Zeitgeist: How breakout brands got built

Steven Galanis
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Management

Step past the Red Velvet Rope into Zeitgeist, where Cameo co-founder Steven Galanis pulls back the curtain on the renegades behind the consumer brands owning pop culture. Every week, Steven goes toe-to-toe with the masterminds—founders, CMOs, and disruptors—who’ve turned products into obsessions. No polished TED Talks here. These are the raw, unfiltered stories PR teams beg to bury. Think late-night whiskey confessions with a side of boardroom chaos. Expect: • Leadership lessons that cut through the noise • Secrets to hacking virality • Origin stories so wild, you’ll hit rewind • C-suite therapy, no buzzwords allowed • The playbook to cement your brand in the cultural zeitgeist Buckle up for Zeitgeist. Subscribe now and join the inner circle. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

Episodes

  1. 6d ago

    The Untold Story of Amazon Prime, EA Sports, and Building Iconic Brands: Bing Gordon

    He named Amazon Prime. He helped build Electronic Arts. And he's spent decades discovering what makes people love a brand. Bing Gordon, Electronic Arts co-founder and former Chief Creative Officer, Kleiner Perkins partner, and longtime advisor to some of Silicon Valley's most influential founders, joins Cameo CEO Steven Galanis on Zeitgeist. Bing reveals the remarkable story of how he came up with the name Amazon Prime during a bike ride with legendary investor John Doerr, pitched the idea to Jeff Bezos, and watched Amazon's board reject the proposal before Bezos decided to move forward. But Bing's influence extends far beyond Amazon. From helping build iconic video game franchises like Madden NFL, The Sims, and Need for Speed to advising founders at Amazon, Zynga, and Cameo, Bing has spent more than four decades studying what makes products successful, customers loyal, and companies extraordinary. In this conversation, Bing shares: The untold story behind Amazon Prime and what Jeff Bezos did when the board said noHow Electronic Arts helped transform gaming into a global entertainment powerhouseWhy the psychology of video games holds the secret to customer engagement and brand loyaltyWhat separates products people try from products they loveHis frameworks for building world-class executive teams and setting ambitious goalsWhy asking great questions may be a leader's most valuable skillThe costly mistakes and unexpected lessons behind his new book, Everybody Wins Bing also discusses writing Everybody Wins with his daughter Chloe Gordon and how the principles of game design can help people succeed in business, leadership, and life. If you're building a brand, leading a company, or trying to create something people genuinely love, this conversation is packed with lessons from someone who helped shape some of the world's most influential products. ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 9 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

    The Untold Story of Amazon Prime, EA Sports, and Building Iconic Brands: Bing Gordon

  2. Jun 2

    How Great Restaurant Brands Stay Relevant for Decades (CEO Lettuce Entertain You, R.J. Melman)

    Repeated Hit Brands R.J. Melman, CEO of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, shares why some companies stay relevant for decades while others disappear: “Restaurants don’t get tired. Restaurateurs get tired.” Lettuce has built more than 120 restaurant concepts over 55 years. Not one hit, but REPEATED hits! Maggiano’s. RPM. Shaw’s. Bub City. Wildfire. RJ Grunts. Different eras. Different audiences. Different trends. The same core engine underneath it all: Reinvent early. Stay obsessive about the details. Build cultures people want to belong to. And never assume yesterday’s success guarantees tomorrow’s relevance. R.J. says: Failure isn’t one giant moment. It happens slowly… every day… when leaders stop evolving. That mindset is probably why Lettuce has survived while so many concepts fade the second they stop being “hot.” Question: What do you think helps brands stay relevant? ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 8 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

    How Great Restaurant Brands Stay Relevant for Decades (CEO Lettuce Entertain You, R.J. Melman)

  3. 10/09/2025

    How Squire Built the Ultimate Brand Experience - Dave Salvant Co-Founder and President

