The Brandinc PR Podcast

The Brandinc PR Podcast is your go-to source for insights and strategies from top entrepreneurs, business leaders, and industry experts. Hosted by Brandi Sims, this podcast dives into real-world success stories, actionable tips, and the latest trends to help you grow your brand and business. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a business professional, or just passionate about making an impact, each episode offers valuable takeaways to fuel your success.

The Brandinc PR Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Brandi Sims, with 93 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Brandi Sims hosts The Brandinc PR Podcast, a business show with 93 episodes published.

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  Episode #84

  Cada Cabeza Es Un Mundo: How Fabiana Meléndez Ruiz Built the Agency Texas Was Missing

  Oct 1, 20261h 2mS3

  She didn't want to start an agency. She did it anyway — and made her investment back in 30 days. Fabiana Meléndez Ruiz is the co-founder and CEO of Refuerzo Collaborative, the Latina-owned Austin agency built on one idea her mother repeated every single day: cada cabeza es un mundo — everyone's head is their own world. In this episode, Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with a friend and fellow Austin founder for a conversation that goes way past the highlight reel. Fabiana fled Venezuela as a child, became the only Latina in nearly every agency room she walked into, and got so tired of watching the industry treat Spanish-speaking communities like an afterthought that she built the alternative herself. Four months after launch, she was representing her clients at the United Nations. We get into it: ️ Why "translating the campaign" is not multicultural PR — and what actually is ️ The two decisions that made Refuerzo profitable in month one ️ Landing 197 million media impressions in under a year — for a civil engineering firm ️ What agencies quietly walked back after 2020, and what it cost her to keep going ️ The ethics conversations our industry still refuses to have out loud She's a 2026 Austin Under 40 finalist, an HPRA ¡BRAVO! Award winner, a multi-year Austin Woman Changemaker — and at 30 years old, she's just getting started. Pull up a chair. This one's personal. Connect with Fabiana: refuerzocollab.com Connect with Brandinc PR: @brandincpr on Instagram, LinkedIn & Facebook | brandincpr.com New episodes of the Brandinc PR Podcast — a Feedspot Top 70 PR podcast — drop every week. Subscribe, rate, and share with a communicator who needs to hear this. RESOURCES + LINKS Book Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here . LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here . Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠ Start For Free⁠ . ⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth. Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

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  Episode #83

  Impressions Are Dead: The AI Tool That Finally Proves What PR Is Worth | Michael Emerton, BridgeView Marketing

  Sep 24, 202645 minS3

  PR professionals have been asked to prove ROI for decades. Most of them have been handing executives vanity metrics and hoping nobody asks too many questions. Michael Emerton decided to actually solve the problem. This week on the Brandinc PR Podcast, host Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Michael Emerton, Co-Founder and CEO of BridgeView Marketing — a boutique, metrics-based PR and digital marketing agency that just won a Hermes Creative Gold Award and a 2026 Communicator Award for its AI-enabled PR attribution platform, PR Rosetta Stone™ — alongside honorees like Disney, PepsiCo, and Marriott. Michael has spent two decades guiding technology companies through every major industry shift from the dot-com crash to the AI era. He also served as acting press secretary for Voice of the Faithful during the 2002 Boston Globe clergy abuse crisis, and worked with the Commission on Presidential Debates during the 2000 election controversy. In this episode, Michael and Brandi get into: Why advertising value equivalency and impressions are failing executives — and what replaces them How PR Rosetta Stone™ connects individual earned media placements directly to website traffic, AI visibility, and revenue outcomes What navigating two of the most high-stakes communications crises in modern history taught him about PR under pressure Why boutique agencies have a structural advantage over large firms in the AI era What he tells PR agency owners who are still afraid to talk about ROI with their clients If you're a PR professional, agency founder, or communications strategist who has ever struggled to prove the value of your work in a boardroom — this episode was made for you. ️ New episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast — listen now. RESOURCES + LINKS Book Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here . LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here . Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠ Start For Free⁠ . ⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth. Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

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  Episode #82

  From Strawberries to THC Gummies: The Boldest Brand Move in Gifting History | Angela Johnson, Edible Brands

