GOOD THINKING

Chris Danton & Kirsten Ludwig | IN GOOD CO
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

This podcast will dive a little deeper into bit of our weekly GOOD THINKING letter. Not a recap or a reading, just chatting more, unpacking, giving more insights—the fun stuff. Like the letter, the lens is a best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What I’m dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands. ingoodco.substack.com

  1. 3d ago

    10 things: Girl Scout dog biscuit genius, the new sober, Zuck’s tee, and more.

    Welcome back to 10 THINGS: ten things standing out to us this month, one from each category we cover in the letter. If the Sunday letter is sometimes a lot to keep up with, consider this the sampler platter. This month we get into: people reading their Substack essays live, the Girl Scouts’ dog biscuits, the new sober, a16z’s Academy, J.Crew’s barn jacket, Instacart’s Clementine, Peloton x Miley, Dyson’s toothbrush camera, and the hotel gym glow up. Plus Meta’s Muse (and Zuck’s T-shirt). Also, this Thursday, October 1, Kirsten is opening Liberty Road LIVE 2026: The Midlife Summit in Downtown LA, with the amazing Nada Jones. The Hell Yes Life workshop is everything Kirsten learned the hard way, handed to you in 20 minutes. Use code WAITLISTER for $100 off! And next week, I’m in NYC moderating a panel at Unplugged on Culture at the Speed of Now. I’m there 4-8th, coffee? And let’s meet for GOOD DRINKS. Tuesday. 6:30pmET. This episode is sponsored by Herman Miller. Enjoy! Hit the links to skip to the bits you fancy 02:30 — CULTURE // IMMERSIVE ESSAYS // With all of these, the left link will help you skip to the timestamp in the pod. The ‘Read more’ will take you to the letter and segment that we’re discussing. Read more. 10:16 — F&B // GIRLS’ GOT GAME // Read more. 13:48 — DRUGS & BOOZE // NEW SOBER // Read more. 18:51 — ALPHAS, SILVERS & ZS // ACADEMY VS ACADEMICS // Read more. 23:37 — FASHION & RETAIL // FLOOD THE FEED // Read more. 26:12 — TECH // SWEET CLEMENTINE // Read more. 27:42 — SPORT // TREADING ON SOLID GROUND // Read more. 31:51 — WELLNESS & BEAUTY // A MOUTHFUL // Read more. 34:05 — TRAVEL // HOTEL GYM GLOW UP // Read more. 37:08 — FUN FOR THE MONTH // CHAOTIC GOOD OR A-MUSINGLY BAD? // Read more. That’s all, folx. ABOUT Chris and Kirsten are the founders of IN GOOD CO, a consultancy that ignites challenger brands with fearless positioning. Chris writes a weekly newsletter for +17K subscribers that shares the best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What she’s dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands | Follow her on Substack Get full access to GOOD THINKING at ingoodco.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Sep 23

    KFC was weirdly good. NASA made us cry. Brands are hosts now.

