Jeremy Weisz 4:34
I want to dig into How You Brand That your show and people can can check it out. And I want to give a shout out to Annie Warshaw Mission Propelle I said, Who are some amazing agency owners doing cool stuff. And Annie was like you have to talk to ally. And so I’d love for you to talk about some of your favorite episodes of how you brand that
Allie LeFevere 4:56
Yeah, well first off, Hi Annie. Love you. You have to catch Yep, suit. Yeah, so it is. So it’s called Can You Brand That? just. And it’s, it’s pretty fun. So kind of the whole premise is, is me and my business partner, Lindsay, we pick a brand that we’ve never worked with before we’ve done really no research on other than just being familiar with who they are and what they do. We set a timer for 20 minutes through on our video cameras, and we brainstorm as many creative ideas and campaigns and slogans as we can. And then we distill it down to like a three and a half minute video and share it. And so it’s really fun, because I think what it shows is that the power of a brainstorm, and how you have to start sometimes with really bad ideas, and you have to get all of your ideas out on a table in order to go not just from A to B idea, but like A to B to C to D. And so it’s really give such a foundation of trust and respect and play in our relationship, which I think allows us to just go wild and not hold anything back. And so it’s just been really fun for us. And it’s led to some great client partnerships and opportunities. But some of my personal favorite, we have done one for native, which was a, we actually landed them as a client because of our kemnay brand that and that was just awesome for them to see three and a half minutes of us riffing and to trust that we could be brought on as a long term partner. And we’ve just had a very successful relationship since but I think they really saw just the fun and play of our creative ideas. And and, you know, we’re really able to form a relationship from there. We’ve done a really fun tushy, which is a big day company, Casper mattress, which was that was a really fun one. We actually have one that’s coming out soon where we are the brand is Lowe’s, the home improvement store, but we decide instead of branding, Lowe’s, we decided develop a mascot for them. So in 20 minutes, we riff a bunch of fun mascot ideas and give them backstories and character arcs and names. And we only did one where we branded the public library. So that that was fun, because that, you know, that’s just like a public service that so many people leverage and have since they were young. You know, how can we ideate on behalf of them? And we actually algo
Jeremy Weisz 7:21
Allie, what was the sticker on the the Lowe’s for a second? What were some of the mascot ideas that came up?
Allie LeFevere 7:26
Oh, gosh. So we had so one that is a really fun one was a wrench. And the idea is that the character was a foil, and so that they would throw wrenches in your in your home improvement projects. And so that was really we built like a backstory for that character. And again, we are doing it really fast. So you know, if we spent time working on it, it would be much more robust. So that was probably my one of my favorite ones. We had a whole like set of tool family sort of tools, family, we had a screw that was kind of a screwball and was kind of throwing zany ideas out and kind of coaxing you to DIY your projects. Yeah, there’s just a lot of very silly ideas that were that were kind of riffing really fast. But the red one was probably my favorite, I could really see that would come to life in a way that I think would be useful. Because like, it was really fun, because it led back to such a great benefit is, you know, when when, because all projects end up, there’s a wrench in the projects in some way or another. So like Lowe’s is your solution. So yeah, that was fun.
Jeremy Weisz 8:30
You know, what I love about what you’re talking about is you add value first. Right. And so when we are helping other podcasts, we say that exactly what you’re doing, which is like the companies that you’d love to work with, add value to them, and you know, give them free advice, give them free marketing, give them free, whatever. And they can also understand what you do and how you work and also similar companies, you may not end up working with this company, but I know similar companies have seen your videos too. And go Oh, I like how you think and they called you as well.
Allie LeFevere 9:07
Yeah, it’s been I mean, I’m a huge believer in that. And that’s just really our ethos as an agency. You know, give before you take. It’s also why, you know, we’ve routed our age, one of the reasons we rooted our agency in humor is humor is inherently a give before it’s a take, you give someone a positive feeling a positive experience, a laugh, a joyful moment, a moment of delight, or surprise or excitement or entertainment, before you ask them to buy anything from you. And so you’re already depositing into that relationship bank account before you extract from it. And so that’s why we just think it’s just the most valuable approach to marketing and branding. Because it’s one of the only ones that makes you feel good and inherently is a value add for your consumer. So yeah, so that’s kind of the whole premise of why we started Obedient.
Jeremy Weisz 9:58
Let’s talk about Native for a second and talk about the video that you created, you know, can they brand that and then what you what you do with native?
Allie LeFevere 10:10
Yeah. So when we created the video for native it was very silly off the wall brainstorm. I mean we were bringing we were bringing brainstorming a fake spokespeople like Brad Pitt because of PIs and we were just having it was a very loosey goosey very silly there were some really fun ideas in there, too that we’ve actually used for native weirdly enough. One idea was practice safe sweats. And they use that for their Valentine campaign, which is kind of funny.
Jeremy Weisz 10:41
For people who don’t know what Native is. It’s a Oh, yeah, deodorant company.
Allie LeFevere 10:44
Yeah, so they started out as a clean deodorant company, they have now expanded into, you know, body wash skincare, skincare. haircare, the whole gamut. They’re incredible. They’re a really high quality company. And they’re really effective too. So, you know, I’ve I’ve used clean deodorant for a very long time. And I would say they’re probably one of the only ones that is really effective. If you know, if you’re someone that is an athlete, or you need strong deodorant, they actually do the job too, which is cool. But we have done so much work for them. So we have done everything from kind of the found durational like reap, conceptualizing the entire voice of their brand to internal brand guidelines, their their tagline, which they’ll use a kind of a cross for company to web copy, to a launch of all their various new product lines that are coming out. We did an ad in New York, New York Times for them. When it was a satirical ad where we were kind of on launching one of their products in in anticipation of a new product launch that was coming out. We’ve done
Jeremy Weisz 11:55
so what’s online, or there, what’s an on launch.
Allie LeFevere 11:59
So they had a popular novelty scent called was Pumpkin Spice Latte. So they came to us and they just wanted to do something with this scent and not bring it back and kind of their initial idea was canceling it. And we steered them away from that and said, you know, that’s a word cancel is very loaded. And there you can get into some hot water with that. And they didn’t, you know, they hadn’t thought it through yet. So we basically came up with the whole idea that let’s retire the scent, but we’re gonna retire it with a Comedy Central style roast. And so we wrote, we wrote roast jokes, roasting the old scent, as if it was a person we personified it. And then we also created roast jokes. This is It sounds complicated, but when you saw it in person, it was very well, I
Jeremy Weisz 12:46
could totally picture because, you know, I watched those rows on YouTube all the time. Yeah. So they have the celebrity and you know, they get a bunch of other celebrities and comedians, and they just lay into them. So
Allie LeFevere 12:58
yeah, so there. So then there was four new scents that we’re rolling out to replace pumpkin spice latte, and we create a roast jokes from those scents as if they were roasting the pumpkin spice latte. So like, one of the new scents was Earl Grey tea. And so one of the jokes was like, you know, Pumpkin Spice Latte isn’t even if noble birth, like there was just like a lot of funny ribs. I mean, there was a lot more we do with the campaign. Like I said, we did the New York Times ad and we did some really funny press releases that got picked up across a myriad of publications and Ad Week being one of them. But yeah, basically, we’re on launching the scent. So we could build a buzz for the new product line that was coming out.
Jeremy Weisz 13:39
So will the roast. I want to watch it. Is there a video on this roast or where how does that take place?
Allie LeFevere 13:45
It wasn’t a video, it was all like static ads. But yeah, there was ads that was on their website. There was, you know, social ads and other digital mediums. And it was it was a cool. It was just, yeah, we just got to play and come up with the zaniest ideas, which was very fun. I mean, very funny.
Jeremy Weisz 14:08
The tagline. So what you talked about the Valentine’s Day One, what was that again? And then you said there was another tagline from NATO? Yeah, so
Allie LeFevere 14:17
we had ideated during our q&a brand, that just the phrase practice safe sweats. And so they ended up leveraging it for their Valentine campaign, which ended up being really fun. So there’s a little innuendo there. But native is a pretty PG company, for the most part, you know, they’re owned by Procter and Gamble, so they’re not super explicit. But you know, it was just enough. I think for Valentine’s Day, it was fine. We’ve been working, you know, we wrote their new tagline. So they, their original tagline was kind of a standard formula that there was kind of a period of time where brands would pick three words and they would go you know, I or it’d be XYZ. And that would be like their tagline. So theirs was simple, safe, effective. And they wanted to kind of stay in the realm of that sort of. So we had an idea to take the phrase, good, clean, fun, and change some of the punctuation. So it almost be like, good karma clean, come have fun. Because that was much more reflective of the brand. And also kind of kept that similar formula, but giving it like, a bit of a refresh. And, and, and also a play at a common phrase that you’ve heard before. And so yeah, and it was also expressed the benefits of the brand. So that’s, that’s the newer tagline for native,
Jeremy Weisz 15:44
which is sometimes when you’re starting with these, their tagline or a blank slate, it’s difficult, right? Yeah. And I’d love for you to chat about the method, right? And you have kind of this trademark brand personality method? Can you walk through just a couple of the things that when you think about creating a tagline or a name? Yeah. How do you, you know, process this, because, you know, people think, Oh, we just riff in a room, but you actually have a methodology that you take these companies through?
Allie LeFevere 16:14
We do. Yeah, we have a very, you know, for as playful and creative as we pride ourselves to be as an agency, we’re highly systematized and operational as well. And so, okay, let me talk you through maybe more tagline because I mean, how we would, if we were working with a company and just tip to tail rebranding, there’s just such a more robust process. But ultimately, if I kind of distill it down to kind of some of the basic points we are trying to get, so we have a big robust intake process. And ask a very long series of questions that we end up discussing in great length on a Project Discovery call. But what we care very much about is the audience psyche. So we care about the emotional state of your audience. How do they want to feel? What emotions will what? What emotions do we want to elicit in your audience? And so we’re really trying to understand what makes your audience tick, like what what are they going to care about, because when we’re, when we’re developing a brand voice, and a brand personality, as a whole, we have to, to tailor that so that it is effective to your target demographic, ultimately, it’s not what we think is funny, my personal style might be very different than if we were hired on a brand. So we are trying to try to use some non cliche words, but like, you know, we really want to differentiate your message and differentiate your tone like how do we create something that doesn’t exist? Or you haven’t heard before, at a minimum, haven’t heard in your industry? We want to understand like, what is your core position? Like? What is the thing that you hang your hat on? What’s the thing that you do different, better, more interesting, more engaging than anyone else in your in your space? And then What characteristics does your brand reflect and represent? What emotions do we want to elicit from your audience, so that means so then that indicates what humorous tones and tactics, we have to apply to your brand voice in order to draw out those emotions and that response and activate your consumers in a meaningful way. And so all of that is, is, is a really robust process before we even write a single word. So then we have once we have that sound like that foundation laid is what is that’s when you start to then go, Okay, let’s say the tone of voice is a bit more dry and straightforward and deadpan or self deprecating, like there are, there’s a within didn’t you take these core ideas that we’ve kind of mapped out? And like, how do we write that in a way that’s reflective of the tone we’ve aligned with? And so, yeah, it’s, it’s pretty, it’s a, you know, it’s not just throwing jokes at the wall by by no means what I say it’s anywhere near that it’s much more. Yeah, it’s much more systematized and strategic. And it’s, you know, cohesive. I mean, that’s another big part is we don’t want it to seem chaotic. So we want everything to feel like very much aligned. You know, is an
Jeremy Weisz 19:25
example I was looking at your site, and I love how you name your navigation trophy case. But when I think of boring professions, okay, and I’m like, Well, what did they what did they do it this right. And you said, the the tone and humor, and one of them sticks out is a law firm. Right. So you have on there in kowski law. So how do you make that humorous? When I guess stereotypically, I guess maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t. That seems like it would be a tough one.
Allie LeFevere 20:04
Well, it was fun. It’s actually a really fun project we did because she was really game to break form. Well, here’s the thing, too. It’s like you take a boring industry. And it’s actually weirdly a lot easier to brand because no one else is funny in a space. So you’re not, there’s no, it’s not a saturated market. So you really just have to figure out okay, how do we still balance, factionalism and, and then say something in a really dynamic, entertaining way? So for example, she’s still like, she’s still launching some of the elements of the brand. But if I remember correctly, I think the headline on her homepage is I think it’s IP law is the jungle, we Tarzan, it’s something like that. I could be off a couple words. But that is the the premise of it. So like, you take. So basically, the idea is like, this is a really complicated space, and we’re the best at it. Right? And then you and then you say it in a way, that is really surprising. And so it was a really fun project. Because a someone’s game be the industry is a snooze fest. And, and see there’s just a whole sandbox to play in and you can take it in a million directions, you just have to keep in mind who the audience is. Because you know, you, you have to be mindful of how hard in the paint you go. But yeah, that was that’s one of the lines. I remember.
Jeremy Weisz 21:31
And you mentioned before we hit record, TN. Yeah. You said a couple times, which I love when you stated just understanding the psyche of the audience. And for this particular case, how did you? What was your process for starting to understand the psyche of the audience? Because it seems like, again, very diverse, very complicated.
Allie LeFevere 21:54
Yeah. So TNN stands for the new normal, the new normal was actually a whole arm of the University of Chicago that was developed before COVID. So even though that’s a phrase, you hear a lot, now, it was not at the time. And essentially, what it was, is they wanted to, it’s actually been part, they partner with the National Health Institute as well, because it’s rolled out across a bunch of different universities. But the new normal, the whole goal of the new normal is to get people excited about participating in health research. So helping them understand what it is how they can effectively participate and why it’s so meaningful. That is, it is a world that we did not realize was so tenuous until we got in there, it people are very scared of health research, they don’t understand what it means. A lot of it’s been very predatory to a lot of specifically demographics, women and people of color, people of lower income, have, you know, there’s a lot of horror stories that in the not too recent past where it is very much jaded people from rightfully so from participating. And but health researchers is such a big umbrella. And there’s so many ways to participate, that aren’t invasive, that are maybe qualitative research that are so beneficial to the community. And so our task was okay, we’ll make it exciting and engaging to the community, not just the people who are healthy and want to participate, but also the people that are experiencing some of these illnesses that would really benefit from the research. So you know, you have to be relatable, and you have to be welcoming, and you have to be warm, and you have to be inviting and all these things. But you also have to be delightful and engaging and surprising. And so we actually created multiple brand voices, because we wanted to speak to multiple demographics, and we wanted to see what resonated. So we started out initially with some like campaign, broader campaign headlines and concepts. Are we tested out a few different tones of voices and to see what landed but yeah, that was a really, we spent a lot of time working with our contacts there to understand like, who are we trying to attract? What are their concerns? What are their fears? What do they need to hear what you know, what keeps them up at night? What would make them really excited and engaged, we just had to get into that the mindset of the individuals we were talking to so that we could start to really develop voices that spoke to them. And so we ran a bunch of campaigns, especially around the city of Chicago. And it was funny that all the campaigns performed pretty ie poorly, but spoke to very different demographics. So it actually worked out exactly how we had hoped is that we created a myriad of voices and approaches and they all resonated with different people. So that’s, that’s the truth of when you, you take you know you you cultivate a brand personality or brand voice and you have a very distinctive message. It’s not going to necessarily be palatable and universal so you have to really tailor it a And accordingly. So it’s probably one of the projects I’m most proud of, just because it was so challenging, and it and it was so well received by the community. And also, I think most importantly, the people kind of within these health research studies who could really benefit from people participating. So we heard from kids and families and yeah, cried a million times to get the feedback. It’s this world that they live in, and they need people to care, and they need people to participate. And so, you know, I think we were able to really effectively make it entertaining campaigns, and also humanize it and make it very respectful of what people were going through. So yeah, humor is, is so nuanced. And I think that that’s the power of it is like humor is such a broad category that people think it’s just like, LOL jokes, and there’s just so much more to it than that. So that was a special on
Jeremy Weisz 25:58
rally without violating HIPAA. What was an example of a story? That was emotional? They came in? Yeah, I
Allie LeFevere 26:06
mean, we had a cup. So there was when they would do some internal testing, there are some families where the children had cancer. And so they were actively involved in, in various research studies, through University of Chicago and University of Michigan as well. And they were asked to kind of respond to these campaigns. And overwhelmingly, the response was, that they felt heard, and they felt seen, and they felt proud that they, that people would would see would see health research talked about in this way, and that it would be hopefully something that invited them into the process. Um, yeah, I mean, I wish I could remember,
Jeremy Weisz 26:53
close the messaging like for those campaigns, like, what were they seeing or presented? That which kind of goes into when you were talking? I’m curious, how do you test it? Right? And so what are they presented with that they can then respond to.