    Barbershop to Billion. Dave Salvant, President and Co-Founder of Squire, built a platform that’s processed over $1B in payments — but it all started with a bad haircut experience. When we sat down for the podcast, Dave told me how he and his co-founder got so frustrated waiting hours in chaotic barbershops that they decided to fix it. But here’s the part that floored me: when their first test client backed out, they didn’t quit. They bought the barbershop themselves — with their last $40,000. That decision changed everything. By running the business firsthand, they learned every inefficiency, every pain point, and built Squire from the inside out. Today, that same obsession with the customer experience has turned Squire into the operating system for 3,000+ barbershops worldwide. As a founder, that story hit me hard. As a marketer, it reminded me: the best brands aren’t built on strategy decks — they’re built on empathy and immersion. Sometimes the biggest growth move isn’t scaling faster. It’s getting closer to the people you serve. ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 7 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

    How Squire Built the Ultimate Brand Experience - Dave Salvant Co-Founder and President

  4. 09/29/2025

    How We Built Chomps Into a $1B Snack Brand - Co-Founder & CEO Rashid Ali

    Rashid Ali, Co-Founder & CEO of Chomps, he told us something I can’t forget: 👉 “Our moms were our best customers.” That’s how Chomps started. A frozen steak business that couldn’t scale. No traction. Just moms buying to keep the lights on. Then one day — Trader Joe’s calls. At the time, they were doing only ~$400K in sales. The order was so big they needed to raise $1M in a single weekend just to deliver. That was the turning point. Today, Chomps is valued at over $1B. But here’s the kicker — as Rashid put it: 💡 “It was an 8-year overnight success story.” The biggest takeaways for me from this conversation: 1️⃣ Failure is data — the wrong customers showed them who the right ones were. 2️⃣ The biggest breaks often arrive when you’re barely hanging on. 3️⃣ Resilience beats speed — billion-dollar brands are built brick by brick. From moms as their only customers → to Trader Joe’s → to $1B. That’s not just a brand story. That’s a founder’s playbook. 👉 For other entrepreneurs: what was your own “mom was my only customer” moment? ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 6 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

    How We Built Chomps Into a $1B Snack Brand - Co-Founder & CEO Rashid Ali

  5. 08/26/2025

    I Built BetMGM & Rocket Mortgage Into Cultural Phenomena (Casey Hurbis, CMO of BetMGM)

    What does it take to turn a mortgage company and a sports betting app into cultural icons? Casey Hurbis, CMO of BetMGM and the marketing mind who helped Rocket Mortgage break into the Super Bowl spotlight, reveals the unfiltered truth about building brands that people obsess over. In this conversation with Cameo co-founder Steven Galanis, Casey shares: 🔥 The risks behind Super Bowl ads (and why safe = dead). 🔥 How to transform “boring” industries into pop culture staples. 🔥 The biggest branding mistakes that cost millions. 🔥 Why CMOs must go big always if they want to stay relevant. No PR polish. No buzzword bingo. Just battle-tested lessons every founder and CMO needs to hear. ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 5 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

    I Built BetMGM & Rocket Mortgage Into Cultural Phenomena (Casey Hurbis, CMO of BetMGM)

  6. 07/22/2025

    Four Loko's Jaisen Freeman (The Brand Too Bold To Break)

    They tried to cancel Four Loko. It didn’t work. This is the untold story of how one of the most hated, hyped, and misunderstood brands in America refused to die. Jaisen Freeman — co-founder and co-CEO of Phusion Projects — takes us behind the scenes of Four Loko’s rise, rebellion, and resurrection. From a bootstrapped college hustle to a billion-dollar juggernaut, he unpacks: 🔥 How they built an iconic brand with zero outside funding. 🚫 Why politicians, the media, and Big Alcohol came after them. 💥 What it took to survive $30M in debt, 90 lawsuits, and a federal crackdown. 📈 And how he’s now building the next breakout brand — powered by data, culture, and unapologetic storytelling. This isn’t just about a drink. It’s about building something so bold it couldn’t be ignored. A wild ride through controversy, comeback, and the playbook for turning chaos into brand gold. 👉 If you're building a brand, breaking the rules, or betting on yourself—this one’s for you. ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 4 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

    Four Loko's Jaisen Freeman (The Brand Too Bold To Break)

  7. 07/04/2025

    America's Youngest Woman CEO (Lifeway Foods' Julie Smolyansky)

