Where Brands Get Their Edge

NickelBronx

5.0 (1)
Marketing
Updated Weekly

Cutting-edge marketing news and advice for (and from) brands, founders, and marketing executives.

1d ago · Video

Nobody Gives Their Life Savings to a No-Name Brand | Allen Awali, Cedar Gold Group

Nobody hands their life savings to a company they've never heard of. So how do you market gold IRAs when you're competing with Chase and Wells Fargo for trust? **Allen Awali**, CEO of **Cedar Gold Group**, left the big precious-metals shops to build one that's more transparent with its clients. Two and a half years in, he's sunk about $100K into Meta ads that never cracked, eaten a $15K lesson when leads never reached the CRM, and paid for 25 Salesforce licenses nobody used for six months. He also turned a cold email on a random Saturday into a **Miami Marlins** sponsorship, followed by back-to-back $2M months. His frame for all of it: **it's tuition.** Borzou and Amanda get into: - Why dedicated email publishers beat Meta ads for gold and silver leads- Why sales has to carry the business until there's real marketing budget- How a pro sports sponsorship becomes a credibility cosign, and how much tougher the vetting got after FTX- The CRM saga: HubSpot, Kixie, Five9, a Salesforce rebuild, and what never to do with licenses- Why Allen pulled his sales floor back into the office- Core values as a filter for hires *and* clients, including the mentor advice that changed how Borzou picks clients- Borzou's closing questions: what Allen stopped believing (it's okay to hurt people's feelings) and what he's still working on (paying someone $100K to do the job 75% as well as he would) ### About our guest **Allen Awali** — CEO, Cedar Gold Group - LinkedIn: [Allen Awali](https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-awali/)- Company: [Cedar Gold Group on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/cedargoldgroup/)- Website: [cedargoldgroup.com](https://cedargoldgroup.com/)- Instagram: [@cedargoldgroup](https://www.instagram.com/cedargoldgroup/) ### Connect with us - Borzou: [@bronxzou](https://www.instagram.com/bronxzou/) · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/borzou/)- Amanda: [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/akfischer/)- Show page: [nickelbronx.com/where-brands-get-their-edge](https://www.nickelbronx.com/where-brands-get-their-edge) This episode is brought to you by **NickelBronx**. --- **Thanks for tuning in to *Where Brands Get Their Edge*, brought to you by NickelBronx.** If you enjoyed today's episode, follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and leave us a review — it helps other brand builders like you discover the show. Want more insights? Visit [nickelbronx.com](https://www.nickelbronx.com/) for brand strategy tips and tools to help your business stand out.
Sep 14 · Video

Two Teenagers Face-Scanned Amanda at the Grocery Store

Two high school kids walked up to Amanda and her husband at the grocery store and said, "I know you." They didn't. They had his name. His employer. A dad who supposedly kept a photo of him on his desk. None of it checked out — so Amanda did what most of us wouldn't: documented the aisle, the descriptions, every word they said, in case she had to pull the store's surveillance footage. Then she spent a full night piecing together the only theory that fit: they scanned his face. A week later she found out she was right. It was an app called Sherlock, and the kids were just testing it. They felt so bad afterward they aborted the whole thing and confessed to their parents. Borzou's takeaway is not the one you'd expect. He wants it. In his glasses. Immediately. They cover: How a "do I know you?" conversation turns into a data-collection testWhy Amanda's instinct was to write everything down — and why Borzou never would haveThe credit-card-skimming theory, and the red flag that gave the kids awayFacial recognition is already consumer-grade and already in teenagers' handsThe other side: never forgetting a name at an event againAmanda's fix for the "nice to meet you" vs. "good to see you" problemWhy being aware is the only real defense leftGot a weird AI story of your own? Send it to us — this one we didn't even know existed until it happened. Connect with us Borzou: @bronxzou · LinkedInAmanda: LinkedInShow page: nickelbronx.com/where-brands-get-their-edgeThis episode is brought to you by NickelBronx.
Aug 27 · Video

