Branding's Dark History

This one started with an article. A challenging, uncomfortable, genuinely thought-provoking article about the problems with branding – the kind that makes you question the industry you've built your career in.

Martin Sully sat with it for about ten months before recording this episode. It's also the episode that explains why the podcast stopped being called the Hot Metal Brand Podcast.

Branding's history is darker than most people in the industry want to acknowledge. From its roots in the Industrial Revolution to branding irons used on enslaved people to the co-opting of ancient symbols by some of history's most disturbing movements – the word 'branding' itself carries weight that most brand strategists quietly skip past, as they focus on client gains.

But this episode isn't a takedown of branding. It's an argument for doing it better. For moving from monologue to dialogue, from secrecy to transparency, from consumption to connection. Martin calls it the post-branding world. And he thinks it's already here.