Mark It 2 Me Podcast

Mark It 2 Me is a podcast about branding, brand strategy, and the business of design, hosted by creative director Joe Baron. Most branding advice comes from people who've never had to defend a logo to a client who hated it. This isn't that. Hosted by Joe Baron, a New York creative director who's spent years working with brands big and small, from Harley-Davidson Motorcycles to indie rock musician Alyxx. Solo episodes go deep on brand strategy, creative direction, and the realities of running a design business such as pricing, positioning, and why a rebrand rarely fixes what's actually wrong. Guest episodes bring in operators worth the time from apparel founders, licensing pros, and designers who've shipped real work. Expect straight talk on what actually moves a brand, honest takes on the creative industry, the operational side most people leave out, and what it really takes to build brands from concept to something real.

Mark It 2 Me Podcast is a arts podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 0 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Mark It 2 Me Podcast, a arts show with 0 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #20

  20: What Should a Founder Post on Social Media? 10 Prompts that work

  Aug 18, 202610 min

  Founder-led content is the cheapest brand asset in the building, and most owners either flinch on it or borrow a format they never thought through. In this solo episode, Joe Baron uses one very public bite — and the week of executive one-upmanship that followed it — to draw the line between showing up and being worth following. Committing is the price of entry. Saying something only you could say is the return. From there he lays out the three questions to run any trend through before it becomes an HR conversation, then gives the full list of ten prompts he originally wrote for a coffee shop owner: one post each, ten weeks of content, nothing theoretical. The close makes the actual argument — this is a branding problem, not a content problem. If nobody ever speaks for the company, the voice is a guess, and the market fills that gap with whatever it decides you are. Key Takeaways Half-commitment reads like a lie, even when you're telling the truth. If the concept is the founder eats the burger, the founder eats the burger. Committing is the price of entry. Saying something only you could say is the return. Same clip, different letterhead. A joke that's fine on a personal account is a meeting with HR on a company account. Trends are a delivery system. They work when they're carrying something you already believe and fail when they're standing in for having something to say. Reasoning beats achievement. A finished piece of work proves you got it right once. Showing how you think proves you can do it again. A founder on camera is already paid for. It doesn't need a media buy and it can't be copied, because nobody else is you. About the Host Joe Baron is the Creative Director and Founder of Branded Baron, a New York branding and creative agency working with founders and business owners on brand strategy, visual identity, and content systems. Links: brandedbaron.com · MarkIt2Me.com · Follow on Social Media - @brandedbaron · @mark_it_2_me_podcast Download the PDF Visit the site to grab your prompt pdf - https://www.brandedbaron.com/what-a-founder-shares

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  Episode #19

  Ep. 19 Why AI will NEVER be better than average with Rocky Roark Part 2

  Aug 11, 202646 min

  Key Takeaways AI has a ceiling, & it is not a temporary one. Rocky's argument is that a system trained on existing work returns the average of existing work. Better models make average arrive faster. They do not make it above average. Using AI and designing with AI are different activities. He runs a dedicated machine for it hours a day, for admin, transcription, strategy, and structure. He will not use it to design, and he will not sell a client a logo they cannot own. The honest version of AI in a workflow keeps a person in it. Subscription design products are mostly production, not partnership. Set-it-and-forget-it is how you become replaceable. Without conversation, a client sees a queue instead of a partner. His longest retainer is coming up on four years, and it exists because of the relationship, not the dashboard. Seniority costs you the thing that got you here. Admin, content, and family crowd out personal work. His fix is small and unglamorous. doodle on the days the client work is light. Overview Part 2 picks up where the Creative South conversation left off, with stickers, which turns out to be the door into Rocky's other company. Slap Stickers became Slaptastic, ran a subscription model years before subscription models were everywhere, hit four hundred subscribers, never paid anybody including him, and sold in 2018. He gave half the proceeds to his mother and used the rest to clear the credit card debt the business had generated. From there it goes to the thing most senior creatives will not say out loud, which is that the further you get in a career the harder it becomes to make anything for yourself. Rocky's answer when asked if he has found time for personal work is two words: short answer, no. Then the AI segment, and it is the most specific one we have run on this show. Rocky uses AI for hours a day. He has a dedicated machine for it. He built a system for a client that generates on-brand decks to eighty percent before a designer finishes them. He also refuses to use it for design, will not sell an AI-generated logo, and argues that the ceiling is permanent — that a model trained on what already exists can only ever return the average of what already exists, and average is a losing position for anyone trying to raise money or win a category. Plus rapid fire: three books, a fifteen-hundred-movie server, and the client from hell who ghosted for three months and then threatened legal action. 00:00 Cold Open 00:25 Introduction 00:58 Part 1 Recap and a Glimpse of Part 2 01:50 Slap Stickers becomes Slaptastic 03:32 Labor of Love, Subscription Model, and Getting Paid 05:06 Selling the company 06:10 The Challenges of Subscription Models 08:10 Burnout and hitting goals nobody sees 10:03 The harder it gets to create for YOU 12:22 Joe's Trading Card Project 16:49 The Role of AI in Design 17:15 AI doesn't make design worse, it makes bad design faster 17:41 What Rocky actually uses AI for and the Claude Machine 20:57— The Role of Designers in AI-Driven Workflows 25:44 Brand Consistency in the Age of AI 26:31 Using AI as a Content Creation Tool 31:23 Can't stand AI Designers 32:08 You cannot copyright AI work 33:52 AI Designer FAIL story 35:25 The Future of Craftsmanship in Design 36:21 The AI Film at the Cannes Film Festival 37:06 Verifying Podcast Guest Email 37:54 Rapid Fire Questions 44:57 Closing Notes

