Most branding advice is vague fluff. This isn't that. Field Notes delivers practical, no-nonsense insights on brand clarity, messaging, and building something that actually sticks, grounded in the Brand Shepherd and the Vibe, Tribe, & Why® framework.
brandshepherd.substack.com (https://brandshepherd.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
Twenty years in, and it is time for a new experiment.
This week’s Field Notes announces the reimagining of shepx (https://shepx.us) into a brand experience lab where we take public risks, fail openly, and share what we learn along the way.
Four experiments are launching with it: a website built on Cloudflare’s new EmDash CMS instead of WordPress, custom brand music produced with AI, 3D-printed branded hard goods, and small language models trained on Brand Experience Guides.
The next 20 years of Brand Shepherd are going to look different than the last 20. This is one of the ways we are figuring out how.
Get full access to Brand Shepherd at brandshepherd.substack.com/subscribe (https://brandshepherd.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
18 Jul 2026
The One-Word Litmus Test for Hiring a Creative
Here is a fast, reliable test for what your next creative engagement is going to be like: listen for how the creative uses the word “art.”
If they call their commercial work art, brace yourself. This week’s Field Notes gets into why the century-old distinction between art (self-expression) and design (problem solving) still matters, why so many creative professionals have quietly lost that distinction, and why that loss is at the center of the AI backlash in creative circles right now.
The word is small. What it reveals about the engagement ahead of you is not.
Get full access to Brand Shepherd at brandshepherd.substack.com/subscribe (https://brandshepherd.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
11 Jul 2026
Three Reasons People Keep Using AI That Nobody Is Talking About
Every new technology has a stated reason people use it and an actual reason people use it. The gap between the two is where brands either lead or get left behind.
This week’s Field Notes gets into three underlying reasons people keep coming back to AI that almost nobody in leadership positions is talking about.
All three point to the same thing: customers are experiencing something in their AI conversations that they are not experiencing anywhere else, including with your brand. Understanding what and why is the difference between reading the moment and reacting to it after your competitors have already done so.
Get full access to Brand Shepherd at brandshepherd.substack.com/subscribe (https://brandshepherd.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)
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