  Sep 17, 202629 minS3

  Edible Arrangements built an empire on chocolate-covered strawberries. So what happens when the same house of brands launches a low-dose THC gummy e-commerce company? You get one of the boldest brand extension plays in recent marketing history — and a CMO conversation you don't want to miss. This week on the Brandinc PR Podcast, host Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Angela Johnson, newly promoted Chief Marketing Officer of Edible Brands — home to Edible Arrangements, Rōti Modern Mediterranean, freshfruit.com, and edibles.com. With 23+ years in marketing and innovation, Angela has led brand strategy from the agency trenches to the C-suite, including a standout run at Krystal Restaurants where she helped drive double-digit comp sales growth with the launch of Hangover Krystal. Now she's overseeing marketing and product innovation across four wildly different brands, reporting directly to CEO Somia Farid Silber. In this episode, Angela and Brandi get into: What agency life teaches you that brand-side marketers have to learn the hard way Why she says "if you're not measuring, evaluating, and evolving — you're dying" The internal conversations that had to happen before edibles.com got a green light How she's positioning a cannabis brand as "about health, not high" in a stigmatized market What it's really like to build Rōti's entire marketing strategy from scratch — blank canvas and all The 90-day move every marketing leader should make when inheriting a multi-brand portfolio This episode is for every brand strategist, agency owner, and marketing leader who's ever had to protect a legacy brand and push it somewhere new at the same time. ️ New episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast — listen now. RESOURCES + LINKS Book Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here . LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here . Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠ Start For Free⁠ . ⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth. Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

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  Episode #81

  800+ Startups, 7x Business Insider Top 50 & the Future of PR | Elliot Tomaeno, ASTRSK PR

  Sep 10, 202644 minS3

  What does PR actually mean when AI can write the press release, pitch the journalist, and draft the follow-up — and none of it sounds like you? This week on the Brandinc PR Podcast, host Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Elliot Tomaeno, Founder and CEO of ASTRSK PR — a New York-based agency built for brands that embrace their rebellious side. Since founding ASTRSK in 2012, Elliot has helped launch and support 800+ startups and innovation brands including Groupon, Squarespace, Prime Video, Lemonade, and THINX. He's been named to Business Insider's Top 50 PR Professionals list seven years running, earned Adweek's 30 Under 30 in 2015, and is also an LP investor in Primary Ventures, Female Founders Fund, and Mac Venture Capital. In this episode, Elliot and Brandi get into: What it really takes to build a PR agency from scratch — and keep it standing for 13+ years Why ASTRSK bets on "rebellious brands" and what that positioning has meant for their growth His honest take on what AI is doing to the PR industry — and what it can never replace The difference between PR that launches a brand and PR that sustains one What his dual lens as agency founder AND venture investor has taught him about brand strategy If you're building a PR practice, running a startup, or just trying to figure out where the industry is actually headed — this is the episode you didn't know you needed. ️ New episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast — listen now. RESOURCES + LINKS Book Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here . LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here . Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠ Start For Free⁠ . ⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth. Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

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  Episode #80

  The CMO Who Helped Make Fearless Girl Go Viral — And What She Knows About Brand Depth | Gemma Craven

  Sep 3, 202642 minS3

  She helped turn a bronze statue into a global cultural sensation with zero paid media. Now she's making another bold bet — this time as CMO of Scribd , positioning the brand as the antidote to AI noise in a world drowning in fast content. This week on the Brandinc PR Podcast, host Dr. Brandi Sims sits down with Gemma Craven, Chief Marketing Officer at Scribd, Inc. With 25+ years of experience building and positioning global brands, Gemma has advised the C-suites of Spotify, Nike, Fiverr, and Ford, built Social@Ogilvy New York into an award-winning multi-practice division, and led one of the most strategically daring rebrands in the digital content space. In this episode, Gemma and Brandi get into: The real story behind the Fearless Girl campaign — and the lesson underneath the magic that most people still miss Why Scribd went against the AI trend when every other brand was racing toward it What Scribd's 2026 State of Reading Report reveals about the future of content marketing The biggest mistake senior marketing leaders are making with brand building right now What "brand depth" actually looks like in a media pitch — and why most pitches miss it entirely If you're a PR pro, communications director, or brand founder wondering whether slow, substantive brand building still wins in a scroll culture — Gemma's answer might surprise you. ️ New episode of the Brandinc PR Podcast — listen now. RESOURCES + LINKS Book Your PR Power Hour Session — If you're ready to cut through the noise and get a clear, strategic PR plan tailored to your brand, this 1:1 intensive session is the fastest way to work with Brandi. Start Here . LIMITED TIME: Pitch Kit — $27 (Valued at $497) Get the exact tools, templates, and frameworks you need to position your brand for media opportunities and stand out in a crowded landscape here . Get Brandi’s AI-Powered Tool For Pitching Media ⁠Right Here⁠. Use code BIPR to get $50 off your first month! Revamp Your Business Foundation with our exact automation tool that streamlines communications from prospects to media bookings in minutes. ⁠ Start For Free⁠ . ⁠Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Newsletter⁠ and get bi-weekly insights on brand strategy, PR trends, and business growth. Drop us a review and we’ll send you our 5 Things You Must Have to Be A Media Magnet FREE (Value $297).

  ListenShow Notes

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