Celebrity brand partnerships work best when you start with the retail buyer and choose the face that buyer already loves. Weston Woodward, partner at A to B Brands in Austin, Texas, builds celebrity brands for consumer packaged goods, handles talent negotiations, and runs retail and distribution strategy for products headed to shelves like Target and Home Depot. If you have a great product and no way into the room, your problem is access. You can spend months chasing agents, managers, and lawyers, or you can work with people who reach them in days because the relationships already exist. When everyone is chasing the next tool, trust and proximity still close the deal. On this episode of the Evolved Entrepreneur Podcast, Marc Anthony, Private Founder Advisor and founder of Evolved Entrepreneur, sits down with Weston to unpack how he went from politics and startups to fractional business development, and why it took him until the last few years to turn his gift for connecting people into a real business. Weston also shares his advisory work with Synergy Sports Capital, the $150 million fund led by former NFL players Reggie Bush and Terrence Murphy that invests in emerging teams and leagues like League One Volleyball, plus Off Market, his community for family office capital allocators. You walk away knowing why in person relationships are the long game, and how to build a network that brings you deals. Are you the bottleneck in the business you built? Take the free Ceiling Code diagnostic: https://ceilingcode.scoreapp.com/ In this episode, you'll learn: • How celebrity brand partnerships work in retail, and why A to B Brands asks the Target or Home Depot buyer which celebrity they like before Weston Woodward signs any talent. • What CPG means, and why consumer packaged goods brands in beverage, beauty, and wellness pair with content creators online and with celebrities when the goal is a retail shelf. • Why direct relationships with agents, managers, and talent lawyers let A to B Brands reach the right celebrity in days, while most brands spend months making cold calls. • How Weston Woodward sharpened his read on people over two decades in business, and why he now only chooses partners he can see himself working with for life. • Where handshake deals still happen, with Weston naming Austin, New York, the UK, and parts of the Midwest as places where a person's word still carries weight in business. • Why sports, community, and in person experiences are growing, how Synergy Sports Capital invests in emerging leagues, and why Weston is betting on real life businesses for the long term. We talk about: 00:00 Meet Weston Woodward of A to B Brands 01:10 What are celebrity brand partnerships in retail 03:53 Leaving politics for business built on integrity 06:52 Where handshake deals still happen today 09:11 Synergy Sports Capital and the Off Market community 12:23 How did Weston find his career through line 14:11 What is CPG and what Weston brings 16:39 Your vibe attracts your tribe in business 18:21 Sports and entertainment as predictors of the future 20:56 Is drinking coming back with Gen Z 32:30 AI adoption, hype, and the dot com lesson 34:48 Where to find Weston Woodward Connect with Weston Woodward: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westonarmstrongwoodward/ Connect with Marc Anthony: Ceiling Code: https://ceilingcode.scoreapp.com Connect with Marc: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube
