the latest edition - what content has been updated and what content is new
  • A few of the new case studies that Rob is excited to feature in the new edition (all 50 case studies are brand new)
  • An inside look at the all the work that went into producing the latest edition
  • The pros and cons of generative AI in the branding discipline
  • Rob’s advice for anyone diving into the branding process for their company in 2024
    When you’ll be able to pick up your copy of the 6th Edition of Designing Brand Identity

Additional resources: