On How Brands Are Built, branding professionals get into the details of what they do and how they do it. Other podcasts about branding focus on news, opinion, and high-level theory. They can give you a 30,000-foot view of branding; How Brands Are Built is where the rubber meets the road. In each episode, Rob Meyerson, a San Francisco-based brand strategist, interviews other strategists, designers, writers, namers, and researchers to help you understand how brands are really built.
Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
Alex Foss says good research starts with good questions
In this episode of How Brands Are Built, I talk with Alexander Foss about research—why it matters, what makes it valuable, and a few pitfalls to avoid.
Alex and I first
Mar 9 43 min
Robin Goffman is all in on Designing Brand Identity
On today's episode of How Brands Are Built, host Rob Meyerson of Heirloom speaks with Robin Goffman—brand thinker, design strategist, and founder of Studio RBG—about her
Nov 14 2025 54 min
The Q&A episode
A few weeks back, on LinkedIn and Instagram, I asked whether anyone had questions about branding, naming, or other topics I might be able to speak to. My plan was to do a
Mar 10 2025 51 min
Jacob Cass ran a wildly successful summit
In today's episode of How Brands Are Built, host Rob Meyerson speaks with Jacob Cass, designer, brand strategist, and founder of Just Creative, about his recent venture:
Dec 23 2024 40 min
Alex Center links package design to fashion
Today's guest is Alex Center, a designer and podcaster and founder of the award-winning design and branding studio, CENTER. From 2006 to 2017, Center worked for the Coca-
Jul 2 2024 56 min
Designing Brand Identity book launch at Noise 13
This episode of How Brands Are Built is a live recording of an April 25, 2024 book launch for Designing Brand Identity, sixth edition, held at Noise 13 in San Francisco.
Jun 20 2024 42 min
The Brand Names Report: A walkthrough and summary
Back in February of this year, I released the first Brand Names Report, an analysis of polling data on brand names from Brand New, the leading brand identity review site
May 30 2024 27 min
Fabian Geyrhalter builds and launches successful brands
Rob Meyerson and Fabian Geyrhalter discuss brand strategy's balance of innovation and foundational rules, touching on brand creation challenges and successful launches in
May 13 2024 56 min
Rob Goodman uses content to drive business outcomes
Today's guest is Rob Goodman. Rob specializes in content strategy and creative content production, with experience at companies like Google, Wix, and Webflow. He's delive
Mar 6 2024 46 min
Season four wrap-up: How brands (and branding professionals) can do good
It's the summer of 2021—one year since the murder of George Floyd. And if you're wondering what that has to do with the season-four wrap-up of a podcast about branding, l
Jun 7 2021 39 min
Diego Segura goes through the doors that open
Diego Segura is a design apprentice at Collins, an independent strategy and brand experience design company with offices in New York City and San Francisco. In this episo
Mar 1 2021 48 min
Alina Wheeler has a doppelgänger named Blake Deutsch
Today's guest is Alina Wheeler, best known as the author of Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team, now in its fifth edition. One of my
Dec 21 2020 47 min
Nirm Shanbhag sees brand architecture from the consumer's perspective
Nirm Shanbhag is the Chief Strategy Officer of Sid Lee USA, an international creative company. He's also my old boss. Back in 2012, he was running the San Francisco offic
Dec 7 2020 53 min
Emily Heyward builds brands that inspire obsession
Emily Heyward is co-founder and and Chief Brand Officer at Red Antler, the leading brand company for startups and new ventures. Red Antler is the branding firm behind bra
Nov 23 2020 40 min
Armin Vit has a little grid in his mind
Today's guest is Armin Vit, co-founder of UnderConsideration, a graphic design firm, and editor and writer for Brand New, the leading site for reviews of corporate and br
Nov 9 2020 57 min
Sunny Bonnell reframes your vices as virtues
On the podcast today: Sunny Bonnell, co-founder of Motto, one of the leading branding agencies in the country, with clients like Google, Hershey's, and Twentieth Century
Oct 26 2020 51 min
Dava Guthmiller makes the invisible visible
In this episode, I'm talking to Dava Guthmiller, founder and Chief Creative Officer at Noise 13, a brand strategy and design agency based in San Francisco. She's also cof
Oct 12 2020 44 min
Dr. Jason Chambers explains the origins of racist brands
Season four has arrived, and my first guest is Dr. Jason Chambers of the University of Illinois. The theme for this season will be a bit looser than past seasons, but I'm
Sep 28 2020 51 min
Special episode: Rob on IG Live with Ilya of Studeo
On June 11, 2020, Rob (creator and host of How Brands Are Built) joined Ilya Lobanov of Studeo on Instagram Live for a chat about brand strategy and naming. Ilya is an Au
Jul 27 2020 58 min
Special episode: Rob on the JUST Branding Podcast
Rob joins Jacob Cass of JUST Creative and Matt Davies on their new podcast, JUST Branding. We explored best practices for naming, positioning statements, and conducting d
Jul 13 2020 57 min
Chart trend
Position in the Marketing chart (US), last 90 days.
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#92
all-time peak
1
day in the top 100 since Dec 2024
Chart positions
Where How Brands Are Built ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 5, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
Knew Rob from his naming course on domestika and came across an episode of his podcast after following Chris Do’s advice in one of his videos to listen to podcast. Which is something I decided to do because I believe what we watch, listen to, read or let’s say consume, shapes what or who we become.
So I decided to jump on the podcast and listen. From the first two days of listening to these episodes, my brain was being loaded with so much information that I could only process some part of as the podcasts are rich with so much nuggets of indispensable information.
In two days, I realized that I had learned more that I would if I had keep on doing courses or watching YouTube videos for two weeks. Not to say those weren’t good either, at least they got me here, but I’m just fascinated with the practicality of ideas that are contained in these podcasts.
Good guests, great host, excellent content.
Thank you Rob!!!
Please keep doing this.
You’re awesome!
YourBuddyRio001 · Feb 2024
This is a MUST LISTEN. Loaded with knowledge and an awesome guest list. Rob's podcasts are a pleasure to listen to and easy to learn from. As a seasoned industry expert, he knows the important questions to ask, he doesn't just keep things surface. He gets into the nuances of practice but breaks things down for all levels of experience to understand. This podcast has increased my awareness of the Branding/Naming industry and has truly fostered a renewed sense of inspiration and ambition to pursue the field(s) even further. I wish this was around years ago when I was unsure of what professional avenue to pursue. Thank you Rob for all your efforts and knowledge. I am looking forward to many more episodes.
thetrue_mcewen · Jan 2021
Rob does a brilliant job on lifting the curtain on what it takes to build a brand, sharing his own insights as well as facilitating conversations to get golden nuggets out of his top tier guests. JUST give it a listen and you’ll be hooked.
- Jacob, JUST Creative
Just Creative · Apr 2020
A smart podcast designed to delight practitioners of brand building. Great selection of diverse voices from the industry deliver a variety of experiences, tools, and stories. Rob’s focus on the concrete elements of the discipline serves as a nice balance to other brand-focused pods that bring a more philosophical or conversational approach.
MWintrob · Feb 2020
We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.
Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of How Brands Are Built, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.