Coke Made Coke Zero Look Too Much Like Coke

Coke Zero used to be easy to spot: red can, black text. Coca-Cola's new one-brand packaging system takes that away, and the problem isn't aesthetic — it's navigational. Borzou is a brand-unity guy on the record. Cohesiveness, one system, one direction — he wants all of it. But packaging isn't a mood board. Its first job is helping someone in a grocery aisle grab the right can in under a second, and Coca-Cola spent a decade training everyone that black text means Zero. Now the only reliable difference is small type in the bottom corner. Amanda's verdict: they should sue themselves for trademark infringement, because this is confusing. There's history worth knowing here. Coke Zero exists because Diet Coke tastes chemically, and it was originally meant to replace Diet Coke — Americans just liked Diet Coke too much to let it go. Go to Europe and it's essentially all Coke Zero. That three-way split gave Coca-Cola a color system that worked: gray for Diet, white text for regular, black text for Zero. The new system flattens it. Then the episode goes fully off the rails, in the best way. THEY COVER: Why packaging is navigation first and identity secondThe difference between consistency and sameness, and why only one is a strategyCoke Zero's origin story, and why Diet Coke survived in the US but not EuropeWhat it costs to un-teach a visual cue you spent years teachingWhether a small wordmark in the corner can carry the whole distinction (it can't)Borzou's theory that elevators without buttons say something about the institutionAmanda's safety drink, an aspartame confession, and a warning to Diet Coke loyalists CHAPTERS: 00:00 Did Coke Make Coke Zero Look Too Much Like Coke? 00:14 The Color System Coke Spent a Decade Teaching Us 00:45 Why Coke Zero Exists, and Why Europe Dropped Diet 01:16 Packaging Is Navigation, Not a Mood Board 01:37 They Should Sue Themselves for Trademark Infringement 02:01 Consistency Turning Into Sameness 02:38 Fine Print, Sugar, and Which One's Actually Worse 03:18 The Elevator Button Theory 04:01 Amanda's Safety Drink 05:42 A Warning to Diet Coke Loyalists 06:26 Where Do You Land? WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? Let us know — are the cans distinct enough, or are you squinting at fine print in the grocery aisle? CONNECT WITH US: Borzou on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bronxzou/ Borzou on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/borzou/ Amanda on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akfischer/ Show page: https://www.nickelbronx.com/where-brands-get-their-edge This episode is brought to you by NickelBronx. Thanks for tuning in to Where Brands Get Their Edge, brought to you by NickelBronx. If you enjoyed today's episode, follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and leave us a review — it helps other brand builders like you discover the show. Want more insights? Visit https://www.nickelbronx.com/ for brand strategy tips and tools to help your business stand out.
Aug 25 · Video

Instagram's New Logo: Aesthetically Fine, Strategically Confused

Instagram changed its wordmark, and the loudest complaint isn't that it's ugly — it's that it doesn't look like it says Instagram. Borzou and Amanda judge the new mark on aesthetic and strategy separately, and land in a place neither of them expected: it's a wash. Not bad. Not great. Which, for a logo, might be the most damning verdict of all. The more interesting problem is the one underneath it. Instagram stopped being a photo app years ago. When the old camera icon became the gradient in 2016, the script never changed with it — so the wordmark and the icon spent a decade not matching. The new mark is an attempt to finally reconcile them, and it almost gets there. They cover: Why a logo that "reads like a different word" is a real problem, not a nitpickThe mismatched-letterforms issue — when custom type stops feeling like one typefaceJudging aesthetic vs. judging strategy, and why the answers can disagreeThe 2016 icon change that created a decade-long mismatchOwnability: was the old script actually less ownable? (Probably not)When you're big enough that legibility stops mattering — and whether that's a license or a trapThe rebrand nobody asked for, and the case for leaving a working mark aloneWhy NickelBronx had to abandon its own X icon after Twitter's rebrand — and why fighting it wasn't economically realisticShould we redesign it ourselves? Comment and tag us — if enough of you want it, it moves up the list. Connect with us Borzou: @bronxzou · LinkedInAmanda: LinkedInShow page: nickelbronx.com/where-brands-get-their-edgeThis episode is brought to you by NickelBronx. Thanks for tuning in to Where Brands Get Their Edge, brought to you by NickelBronx. If you enjoyed today's episode, follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and leave us a review — it helps other brand builders like you discover the show. Want more insights? Visit nickelbronx.com for brand strategy tips and tools to help your business stand out.
Aug 10