Allie LeFevere 27:08
So sometimes they’re presented with, like campaign, like ad campaign, so sometimes they see like a headline and like a sub headline, and kind of the core message there, they might, they might test, some slogans, or kind of brand one liners to that kind of synthesize the campaign. web copy, we did some AV testing on web copy. So there’s a lot of different ways to kind of play and, and figure out how to move in the right direction. So I’m trying to remember how I feel. I feel like I’m having a brain dead.
Jeremy Weisz 27:45
Probably so many, there’s so many. Are there any brand voices that stuck out? And just so I’m trying to visualize what was what were you saying?
Allie LeFevere 27:55
Okay, so one I can think of is it this is a pretty straightforward one is human health needs human help. So that’s one that was, I think, a much more straightforward tone of voice. So that was one line, it’s one line I can think of that kind of wanted to test out to see, can like, what’s it what’s a really human approachable way we can talk about it. That’s one line, I remember, there was that we took us we did a campaign where we like into participating in health research and getting matched for studies to a dating site. So then there was copy that was things like, let us set you up with this cute research study. We know. Friends with health, health research benefits, like I’m trying to think of some of that, you know, but they had like, beautiful imagery with them. And some fun illustrations, there was a whole campaign we did, likening participating in health research to having like a hobby, because you can really participate in your spare time. So we we did this funny campaign where we kind of brought up these really offbeat hobbies, like, extreme ironing is an actual real hobby. And it’s basically like, it’s extreme ironing is a thing, like, you know, so could help research. You know, it was like, it was kind of, I can’t member the exact lines, but there is a lot of funny hobbies that exist. And we kind of pulled those into some fun campaign ideas, which like, you know, it really resonates with us, you know, certain demographics. So, God, those are like, I’m like pulling out from the deepest parts of my brain right now. So hopefully that that helps. Yeah.
Jeremy Weisz 29:36
You know, I want to hear some of your favorite product names that you’ve come up with. I imagine there’s some, you know, some fun ones that you’ve come up with, and, and even right before we hit record, we were talking about one of your videos that you did about tushy. And, and I think you came up. I don’t know if this is one of their taglines or not. But I think you came up with their new tagline when we are talking And I can’t remember what you said. But something like if you’re not using it It’s barbaric. What did you say? How did you describe the tushy? For people don’t know what it is, it’s a day you put on your toilet or
Allie LeFevere 30:12
the day attachment. Yeah, I mean, that was just my personal take on it. What
Jeremy Weisz 30:15
did I say I forgot.
Allie LeFevere 30:18
If you’re still using toilet paper that’s just barbaric. If you’re only using toilet paper to clean your rear, if she was like, kind of a brand that we did, we had a friend that worked. So she helped with some of the initial branding, and she’s a hoot. So we did, I think was our very first kind of brand. And we did it with Tushy, and we didn’t end up working with them. But we talked, we actually did talk to the owner several times and great guy, and loved what we created. They already had a team in place. But that was really fun. We came up with a lot of silly ideas there. But yeah, I’m a personal advocate of getting a bidet attachment for your toilet. It’s, you know, once you use it, you’ll never go back.