    Kefir...from $116 to Billion-Dollar Brand...CEO Lifeway Foods, Julie Smolyansky. Julie Smolyansky is the CEO of Lifeway Foods, shares her incredible and inspiring story! Imagine arriving in America as an infant with nothing but one suitcase, $116 in cash, and parents who didn’t speak a word of English. By age 27, she was the youngest female CEO of a publicly traded company in American history. But what most people don’t know is what happened behind the scenes: ✅ She watched her father smuggle live kefir cultures from the USSR. ✅ She took over the business overnight—while critics said she’d fail. ✅ She turned a niche Eastern European product into a household name across the U.S. ✅ And yes—she even sent a case of kefir to President Reagan for his summit with Gorbachev. This isn’t just a story about entrepreneurship. It’s about resilience, conviction, and proving the doubters wrong. Today, her brand fuels a multi-billion-dollar category—and inspires immigrants, women, and entrepreneurs everywhere. ---- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 3 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

    America's Youngest Woman CEO (Lifeway Foods' Julie Smolyansky)

  8. 06/03/2025

    Bourbon Just Became Currency - Unicorn's Phil Mikhaylov

    From Uber to Unicorn: Reinventing the $100B booze biz. He started with a Google Sheet and a whiskey collector who didn’t know he was sitting on a million dollars. Phil Mikhailov is CEO and Co-Founder of Unicorn Auctions, the largest wine and spirits auction platform in the U.S., managing $100M+ in inventory and doing $1M in digital bottle trades monthly—without a drop being shipped. No VC pitch decks. Just product-market fit, handwritten notes, and Carmelo Anthony as investor #1. What started in a Chicago vault has now gone global—with 90% of customers coming organically. This is what it looks like when: -Tech meets trust - Collecting becomes community - And bourbon becomes an asset class 💬 “Be an owner, not a renter.” 💥 “Done is better than perfect.” Let this story serve as a reminder: Revolution doesn’t always start in Silicon Valley. Sometimes, it starts in a wine fridge. Learn more about Unicorn here: https://www.unicornauctions.com/ --------- Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

    Bourbon Just Became Currency - Unicorn's Phil Mikhaylov

  9. 05/12/2025

    Dude Wipes, Chief Executive Dude & President, Sean Riley

    What do a Shark Tank smack down and a life-sized foam butt on MTV have in common? They built Dude Wipes—a $200M empire that turned baby wipes into a pop culture phenomenon. In the premiere of Zeitgeist, Cameo co-founder Steven Galanis sits down with Dude Wipes CEO Sean Riley, who didn’t just break the DTC mold—he set it on fire. Armed with frat-boy hustle and zero apologies, Sean turned an uncomfortable truth (“baby wipes are better”) into a brand that’s rewriting the rules of retail. This is no MBA case study. It’s a raw, unfiltered confession packed with: • How to survive Mark Cuban’s “I’m out” and win him back • Beating Big Toilet Paper without a big budget • Riding a toilet paper apocalypse to explosive growth • Turning bro humor into a retail juggernaut From frat house burritos to C-suite swagger, Sean spills the stories PR teams wish he’d forget. If you’re building a brand or burning the rulebook, this is your blueprint to break out. Step past the Red Velvet Rope. Subscribe to Zeitgeist and catch Episode 1 now. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

    Dude Wipes, Chief Executive Dude & President, Sean Riley
  • 9 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Step past the Red Velvet Rope into Zeitgeist, where Cameo co-founder Steven Galanis pulls back the curtain on the renegades behind the consumer brands owning pop culture. Every week, Steven goes toe-to-toe with the masterminds—founders, CMOs, and disruptors—who’ve turned products into obsessions. No polished TED Talks here. These are the raw, unfiltered stories PR teams beg to bury. Think late-night whiskey confessions with a side of boardroom chaos. Expect: • Leadership lessons that cut through the noise • Secrets to hacking virality • Origin stories so wild, you’ll hit rewind • C-suite therapy, no buzzwords allowed • The playbook to cement your brand in the cultural zeitgeist Buckle up for Zeitgeist. Subscribe now and join the inner circle. The Zeitgeist podcast is brought to you by Cameo, Personalized videos from your favorite stars. Book yours here: https://www.cameo.com/

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