    Last year I went to Paradigms in Marrakech, and it was epic. This year, Kirsten made it, and we joined the speaker roster (!!). And yes, if you saw my stories, you know it was on a private island in Croatia. Gorge. Paradigms is, for all intents and purposes, a B2B conference. But it’s anything but. From the very first email to the massively varied and inspiring talks to the sunset cruise sendoff, every detail is considered. What struck me is that when an event is executed at this level, it removes the burden of thinking, so you’re just in awe. And that awe lets you connect with people on another level. We walked away with dozens of takeaways, as you’ll see below, but even better, we walked away with loads of new friends. There’s no higher praise. If you’re running a conference, giving a talk, or building a B2B brand, you'll find plenty of lessons here. This episode is sponsored by Herman Miller. They’re not affiliated with Frontify, which kindly flew us out and hosted us as speakers, but they did not sponsor this pod (maybe one day!). All thoughts are our own. As always. Enjoy! Hit the links to skip to the bits you fancy ROGER DUDLER // FRONTIFY 01:47 — PUT YOURSELF IN THE BACKGROUND // Yes, we ambushed Roger at the afterparty, and he kindly agreed to chat with us at 8am. We talk about how Paradigms came to be, why its approach is nothing to do with sales, why scaling it isn’t the goal, and why the best networking is not networking. And of course we talk about how you top a private island and why you need your own Becky. “Bring your people, put yourself in the background because it’s not about you.” THE EXPERIENCE 15:42 — IN AWE // The location changes every year, the curation is incredible, and the swag game is supreme. JAY CURLEY // BEN & JERRY’S 21:11 — BRAVERY IS A DISCIPLINE // Jay didn’t get up there and say, look at our work, you should do it too. He said you as a brand, a company, a human can do this too. “Bravery is a discipline, not a stunt.” MAX OTTIGNON // RAGGED EDGE 26:27 — SAY THE WORD // Our industry is having a crisis of confidence. Everyone wants a rebrand. But nobody’s allowed to call it one. Backlash be damned, though. The numbers are what you should watch. Brand success is measured in years, not days. “We’ve been substituting creativity for clicks.” “No one gets passionately angry about something they are indifferent to.” TOSH HALL // JKR 31:51 — THE A24 MOVIE OF TALKS // There’s no way to summarize this talk. It wasn’t a presentation on being creative. It was a performance that made the experience of making the work come to life. Weird, funny, and stuck in everyone’s memory. A little lesson in having a perspective. SHANE HAGERTY & AUSTIN MCKENNA // YETI 34:11 — ANATOMY OF A LIGHTNING STRIKE // Yeti is now bigger than Patagonia. In only 21 years. This brand has been doing storytelling and “brand shows” since well before they were cool. Our takeaway: Figure out your positioning, then make the right content for it. NU GOTEH // ROOM FOR MAGIC 39:34 — THE COST OF TASTE // If you listened to our pod together, you know we love Nu. His talks are also impossible to summarize, but he gave us the wisest take on the popular topic of taste. “The cost of taste is accountability.” “The cost of community is inconvenience.” SETTING THE STAGE 44:07 — MOON SET // More on the details of the actual event. From Alex Bec of It’s Nice That, the host with the most. (We’d hire him any day.) Dinner with a side of moon setting and stargazing. Morning yoga with Vish Kapoor, who set us up for success in the most serene way possible. He later closed his talk by leading the whole group in breathwork. Love. BRIAN COLLINS & ALEX ATHANASIOU // COLLINS 46:11 — BRAND AS HOST // Yes, there were legendary references that inspired the crowd, but these two delivered the provocation of the day that everyone repeated: brands today should be hosts. We love it so much I changed the intro of our talk to mention it. “Nobody falls in love with a brand framework.” ELIZABETH AZEN ANDIA // WSJ 48:18 — MORTADELLA // At dinner, we had at least 10 conversations about Christoph Hänsli’s Mortadella book that appeared in Elizabeth’s weird and wonderful talk. Elizabeth reflected on the conditions it takes to make good work, with very cool references that belong on an episode of Figma’s Source Material. “Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in.” (David Bowie, via Elizabeth) CHRIS NOTT & CONNIE WEMYSS // STUDIO DRAMA 48:46 — THE SANS-DEMIC // Friends of the pod, and true talents, Studio Drama got up and reminded us about the brand asset most are sleeping on: fonts. How much of your brand is made up of logo appearances? 12%. Product? 18%. Photography? 25% Type? 28%. Think about that. “We may have democratized communication but we also standardized it along the way.” DAVID RAGER // NASA 49:05 — NASA MADE US CRY // David could have just shown the work, and we’d have been impressed. Instead he shared how NASA makes the incomprehensible incredibly human. The entire amphitheater shed tears. It was a lesson for others at the frontier today. There were so many quotable moments, but we wrote none down. We were too busy wiping our tears. BIGGER LESSONS 50:41 — DO, BE, OR FEEL SOMETHING // Paradigms has some of the most creative and forward-thinking humans. Here’s what the best talks had in common: * They used humor. * They balanced a great presentation format with the human delivering it. * They inspired the audience to do, be, or feel something. * They were edited, with a tight focus. * They were clearly having fun. * They asked, does the audience care, or just me? IN CLOSING 51:30 — AND DOLPHINS // We deliberately didn’t spend much time on our talk, which included a little preview of our new Age of Authorship talk. It was humbling to be in this line up to say the least. And we got lots of very kind words about it as the event came to a close. Boats were sailed, dolphins were spotted, and we all floated around in the world’s happiest recreation of the scene from Titanic. The night ended. The memories have not. Massive thanks to Roger, Digge, Becky, and the whole Frontify team for having us. It sold out this year. Make sure you’re following for a jump on next year. We’ll see you there. That’s all, folx. ABOUT Chris and Kirsten are the founders of IN GOOD CO, a consultancy that ignites challenger brands with fearless positioning. Chris writes a weekly newsletter for +17K subscribers that shares the best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What she’s dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands | Follow her on Substack Get full access to GOOD THINKING at ingoodco.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Sep 16

    Affiliate links are out. Press trips, too.

    Hi all, We’re back with another edition of GOOD SIGNS — these are signals, patterns, counter-trends. Stuff that’s emerging, continuing, sticking out, or simply what we’re finding interesting in the last month. This month’s episodes are sponsored by Herman Miller. Kirsten’s house is basically a MillerKnoll showroom at this point. We both now have the pleasure of sitting in two Herman Miller chairs for every podcast that we were fitted for (a service they offer in all their stores!). I can safely say mine is a wellness investment. My back is my weakest link, and after a month of travel in the US, being back in my chair is a true delight. If you spend eight hours a day in a chair, make sure it fits you perfectly. Get fitted or order yours here. Now onto the episode. Enjoy! And let us know what you think in the comments. Skip to the bits you fancy 1. 04:48 — EXHAUSTIVE CHECKS // The question used to be whether something was good. Now the first question is whether it’s real, and we’re all doing the checking ourselves. I wrote “I checked. Not AI.” under a stunt I liked this month. ZINE & YouGov found that “Americans now default to ‘This is fake’ six times more often than they default to ‘This is real.’” ANU has a great read on it, calling the age we’re entering ‘post-reality marketing’. This Sentimental Garbage note Anu shared really explains the exhaustion. But as I said in the 2026 predictions, the question now is how long before we all stop showing up to platforms that we can’t trust? Places it’s showing up: * Stan Lee’s estate sold his voice and likeness to ElevenLabs. Nobody is asking for this IMO. * Oblist’s ad is lovely conceptually, but AI-gen’d. Does it matter? Maybe. * Louis Vuitton built a car to look like its own bag and got trolled as “AI slop IRL.” But it was real. Pendulum Swing → Bobbie rolled out its own Substack called Sally Forth. It’s full of real stories, from real people, with real unvarnished takes on parenthood. Belmond appears to have bought out Sam Youkilis’s IG stories. He’s a trusted, real photographer, and every story is saturated in his credibility. 2. 22:47 — WHICH ALPHA? // Brands keep guessing at what kids want, missing, and then wondering what’s happening (often coming to incorrect conclusions). The kids are extremely clear about what they want. Just go talk to one. Places it’s showing up: * Build-A-Bear downgraded its outlook and the CEO blamed overdoing it on innovation. Wrong analysis. They misunderstood the innovations Alphas/Zs are looking for. * Skylrk beat Apple to the punch. Everyone wants an MP3 player. They made one. * J.Crew’s cropped roll neck felt confusing when Alphas openly want baggy and have for years. Pendulum Swing → Aiming at whoever’s paying could work. Maybe. Maisonette’s new tween brand Neon Rebel reads like a gifting site for adults for tweens. 3. 31:44 — HOME CLINIC // In the SILVERS 2026 predictions, I said distrust in medical institutions, thin infrastructure, and the cost of care would push people to handle it at home. That part happened. What’s new is the hardware finally got good, and it finally looks good. Places it’s showing up: * Strolll built AR glasses that walk patients with neurological disorders through physical therapy on their own. * Luffu launched a wearable that does the Life Alert job and looks vastly cooler. Martha Stewart had the right instinct first with her Life Alert challenger. * Dyson made a toothbrush with a camera in it, arriving right as the dental health to brain health conversation gets loud. Ick, but it will take off. Humans love gross things. Pendulum Swing → Katie Stone and I got into the death of expertise on the pod, where GLP-1s might be the miracle and DIY peptide cocktails are very much not. 4. 40:29 — SOURCE CODE // Everyone has the same tools and the same Pinterest boards, so the work all looks the same. Sources and good choices matter again. Places it’s showing up: * Figma launched Source Material, a show where the creatives share their references. * Andrew Chen is predicting Adversarial Creativity: make something specific, timely, weird, and useful right now, then make the next thing. * Nordstrom’s series with Recho Omondi gives instant clout back to a brand that had fallen off. Pendulum Swing → Not a true pendulum but an adjacency. People are now reading their Substack essays aloud on Instagram. We keep leaning harder into what makes us us. 5. 48:13 — THE FUTURE OF NO // Is the affliate link era over. Likely not. But “no” is becoming a differentiator. Credibility, uniqueness and a curated guest list are a positioning statement. Places it’s showing up: * Shop Rat by Emilia Petrarca is done with affiliate links, press trips, free product, and sponsored posts. Credibility is worth protecting at almost any cost. * Pellicano’s Marie-Louise Sciò says scaling and standardization aren’t worth what it would cost. * Wimbledon will not accredit creators. Who you allow in is a positioning statement now. Pendulum Swing → The pendulum here is just the other side of the misunderstanding. Katie Stone made the same case on the pod. Rigid press trip itineraries kill the story. There’s a whole deep dive to be done on the new frontier of PR. Letters referenced: * Brand love or trust? Bobbie says trust * Science is getting Substacked * Justin Bieber is one-upping Apple * The sauna bubble, GLP-1s and the death of expertise * Dior x A24. No provincial product. And for paid readers, in case you missed it, our first-ever quarterly GOOD TRENDS. Hit the links to skip to the bits you fancy BOLD CAPPED links jump to that moment in the recording. Brand names take you to past letters where they were mentioned. 03:11 — CULTURE // HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT // The trust collapse has brands and businesses having to respond. Ramp · Vittles · Shop Rat 11:40 — F&B // MOMENT MAKING // Food has always been an experience. But it’s not all dinners. Goop Kitchen · Fortnum & Mason · Oatly 17:02 — DRUGS & BOOZE // MODERATING MODERATION // The wellness anarchist, a term coined by Tom Garland, is underrepresented. Diet Coke · Cannes · Columbia · Romanticized hangovers 20:42 — SILVERS, ALPHAS & ZS // HELLO, ALPHA // Alpha zones were the 2025 prediction. Alpha agency is 2026. Here they merge. Tututu Space · Claire’s · Comme’N 25:19 — FASHION & RETAIL // VALUES VERSUS VALUE // Showing what you’re invested in is the right investment. Chanel · Aritzia · Greenrow 29:32 — TECH // AGE OF AUTHORSHIP // The age of authorship isn’t about AI. It’s about mindset. Jeff Dean · Lovable · Age of Authorship 37:04 — SPORT // EXPANSIVE GAMES // Sport has been unbinding. Not all unhinged, but many of the rules aren’t welcome anymore. Exercise Snacks · Salomon x Pas Normal · $1 Ultra 41:48 — WELLNESS & BEAUTY // DATA DON’T DO IT // Measurement isn’t the goal. Improvement is. Dumbo Health · MyFitnessPal · WHOOP 45:38 — TRAVEL // LUX NOT LUX-ING IT // We’re questioning what luxury is, and most isn’t cutting it. United · The Stanza · Anagram 50:52 — FUN FOR THE QUARTER // B2B UNBOUND // B2B marketing has evolved. Most brands just haven’t caught up. Frontify · Okta · Air That’s all, folx. This post has bonus content for paid subscribers. Upgrade to get full access. That’s all, folx. -Chris Get full access to GOOD THINKING at ingoodco.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Sep 9