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  Episode #18

  Ep. 18 Fake Brands, Real Money, and Bad Advice Part 1

  Aug 4, 202652 min

  Rocky Roark is the founder and design director of Blue Cyclops, an Atlanta-based brand studio named after the imaginary friend he created when he was a kid. He is a brand designer who also builds resources for solo creatives who were never taught the business side of the industry. In Part 1, Joe and Rocky break down various topics. The 30 day brand challenge he ran in public. Bird Rock Brewing Company, a fake brewery he built that has since generated somewhere between a quarter and half a million dollars of real work and two full-time jobs. What is the worst advice right now, & what Rocky actually charges. The LinkedIn system he uses to stay present without turning into the guy who DMs everyone asking for work. And how a designer with crippling social anxiety built a referral network by treating conferences like a pilgrimage. Connect with Us Rocky Roark Blue Cyclops — bluecyclops.co Bird Rock Brewing Co. case study — bluecyclops.co/case-studies/bird-rock-brewing-co YouTube — youtube.com/@rockyRoark LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/rockyroark Instagram — instagram.com/rockyroark Joe Baron - Host Branded Baron - https://www.brandedbaron.com/ Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/brandedbaron Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brandedbaron/ Mark It 2 Me Website - https://markit2me.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mark_it_2_me_podcast 00:00 — Cold Open 00:25 — Intro 01:22 — Bob the Blue Cyclops 02:51 — The 30-Day Brand Challenge 04:42 — Navigating Feedback and Creative Fatigue 06:15 — The Fake Brand that Made Money 07:34 — The Importance of Side Projects in Creative Work 09:45 — Mercenaries, Not Freelancers 11:20 — You Are a Partner, Not a Cog 14:00 — Pivoting in Design Careers 16:33 — The Worst Advice in Design Right Now 17:26 — The $10,000 Logo Myth 20:04 — Understanding Value and Pricing in Design Work 23:08 — Losing 60% of Revenue in 30 Days 24:37 — AI Coach 25:39 — The Power of Presence and Engagement 27:28 — Build Genuine Relationships 30:00 — Social Anxiety in Networking 34:25 — How to Actually Start the Conversation on LinkedIn 36:18 — Freelancers Refer Freelancers 38:44 — Trade Shows & Crypto 40:56 — The Value of Being an Industry Outsider 44:01 — Creative South: Build Community Through Conferences 50:17 — The Evolution of Creative Conferences

