Making Media
Episode 12 Merchandise and Marketing
Making Media

Episode 12: Merchandise and Marketing

Making Media

Episode 12

Merchandise and Marketing

Michael Williams is the creator of A Continuous Lean. We cover the origins of ACL, the ingredients of an extraordinary brand, and what makes for great corporate merch.

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(00:04:00) - (First question) - The early days of launching A Continuous Lean and how it transitioned into the business he built around it

(00:06:19) - What lead to ACL being featured in the New York Times

(00:08:29) - Deciding to branch out from ACL and creating his own consulting agency 

(00:10:43) - How he’s managed to stay true to his vision of staying small and in control 

(00:12:34) - The best strategy and advice he could give brands today 

(00:15:45) - Key characteristics of companies that are bad or good at marketing 

(00:21:39) - Further case studies for brands that are seemingly timeless

(00:22:27) - His favorite aspects of the Masters Golf Tournament

(00:24:29) -
Rolex: Timeless Excellence
;
The Walt Disney Company: An Entertainment Empire

(00:26:34) - When corporate merch became a thing what the point of it is

(00:30:14) - Whether or not the rules of consumer goods and quality apply to corporate merch 

(00:32:08) - What made the Domino’s Rolex so  desirable as a branded watch

(00:34:04) - The cult-ish appeal of the New Yorker tote bag  

(00:34:54) - Ways to collaborate with celebrities to grow merch awareness

(00:35:55) - The process of building and launching the ACL merch store

(00:41:48) - Developing brand partnerships and his experience with them

(00:44:46) - Whether or not it’s worth it for a business like Colossus to launch a merch store 

(00:46:14) - Having taste instinctually or if it can learned over time 

(00:47:43) - Possible reasons why Apple doesn’t have a merch shop 

(00:49:14) - Quality, exclusivity, and scarcity as factors in the success of merch

(00:50:47) - Debrief

Merchandise and Marketing

Introduction

Matt
Hey, special announcement today and it pairs with this episode of Making Media. The Colossus merchandise shop is opening for business. If you're listening to this that means we avoided my biggest fear. We did not break the Internet, but please head over to joincolossus.com, where you will find a link to our shop.

Staying on that theme, Dom and I hosted Michael Williams from A Continuous Lean for a timely conversation on branding, merchandise and how companies can differentiate themselves. With this show, we plan to sit down with many traditional media guests, but we also hope to introduce you to some insightful people outside of your orbit.

Michael has been writing about historic heritage brands for over 15 years. In a world where every website kind of looks the same, every gift guide has the same recommendations. It all feels a bit homogenous. Michael is consistently presenting original things. Those original things are often tied to historic brands, which is its own funny paradox, but you're likely to find new things that you're not finding elsewhere. And for this conversation, we talk about Michael's own content to commerce journey with A Continuous Lean.

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