    The sauna bubble, GLP-1s, and the death of expertise

    We’ve been trying to get Katie Stone on the pod for ages. It all started in a freezing January Herman Miller headquarters in deep-winter Michigan. Katie writes @Plant Based, one of our favorite Substacks in wellness (and honestly just a fave overall), and she consults for a who’s-who of wellness and beauty brands. We get into wellness travel, the sauna bubble, peptides and GLP-1s, what wellness even means once it becomes an industry, branded Substacks done right, and a very heartfelt PSA for United and Delta. If you work in wellness, build brands, or just want to travel and live a little more intentionally, this one’s for you. AND! New perk for yearly paid members! September 9th, at 5pmGMT/12pmET/9amPT we’re introducing a QUARTERLY 10 GOOD THINGS interactive session. A masterclass for the quarter. Become a paid member and then sign up here! This month’s episodes are sponsored by The Keva Dine Agency. Enjoy! Meet Katie Katie Stone writes Plant Based, one of the most-read wellness Substacks, covering wellness, beauty, and the culture around them (don’t miss her Into the Fridge series). She’s also a brand consultant for wellness and beauty brands — content strategy, Substack, copywriting, brand building — with clients like Soft Services, Earthbar, and west~bourne, plus past work with The Farmer’s Dog, Sakara, and Jolie. She studied journalism at USC Annenberg and still writes for The Strategist, Vogue, and WSJ. Find Katie on Instagram, on LinkedIn, and at katie-stone.com. Hit the links to skip to the bits you fancy 05:23 — JOURNALIST TURNED BRAND BUILDER // Katie’s origin story. She wanted Condé Nast, realized journalism wasn’t going to cut it, and made a pivot. 09:57 — CHANGE IN PUBLIC // “No one is paying you enough to feel bad about changing what you’re doing.” All about evolving in public. 12:34 — WELLNESS TRAVEL // Not eat-pray-love retreats. We chat wellness travel: Tech-free resorts, lymphatic everything, and land you’re actually a guest on. 17:24 — GIVE THE WRITER THE REINS // Rigid press-trip itineraries kill the story. Guardrails yes. Rules, no thanks. 21:04 — THE SAUNA BUBBLE // We all 3 love a sauna, but is this bubble about to pop? 22:38 — THE TEMAZCAL // A call for real deal experiences. 27:33 — PEPTIDES & THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE // GLP-1s might be the miracle drug, but DIY peptide cocktails not so much? We discuss the death of the expert. 34:03 — WHO’S ACTUALLY DOING IT RIGHT // Wellness is how you live, not something you buy. 37:24 — A BRAND MADE FOR NOBODY // You can’t build a brand if you don’t know who it’s for. 39:38 — EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A FOUNDER // But how you adding value is the question everyone should be asking. 44:30 — HOW TO ACTUALLY WRITE A SUBSTACK // Consistency over everything, and get creative about value. It’s a publication, not a newsletter. 50:44 — QUICK FIRE // Three things every brand should do, the best advice she’s ever gotten (“stop thinking about yourself so much”), and the category Katie would love to disrupt. 55:47 — PSA FOR UNITED & DELTA // The airline rant about cheese plates. Huge thanks to Katie for coming on. Subscribe to Katie Stone and follow her on Instagram. ABOUT Chris and Kirsten are the founders of IN GOOD CO, a consultancy that ignites challenger brands with fearless positioning. Chris writes a weekly newsletter for +17K subscribers that shares the best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What she's dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands | Follow her on Substack Get full access to GOOD THINKING at ingoodco.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Sep 2

    10 things: fake finance gurus, nicotine, alpha entrances, and more.

    New series alert. Welcome to 10 THINGS: ten things standing out to us this month, one from each category we cover in the letter. It’s not GOOD SIGNS. SIGNS is about the cross-pollination of signals. 10 THINGS is more of a fly-on-the-wall to the conversations we are naturally having about the letter when we’re hanging out. This month we get into secret accounts, Fishwife’s tin-on-the-side Sweetgreen collab, the bowls of cigarettes lying around everywhere, a kids-only entrance, Sézane slowing down, the great Google exodus, StudBudz, scalp wellness, and airlines finally having some fun. Plus one just for FUN FOR THE MONTH. If the Sunday letter is sometimes a lot to keep up with, consider the sampler platter for the drive to work or while doing dishes. AND! New perk for yearly paid members! September 9th, at 5pmGMT/12pmET/9amPT we’re introducing a QUARTERLY 10 GOOD THINGS interactive session. A masterclass for the quarter. This is only available to yearly paid members. Our yearly membership is $111, so that’s just over $25 per quarterly session. Plus, you get the full archive to read everything we talk about (including all the links we’ve added below). You can ask questions prior to and during. And you get to laugh with us live. It’s a steal, no?! Become a paid member and then sign up here! This month’s episodes are sponsored by The Keva Dine Agency. Enjoy! Hit the links to skip to the bits you fancy 06:16 — CULTURE // SECRET ACCOUNTS // With all of these, the left link will help you skip to the timestamp in the pod. The ‘Read more’ like this one will take you to the letter and segment that we’re discussing. Paid members have access to the full archive. 16:41 — F&B // DIY TUNA // Read more. 23:52 — DRUGS & BOOZE // BOWLS OF CIGARETTES // Read more. 33:45 — ALPHAS, SILVERS & ZS // ALPHA ENTRANCE // Read more. 41:23 — FASHION & RETAIL // NOT SO FAST SEZANE // Read more. 49:42 — TECH // GOOGLEY EXODUS // Read more. 54:27 — SPORT // STREAMING BUDZ // Read more. 58:15 — WELLNESS & BEAUTY // SCALP WELLNESS // Read more. 1:01:52 — TRAVEL // AIRLINES DELIVERING // Read more. 1:06:34 — FUN FOR THE MONTH // MOM & POP POP-UPS // Read more. ABOUT Chris and Kirsten are the founders of IN GOOD CO, a consultancy that ignites challenger brands with fearless positioning. Chris writes a weekly newsletter for +17K subscribers that shares the best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What she's dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands | Follow her on Substack Get full access to GOOD THINKING at ingoodco.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Aug 26

    Brand love or trust? Bobbie says trust.

    We are so excited for this one. We first met Kim Chappell and Michelle Blaser at SXSW in Austin this year. We did a panel on trust and personal brand at Soho House. And pretty much immediately said we have to do this again. So here we are. Kim Chappell is the Chief Brand Officer of Bobbie, the mom-founded, mom-led organic infant formula company. She’s also, by pretty universal agreement, the OG LinkedIn mom. Michelle Blaser is a brand marketer (Duolingo, Epic Games) who’s now out on her own, writing The Pollinatr and one of the biggest voices on LinkedIn. She also happens to be a Bobbie mom. These ladies have not just helped build some of your favorite, most referenced brands, but they’ve also built personal brands that lots of people envy. And we get into how they did all of the above. We chat trust, cringe, sallying forth, building up your team, building a group of internet besties, and so much more. If you are building a brand, leading a team, posting on LinkedIn, or are still working up the nerve to, this one is for you. Enjoy! Meet Kim Chappell Kim Chappell is the Chief Brand Officer of Bobbie. She joined the company in the co-founder's San Francisco basement in 2020 and launched and built the brand into the fastest growing infant formula company in the US since the 80's. Under Kim's leadership, Bobbie has been a 3x recipient of Fast Company's Brands That Matter and a 2024 Shorty Award winner for Best Small Brand. She was named a 2026 Most Innovative CMO by Business Insider, a 2025 Forbes 50 Most Entrepreneurial CMO, a 2025 AdWeek Creative 100, and Shorty's Brand Marketer of the Year. She is a mom of three who lives in Austin, Texas. Meet Michelle Blaser Michelle Blaser is the author of The Pollinatr, the newsletter for strategists who want to stay ahead of culture. After 15 years working with culture-first brands like Duolingo, Netflix, and Epic Games, she’s built a reputation as the strategist’s strategist: spotting signals, connecting the dots, and translating insights into actionable strategies. She now helps companies and executives build influence where it counts: LinkedIn. She hails from Texas and lives with her husband and two boys in Raleigh, NC. Hit the links to skip to the bits you fancy 00:00 — THE BAND’S BACK TOGETHER // Internet friends are real friends. 04:02 — A $500 ASK // Kim’s whole LinkedIn thing started with one email to her CFO about shipping breast milk. 06:56 — LEADERS SET THE CULTURE // Why LinkedIn is a fun group of virtual coworkers who have your back, and why leaders should overshare on purpose. 08:53 — THE DAD GAP // It’s not all mom talk. Two-thirds of dads say culture doesn’t see them. Brands should be paying attention. 12:41 — YOUR PERSONAL BRAND IS RECRUITING // Post about the duality and the top talent comes to you. Go do your own PR. 17:38 — TRUST OR LOVE // Both landed on trust. Love follows. 18:59 — THE RECALL WEEKEND // A competitor’s recall, and Bobbie’s no-strings response. 21:16 — HAVING HATERS IS A GOOD SIGN // If you’re not in the arena, so I don’t care what you think. 22:49 — THE TRUST BATTERY // Charge it every single day so it’s there when you actually need it. 25:19 — CLIMB CRINGE MOUNTAIN // Go where it’s uncomfortable. 37:27 — SUBSTACK IS MY LIVING ROOM // LinkedIn is a stage (and a water cooler). Substack is where the real you shows up. 40:45 — WRITE FROM THE HEART // Kim on AI slop, quality over volume, and typos as proof of humanity. 44:48 — DO THE DAMN THING // The final word: share the mess, just start, make what you’d want to read. Huge thanks to Kim and Michelle for coming on. Follow them. You’ll have some new besties, too. ABOUT Chris and Kirsten are the founders of IN GOOD CO, a consultancy that ignites challenger brands with fearless positioning. Chris writes a weekly newsletter for +17K subscribers that shares the best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What she's dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands | Follow her on Substack Get full access to GOOD THINKING at ingoodco.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Aug 19

    Is the establishment cool again? Yes, but...