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  Episode #17

  Ep. 17 Polish is Overrated

  Jul 28, 202615 min

  Overview Polish is overrated. In this solo, Joe unpacks the moment every creative knows and never admits — the work is done at version three, but you keep grinding to version ten anyway. That extra polish isn’t for your audience. It’s for you. Drawing on Seth Godin’s The Practice and two of his own past guests, Joe makes the case for what actually builds a brand: clarity, humanity, and showing up again. Key Takeaways Fixing typos and obvious errors is table stakes — respect for the viewer. The layers of polish after that are usually for you, not them. Polish reads as “made for an audience.” Nobody thinks they’re an audience. Everyone thinks they’re a person — and a thing made for everybody isn’t talking to anybody. Failure is the practice, not the interruption to it. Polishing is trying to be right the first time, which is the one thing creative work never lets you do. It was never polished versus raw. It was: does it feel made for a person, and are you going to show up again next week? Perfect is a one-time performance. Consistent is a relationship. Polish still has a job — clarity. Kill the typos, clean the edits, then stop. The versions after that are comfort, not craft. Episode 9 - Biggie Bencomo of Deli Fresh Threads Episode 14 - Mariah MacInnes, the Content Queen Chapters 00:00 - The Moment the Work Is Actually Done 00:28 - Intro 00:57 - Saying It Out Loud 01:38 - The Trap: Polish as the Price of Admission 03:09 - The Practice by 05:51 - We Live in the Frontier: Mastery and Starting Over 06:11 - Failure Is the Practice 07:14 - Nintendo’s Journey 07:47 - The Messy Desk 09:13 - FaceTime Beats Broadcast 10:50 - Consistency Is the Trust Engine 11:55 - Trust Is Built Through Consistency, Not Polish 12:20 - Polish Has a Job 12:30 - Trust Your Gut and Ship Your Work 13:30 - What a Brand Really Is 13:45 - Show the Real, Imperfect Moments to Connect 14:17 - Upcoming Guest and Closing Thoughts Follow Us Joe Baron https://www.brandedbaron.com/ All social media @brandedbaron https://markit2me.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mark_it_2_me_podcast

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  Episode #16

  Ep. 16 How Free Content Turned Into Brand Deals

  Jul 21, 20261h 5m

  Anderson Bluu returns to Mark It 2 Me for a conversation that covers more ground than most guests manage in a first appearance. We get into the creator economy in real, operational terms: how content has replaced the billboard, what “invisible hours” mean for building a loyal audience, and why the brands that reach out to Anderson usually do it because of a video he posted years earlier without expecting anything from it. Anderson breaks down his new YouTube channel (built specifically for the beginning digital artist) and why he started it in secret, without telling anyone. We dig into his Adobe Fresco partnership, what it looks like when a brand that size shows up in your inbox, and the debate we promised in episode one: Fresco vs. Procreate vs. Illustrator. On the business side: how Anderson tests new art prints at Comic Cons the way a comedian road-tests jokes, why limited edition beats open edition for urgency, and where sports art is heading. Key Takeaways Content is today’s billboard. The device in your pocket reaches more of the right people for free. “Invisible hours” build the most loyal fans. Someone can spend twenty hours with your content before you ever speak. By the time they reach out, they’re already bought in. Brand deals come from content you made for free. Adobe and Posca both reached out because of videos Anderson posted with no expectation attached. Packaging beats quality. 1 video got a thousand views while the repackaged version got 10 million. Timestamped Chapters 0:00 — Cold open montage/Intro 1:09 — The new YouTube channel: starting from zero & in secret 3:26 — “You’re in the content business” 4:47 — What content does for a small business: the plumber and evergreen content 7:27 — Invisible hours: the fans you don’t know you have 9:44 — Building an audience without negativity or clickbait 10:10 — Start in secret, find a coach, learn the packaging 15:58 — Why today’s billboard is your phone 17:25 — Graphic designer or illustrator? 23:40 — How the Adobe Fresco partnership happened 26:00 — Brands really do watch 28:25 — User generated content and what brands actually want 30:30 — Where brand collaborations are heading 32:30 — Is the creator economy oversaturated? 36:25 — Super fans are real 40:19 — Be Yoda, not the hero 41:37 — Newsletters are the most profitable way to scale content 50:08 — Rapid fire Questions 51:47 — Biggest client red flag 55:31 — Limited edition vs. open edition 1:03:22 — Five years from now: what future Anderson thanks present Anderson for 1:04:15 — Where to find Anderson Find Anderson: Instagram: @anderson_bluu YouTube: Anderson Bluu / Anderson Bluu Art Shop: bluudreams.com Find the show: MarkIt2Me.com Instagram: @mark_it_2_me_podcast Find Joe: brandedbaron.com — branding, marketing campaigns, illustration Newsletter: sign up at brandedbaron.com Instagram / Threads / YouTube: @brandedbaron

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