Jeremy Weisz 31:02
I mean, I don’t know if that is on their website, but but I think you should sell that tagline back to them. It is when you said that I’m like, Oh my I better go buy one. That’s crazy.
Allie LeFevere 31:13
I mean, I would it’ll be the best $100 You spend your entire life. We have
Jeremy Weisz 31:19
purchases, which my business partner makes fun of me. You know, I forgot what it was for anniversary, something I asked my wife to get me a Squatty Potty as a gift. And that’s also like, the game changer. Game Changer. Yeah. So now I need to go check out Tushy. I highly recommend anniversary gift right? There
Allie LeFevere 31:39
it is, you know, we’ve never, they’re not our clients. So I’m not getting kickbacks for that for this. But I mean, I highly, highly, highly would recommend buying one.
Jeremy Weisz 31:51
So, names product names that you’re especially proud of, or that are fun.
Allie LeFevere 31:57
Yeah, well, here’s the funny thing about naming is our favorite names rarely get picked, put naming as the naming is weirdly the most personal thing we create. It is people just like what they like, they want what they want. And like we’re proud of all the ideas we present. But like it if I gave you our favorite horrible last
Jeremy Weisz 32:21
names that it was that they didn’t have to use. Maybe they didn’t use but you remember and you’re like, oh, they should have picked this.
Allie LeFevere 32:30
Oh my god, I’m trying to remember. Hold on. We had a really? Oh, okay, so here’s one. Um, okay, so we were naming an ice cream brand. And the name we picked we actually like it’s the name is high jinks. So that’s a fun brand we product name. But one of the other ideas we had that we really liked, because we had an entire story around it was okay, let me explain the product a little bit better. It was a DIY, it was an ice cream base that you added ingredients to and you can make your own ice cream. So you essentially created your own ice cream flavor. So it was very interactive. It was very great for groups and parties and things like that. So it wasn’t just like you go to a store and buy a tub of ice cream. So that’s the whole premise of high jinks. But one of our ideas that we really liked is good. I wish I could remember all the tag lines that we came up with. But the name of the ice cream was fiction ice cream, because the whole idea is that like you could create your own stories. And I, Jeremy, I wish I had this in my head right now because the tag lines were just some of the best we’ve ever written. But the whole idea was like creating your own story. And we had this incredible backstory and the taglines were awesome. They were funny and they were memorable. And we started writing some other fun copy around it. And this, you know, our client just preferred high jinks, which we also like to it has like some really strong letters in there that are really memorable and an X and those are really dynamic and they kind of lock in your brain. But that’s when I remember we I’m trying to remember one of our we named a private eye firm. And I’m trying to remember some of the reject ideas like oh my gosh, I can’t I can’t think but there was so many fun. There’s so much fun wordplay. Where do those go?
Jeremy Weisz 34:25
When you present it to them? Is it in like a PDF document? Or is it just back and forth with them? Either maybe a zoom whiteboard or something? How do you present the here’s the here’s the 10 names or is it a brainstorming session? How does that work? Where they’re like, oh, yeah, we want this one? Oh, no,
Allie LeFevere 34:43
yeah, no, we don’t do a live brainstorm or anything. We definitely conceptualize everything and we present it so we build our entire case for it. So you print them and present them in a deck all individually with a case of why we think this is strong and and based on the audience are based on what they were looking for. While we think we could really build this out into a dynamic brand. So we usually present four at a time. So we’ll do four, and then we’ll do another four. When people get, the more names people get is not better people generally always like a name for the first from the first round. Just I think they just want to see more, everyone wants to see more, but they, we know, some of our best AI ideas are, we want to present them out the gate. And we have great ideas in the SEC around to it’s more just like, you know, you kind of know what the winners are right? When you’re presenting. But yeah, so we present them, and then we’ll get on a call, and we’ll do like a dive and help help them understand our mindset, or what we were thinking or talk them through, because people get really nervous about making decisions. So I ended up being a therapist a lot. But
Jeremy Weisz 35:52
yeah, I mean, there’s a big decision, you know, they’re like, Well, we’re gonna be putting this on a million containers of this product, right, and you have to do the packaging, and all this, this, it’s, it’s a big trickle effect. And I
Allie LeFevere 36:06
think sometimes, you know, maybe maybe this isn’t fully true, but a lot of times you get hired by people that may be creative ideas aren’t necessarily their specialty. And so they have sometimes a hard time seeing the vision. So that’s why we end up taking so much time explaining why we did what we did, and like what our vision is, because it’s like, you have to help them see what you see, because they can’t sometimes they can’t really see it. So um, yeah, you know, I guess it’s good. I’m a pretty enthusiastic person. So I try to, like get people energized and excited when they’re about to, you know, we’re about to walk them through something. But um, but yeah, I would say that you’re there, we just have a million ideas that are have been on the cutting room floor, but then they end up in our back pocket. And we have them to kind of reuse again, in some capacity if we ever need to. I mean, we’ve done yeah, we’ve named a million things. And so some of those ideas, you know, they cycle back and they end up for another product. So that’s been good.
Jeremy Weisz 37:08
You worked with a number of ice cream brands, including blue Barney, what did you do with money.
Allie LeFevere 37:14
So the project, we just finished with them as they’re rolling on a new ice cream platform, which is a mini product. So naming the new product, but quite a pretty strict parameters, because it had to fall in line with the line that already existed. But where we really could play is all the packaging, copy, and, and all and all of the names of the flavors, we were in pretty ham there. But the the product name itself, it’s still in testing, so I can’t really share anything. But it had to fall in line with kind of what some of the things they already had. But what we did is we took the when we presented ideas, we said, Okay, we want to stay in alignment with what’s already there. Here’s some of our favorite ideas. And if we want to go rogue, and we really want to get wild and creative, here’s some of our ideas, and they really liked these ideas. But you know, you when you’re in a corporate product, you know, you you got to follow some rules. So we always present the things that we think are great, and at least because we want to show people that like you know, even if we’re boxed in a certain parameters, we want to at least show you if we had our way what we would what we could do
Jeremy Weisz 38:26
what when you think Ellie out there, the brands that are out there, what brands should be working with you that you respect that you they kind of fall in line with the work that you do, you know, one that sticks out is like kind of like Snapple where you twist off the cap and they have they kind of have fun, quirky what are some of the brands out there that you like in that realm? That should be like hey, maybe we should check out Obedient
Allie LeFevere 38:49
Yeah, I mean, we talked a little bit earlier but I think ice cream brands are they’re just a lot of them are doing really well. I mean Ben and Jerry’s is is amazing. Halo top is really fun as well, they have a similar under the cap experience, which is so delightful. They have a really nice social presence as well. There’s some really good kind of up and coming brands that have a lot of personality and are very playful minor figures. Magic spoon. There’s like these kind of we love a brand with a mascot and and I just think that there’s so much you could do in that space. Yeah, I mean, God, there’s a million brand
Jeremy Weisz 39:32
new favorite brand mascots that you have.
Allie LeFevere 39:35
I like minor figures are some of my favorites. Currently, they have a really quirky world of offbeat just weirdos and they’re like cool too. So I’ve not seen it merge. It’s um, yeah, minor figures. Is that like a coffee brand? Highly recommend just checking them out. They’re really beautifully illustrated. But yeah, they’re really fun and quirky. In terms of local real good juice is one of my favorite branded companies. They have identified officially call them mascots, but they definitely have characters that are in all of their stores and on their website. And they have really fun product names. Like, I drink a punky juicer, which is their matcha drink every single day. I’m gonna go, I’m gonna go in the hole. Exactly. That’s not a you know, it’s, it’s I splurge, for sure. I mean, you know, it’s kind of absurd, but the price point but it doesn’t stop me, I love it. But they’re great. They’re just really fun. And all of even their in store experiences is a delight. So there are a hoot. One of my buddies is good friends with the owner, and we haven’t done any work with them. But there’s someone that I just I have all the respect for.