    We’re back with another edition of GOOD SIGNS — a monthly round-up of 5 letters, looking at what’s bubbling up. These aren’t trends (yet!). These are signals, patterns, counter-trends. Stuff that’s emerging, continuing, sticking out, or simply what we’re finding interesting in the last month. This week, we have an exciting development: our first sponsor! This month’s episodes are sponsored by The Keva Dine Agency. Keva actually placed Kirsten in a job years ago, so she can vouch firsthand. She’s the recruiter CEOs and CMOs call when culture fit matters as much as the resume. If you’re hiring, or you’re thinking about your next move, Keva’s who you call before you post the job. Enjoy! And let us know what you think in the comments. Skip to the bits you fancy 1. 04:24 — LESS IS BECOMING MORE // For years, especially recently, more has been the default. More speed, more growth, more choice, more output. But as things speed up at scale, many are seeing a strategic advantage in a slower, or periodically slow, approach. Places it’s showing up: * Sézane is looking to slow down and grow up. Proving that speed is a choice. * The sprint is not new to tech, but rest is. Founders are building in rest as work gets faster. * Ditto, a dating app, skips swiping and sends 1 curated single match every Wednesday at 7pm. Pendulum Swing → Google shows what happens when more means more layers. Jeff Dean had a ChatGPT-like bot years ago, but bureaucracy stifled it. Lean frontier labs are shipping while bigger organizations ask, refine, second-guess, and ultimately struggle in a consensus swamp. 2. 23:36 — TRACKING TO TREATING // We spent the last decade giving people more information. Data was coming out of our eyeballs, driving every decision. But as our ability to collect infinite amounts of data has increased, an alternative take on tech is also emerging: actually just being of service. Places it’s showing up: * Bobbie launched The Feeding Concierge for new moms’ feeding questions: a 24/7 bespoke AI agent, expert-led virtual circles, and 1:1 consultations. * In the first wave of trackers, the goal was just to get data. Now, MyFitnessPal has introduced an AI nutrition coach to actually help you use what you’ve tracked for long-term benefit. * Dumbo Health, a sleep-focused platform, is offering physician interpretation and hardware. Not just scores. Pendulum Swing → Sometimes the product should just do the job. So many brands pitch flashy AI creative tools, but the time-saving, tedious-work-reducing AI tools are what teams love most. 3. 32:22 — MADE IN CHINA, WANTED IN CHINA // China’s homegrown brands aren’t simply cheaper alternatives to Western options. They’re winning on performance, cultural fluency, and just coolness. And netizens are deliberately making them a first choice. Places it’s showing up: * At the Nike ACG Chongli 168 Ultra Trail, 58% of the shoes worn were Kailas Fugas. * In China, Adidas rebranded its TERREX outdoor line as Shanchuanli, which is softer, less rugged, and more attuned to the market. * Pane, a Shanghai-based sneaker brand, did a nice-looking collab with Head. Pendulum Swing → Maybe it is less about local and more about global appetite. BYD, the Chinese car brand, is gaining speed in the EU and the US. Perception is changing globally. 4. 40:51 — EASY DENSITY // Wellness has spent years asking consumers to optimize and add another thing to the routine. That said, shortcuts aren’t new. But what they are for is. GLP-1s have increased our need for nutrient density. And players are emerging to meet the moment easily. Places it’s showing up: * PlantChi is a nutritional seasoning, a food topper to get the density up in whatever you’re making. * GLP-1 users struggle to get protein from smaller meals. Clare launched an all-in-one nutritional supplement to tackle it. * In LA, protein water is the rage. Plainspeak is a new entrant. Nutra is another. Pendulum Swing → Sneakies is sneaking a “full serving” of fruits and vegetables per bag. But that full serving is 5 spinach leaves and half an apple. What counts as dense hasn’t been properly codified. 5. 47:48 — INSTITUTIONS ARE COOL AGAIN // After years of chasing internet-native, emerging, cool challenger brands as a default collaborator set, we are swinging the other way. Suddenly the establishment is interesting again. Places it’s showing up: * Aritzia and The Juilliard School launched a back-to-school collection. And Bode with Yale School of Music. * Dancer and choreographer Kyle Abraham performed his latest piece in the NYT’s offices. * Greenrow revamped the NY Botanical Garden’s historic Stone Cottage. Pendulum Swing → Generally, we know that trust in institutions is at an all-time low. The arts (I consider the Botanical Gardens art) seem to be the one area where that’s not true. But if we’re just looking at the letters for a swing, we can see that “old guard” brands, like AARP, are still not getting how to be relevant to their audience. Letters referenced: * Gap is teaching marketing. * Aritzia made back-to-school dance-worthy * Beefeater makes sobriety a pleasure * Aman needs a new media consultant * Sézane is slowing down. On purpose. Hallelujah. ABOUT Chris and Kirsten are the founders of IN GOOD CO, a consultancy that ignites challenger brands with fearless positioning. Chris writes a weekly newsletter for +17K subscribers that shares the best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What she's dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands | Follow her on Substack Get full access to GOOD THINKING at ingoodco.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Aug 12