Why TV-Style Interventions Fail, and What Actually Helps w/ Doyen Consulting

Everything you've seen about interventions on TV — the circle of chairs, the letters, the ultimatums — mostly doesn't work. Borzou and Amanda sit down with Chelsea Brigham and Jennifer Tarzia of Doyen Consulting, who work with families navigating addiction and mental health crises. Their take: addiction doesn't happen in a vacuum — it operates on the entire family system, and treating only the person with the problem misses the point. Topics Covered Why "they entered treatment" is the wrong definition of a successful interventionCompliance vs. internal motivation — and why forced treatment rarely sticksHow families slowly normalize the problem ("I don't even know how we got here")Boundaries as internal limits, not external rules — and why you should never set one you can't holdThe workplace version: managing a talented employee with a substance problemWhat people at their most vulnerable teach you about marketing: connection and the shared human conditionEntry points to help — for the person struggling and the family watching it happenGuests Chelsea Brigham, Director of Operations, and Jennifer Tarzia, Founder — Doyen Consulting Website: doyencg.com Instagram: @DoyenCG Facebook: Doyen Consulting Chelsea on LinkedIn: /in/chelsea-brigham425 Doyen - Family Support Group (message Doyen for future dates - we have the next three at time of posting): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83802346445?pwd=1cf8CJfRuFOO1VOASjCohXrKZ5C9rp.1 Meeting ID: 838 0234 6445Passcode: 217346 Monday, 4pm PST/7pm EST August 24th, September 21st Wednesday, 9 am PST/12pm EST September 2nd Connect with Us Borzou: @bronxzou Amanda: LinkedIn Show page: nickelbronx.com/where-brands-get-their-edge This episode is brought to you by NickelBronx. Thanks for tuning in to Where Brands Get Their Edge, brought to you by NickelBronx. If you enjoyed today's episode, follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and leave us a review — it helps other brand builders like you discover the show. Want more insights? Visit nickelbronx.com for brand strategy tips and tools to help your business stand out.
Jul 16

Hilariously Early: How Hustle Fund Bets $150K Before Anyone Else (with Haley Bryant)

The bar for building your personal brand? One founder got started by posting about eating a bagel. Haley Bryant, partner at Hustle Fund, joins Borzou and Amanda to break down how a pre-seed fund writes $150,000 checks into "hilariously early" startups — sometimes investing in the person before there's even a product — and why founders who build in public raise faster, hire better, and carry their audience with them wherever they go. They get into why lengthy diligence at pre-seed is a fool's errand (Haley aims for yes within a week), when brand actually matters at the napkin stage, and how the agentic economy is rewriting what's investable. Topics covered: Hustle Fund's thesis: hustle = great execution meets high velocityWhy non-consensus check-writing beats investment committeesWhen brand is make-or-break at pre-seed (consumer and crowded categories)How Rork went from sleeping on floors to a $2.5M round led by A16Z — off a tweetThe "1,000 coffees at once" case for personal brandingWhy consistent posting is proof to investors that you can executeThe Hustle Commons rebrand and building a media-first fundHow to market when AI agents are doing the buyingConnect with Haley: Instagram: @haleymbryant LinkedIn: /in/haleymbryant Hustle Fund: hustlefund.vc Connect with us: Borzou – Instagram | LinkedIn Amanda – LinkedIn This episode is brought to you by NickelBronx — brand strategy, websites, and content for companies that want a real edge. nickelbronx.com Thanks for tuning in to Where Brands Get Their Edge. If you enjoyed today's episode, follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and leave us a review — it helps other brand builders like you discover the show. Want more insights? Visit nickelbronx.com
May 5

If You Can't Take a Week Off, You Don't Own a Business (with Jordan Solender)

Most founders don't actually own a business. They own a job that pays them better. In this episode, Borzou and Amanda sit down with **Jordan Solender** — operator across IT services, event and concert production, video, telemarketing, and a Maryland DJ company — who's known for one thing in particular: getting himself out of every business he touches in **6 to 9 months**. Jordan walks through the exact playbook: the **week-off stress test** that exposes what's broken, why intake and handoffs are the first place to automate, how his DJ company's post-sale flow uses AI-generated welcome videos and 48-hour DJ intros, and why **founders don't micromanage because they love control — they do it because it makes them feel useful**. If you're stuck being the help desk for your own team, this one's the kick in the ass. ### Topics Covered - What "getting out of the business" actually means- Why every business hits the same walls (and yours isn't a snowflake)- How AI killed the excuse for not automating- The post-sale automation flow at Maryland's DJ Family- The week-off stress test — when to do it, when to do it again- Building an SOP library (and why Use Whale won out)- How granular an SOP should actually be- Process problem vs. people problem — using personality data in hiring- Founder ego and why micromanaging feels useful- Cutting Slack out of your life and training your team to bring solutions, not problems This episode is brought to you by **NickelBronx**. Connect with usBorzou – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bronxzou/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borzou/ Amanda –⁠ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/akfischer/ Jordan – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordansolender/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordan.solender/ And give some love to our sponsor: https://nickelbronx.com/ Brand strategy, websites, and content for companies that want a real edge. If you enjoyed today's episode, follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and leave us a review — it helps other brand builders like you discover the show.
Apr 23

Rethink, Reimagine, Rewire: The Founder's AI Playbook (with Seema Alexander)

Most founders are either tool-hopping or sitting on the sidelines. Both are losing strategies. In this episode of Where Brands Get Their Edge, Borzou and Amanda sit down with Seema Alexander — Co-Chair of DC Startup Week and AI transformation consultant — to break down how founders actually need to be thinking about AI in 2026. Not as a shiny object. As infrastructure. Guest Seema Alexander, AI Transformation Consultant & Co-Chair, DC Startup Week 🎙️ AI CEO Podcast | LinkedIn: /in/seemaalexander Topics Covered The Rethink, Reimagine, Rewire framework for AI adoptionWhy AI fluency (not just tooling) is the real competitive advantageHow data is becoming every company's most valuable moatNarrow agents vs. agentic AI — and why the distinction mattersDNA-matched cannabis recommendations as a case study in unique data setsWhat founders should automate first and what to protect from AIWhy brand matters more than ever in an AI-commoditized worldPreparing the next generation for a job market we can't fully predictConnect with Us Borzou — Instagram @bronxzou | LinkedIn Amanda — LinkedIn /in/akfischer Sponsor This episode is brought to you by NickelBronx — brand strategy, design, and marketing for founders who want a real edge. nickelbronx.com

See All (22)

Cutting-edge marketing news and advice for (and from) brands, founders, and marketing executives.

Creator

NickelBronx
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

22
Rating

Explicit
Show Website

Where Brands Get Their Edge

Where Brands Get Their Edge

Episodes

Nobody Gives Their Life Savings to a No-Name Brand | Allen Awali, Cedar Gold Group

Two Teenagers Face-Scanned Amanda at the Grocery Store

Coke Made Coke Zero Look Too Much Like Coke

Instagram's New Logo: Aesthetically Fine, Strategically Confused

Why TV-Style Interventions Fail, and What Actually Helps w/ Doyen Consulting

Hilariously Early: How Hustle Fund Bets $150K Before Anyone Else (with Haley Bryant)

If You Can't Take a Week Off, You Don't Own a Business (with Jordan Solender)

Rethink, Reimagine, Rewire: The Founder's AI Playbook (with Seema Alexander)

About

Information