Jeremy Weisz 40:49
Yeah, we’re both in Chicago. I don’t know if they’re only local, but I’ve had them before too. And the way I justify it, Ally is you know, I’d rather spend the money now, then, you know, for my health, then spend it later, I’ll be way more expensive on the on the back end if I don’t. Okay, stuff like that. So,
Allie LeFevere 41:07
I agree. And I also support local and I want to support a brand that’s doing something different, and they are they’re high quality. Their stuffs really good. The food’s good, too. So yeah, good for them. Shout out to real good juice.
Jeremy Weisz 41:19
That’s right. Last, first of all, thank you, Ali, for sharing your stories and your methodology. It’s been fantastic. I have one last question before we end and about lessons you’ve learned over the years from mentors and I know you know, your father and grandfather inspiration to you. I’d love any lessons that you learn from them and then anyone else through your career. Yeah, I’m
Allie LeFevere 41:45
I would have to say like the first person. Well, I say as a whole my family is hilarious. They are just I think the funniest people on the planet. But you know, I’m obviously very biased. But I have a very funny, tz gregarious Italian family, and they are just, I think that I owe the way that they look at the world to how I approach it as well. And I my career for sure. They’ve everything is fun, and everything is funny when we’re together. But I would say the thing that jumps out the most is my grandmother used to say, it’s not, it’s not a matter of can you do it? It’s how can you do it? And I’ve always loved that, because it makes me feel like no, there’s, it’s, it’s done. It’s the solution is always available, I just have to figure out how to get to it. And so it’s always kept a door of possibility open that I can find an answer to anything I’m looking for. And it doesn’t mean it’s always internal. It means I can tap in the right people it’s I can ask the right questions is I can defer to someone who’s better than me. But that’s one that I think is really guided just kind of the way I move through the world. Yeah, my my mom is a who I mean, yeah, I just my my family general is just wonderful. So I’m going to see I’m about to see and I’m gonna Morrow some I’m super excited.
Jeremy Weisz 43:16
What they are, thanks for sharing that. I love that. How can you do it? What about your business partner?
Allie LeFevere 43:24
Oh, she’s the best. We’ve been best friends for ever. We, we just get along famously, I just I think the thing I love the most about a relationship, and is that we have such a respect for each other’s needs. We were very, very similar in a lot of ways. And then very different. I think the thing that the biggest difference between the two of us is, is if we’re working on a project, for example, I am very, like achievement oriented. So I want to move to the next step. I want to figure out the next answer. I want to crack a soul I want to find a solution, I want to feel like when I walk away that I have like moved ahead in some meaningful way, which I think it’s really important. And then I think what she’s so great at is she wants to exhaust creative ideas. And so um, so then there’s always space for that is like, let’s give it five more minutes. And like see if we can riff on this one piece for just a little longer and, and so I think between the two of us, we just really respect each other’s need not only to like play and create an ID, but also do it very thoughtfully and intentionally and with a purpose. And it’s, I think, just really effective. We’ve been running obedient for six years and we just get along famously, which is, I think, pretty rare. You know, for people who are running a business together it’s there’s a lot of challenges with business ownership and kind of the day to day nuanced and all that I think we pick the right people. So yeah, I love her. She’s the best.
Jeremy Weisz 45:06
Allie. Thank you everyone check out Obedientagency.com Are there any other places we should point people towards? I know people can check out the trophy case they can check out the podcast and the shows. Are there any other places online we should point people
Allie LeFevere 45:21
I think that’s the best home you’ll you’ll kind of get to everything through obedientagency.com You can also check out our Instagram that’s where we post a lot of our brand that highlight reels. We have a YouTube page as well. So you can find similar content there but yeah, I think the websites is a good starting spot.
Jeremy Weisz 45:40
Obedientagency.com Thanks, Allie.
Allie LeFevere 45:44
Thank you.