    The sans-demic is over

    Last year at Paradigms, out in the Moroccan desert, I met Chris and Will from Studio DRAMA, a type design studio. They make custom typefaces for brands, and they’ve done it for Heinz, KFC, and Michelob Ultra. Like most people at Paradigms, they are also genuinely rad people. We get into why niching down was great for them, why every tech brand looks the same (but shouldn’t), an optimistic take on AI, and we learn many, many new words. There are lessons in here for studios, freelancers, and a side of brand many CMOs overlook. Enjoy! Meet Studio DRAMA Chris Nott and Will Richardson are the co-founders of Studio DRAMA, the world’s first custom type foundry. William leads the studio’s creative vision. Building brands through distinctive typographic storytelling that challenges category conventions and amplifies identity at every scale. Under his direction, Studio DRAMA has developed award-winning custom typefaces for global names such as KFC, BBH and Snickers. Chris leads the studio’s creative practice. Shaping brand identities through distinctive, typographic systems that bring strategy and storytelling into perfect alignment. Chris has overseen the creation of bespoke typefaces for global brands including Mozilla, Heinz and Vogue. Hit the links to skip to the bits you fancy 04:16 — A BRAND-LED TYPE FOUNDRY // Not a foundry, not an agency, somewhere in between. 08:52 — THE BRAVERY TO NICHE // For a year, they were everything to everyone. Learning to say no is what changed the business. 15:16 — MONTHS, NOT YEARS // Busting the myth that custom type takes two years and +$2M. 18:01 — THE SANS-DEMIC // How every brand ended up speaking in the same generic sans. 21:40 — TOUCH TYPE, NOT LOGO // Brands are scared to touch the logo. Type is the thing they can actually own. 23:36 — WHAT BRANDS GET WRONG // Why type design shouldn’t come at the end. 26:41 — WHO NEEDS A CUSTOM TYPEFACE? // Their answer: if you can make something distinctive and memorable, why wouldn’t you? 30:10 — THE NANDO’S EFFECT // Spot a sliver of a letter around the corner and you already know it’s Nando’s. 33:25 — TYPE AND LOGOS // The logo-font approach VS redrawing the wordmark and the typeface together so the whole system finally connects. 37:00 — SCRITALIC // The new word they had to invent to describe what they were even making. 38:42 — THE OPTIMIST’S CASE FOR AI // Where AI has a role. And a big upside for smaller studios. 42:50 — AI CAN’T DO THE CRAFT // It’s great at generic sans. Get ready to have to be different. And need humans for it. 44:28 — DRAMA WISDOM // The best advice for going out on your own. 49:14 — QUICK FIRE // Three things every brand should do, and the typographic elephant in the room. Huge thanks to Chris and Will for coming on. It was so good to finally sit down with them. See their work at studio-drama.com. Follow along on Instagram. ABOUT Chris and Kirsten are the founders of IN GOOD CO, a consultancy that ignites challenger brands with fearless positioning. Chris writes a weekly newsletter for +17K subscribers that shares the best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What she's dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands | Follow her on Substack Get full access to GOOD THINKING at ingoodco.substack.com/subscribe

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

This podcast will dive a little deeper into bit of our weekly GOOD THINKING letter. Not a recap or a reading, just chatting more, unpacking, giving more insights—the fun stuff. Like the letter, the lens is a best-of-the-best on culture, trends, marketing, etc. What I’m dropping to friends on Slack or finding useful in meetings with brands. ingoodco.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Chris Danton & Kirsten Ludwig | IN GOOD CO
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    105
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © IN GOOD CO
  • Show Website
    GOOD THINKING

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