Mark It 2 Me Podcast

About Mark It 2 Me Podcast

Mark It 2 Me is a podcast about branding, brand strategy, and the business of creative work, hosted by New York creative director Joe Baron. It's made for the people who hire creative work (founders, marketers, creative directors, and art directors) and the designers who want to understand how those decisions actually get made. This podcast is for you if you find yourself asking questions such as: How much should branding cost, and what am I actually paying for? Do I need a full rebrand or just a refresh? Why didn't my new logo fix anything? How do I write a creative brief that gets me what I want? Should I hire an agency, a freelancer, or bring it in-house? How do I tell whether the work my designer sent back is any good? Why isn't my product photography selling anything? The goal of this show is to help business owners and marketing leads make better decisions about the branding, design, and creative work they pay for and to give creatives a clearer read on what their clients are actually thinking. Joe Baron is the Creative Director and Founder of Branded Baron, a New York branding and creative agency. He's spent years on brand strategy, visual identity, and creative direction for lifestyle brands from Harley-Davidson Motorcycles to entertainment businesses like indie rock musician Alyxx. Most branding advice comes from people who've never had to defend a logo to a client who hated it. This isn't that. Solo episodes go deep on brand strategy, pricing, positioning, rebrands, brand identity, and creative direction. Guest episodes are conversations with apparel founders, licensing pros, marketers, and creatives who've built something that lasted. If you're looking for straight talk about branding and design from someone who does this for a living, you're in the right place. This podcast delivers value for small business owners, founders, marketing managers, creative directors, art directors, graphic designers, and anyone responsible for how a brand looks and sounds.

Publisher

Branded Baron

Category

arts · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Feb 2026

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

27 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026

   27: Getting Unstuck: Why Mindset Isn’t Enough | Ryan Roghaar

   Most business books tell you to fix your head. Guest Ryan Roghaar printed out a revenue goal, stuck it on his office wall, and read it every morning for a year. He ended the year exactly where he started and that's when he figured out belief was never the thing getting him into the room. Back on Mark It 2 Me for the first time since Episode 2, the author of The Lid and co-host of Eggs! The Podcast breaks down the two halves of what stops people who are already good at what they do: the internal story you carry about who you are, and the structural piece almost nobody talks about (the information, the exposure, and the working model for how the next level actually runs.) He walks through the Threshold Loop, the six-step pattern that quietly returns you to where you started, and he is the example in most of it: a subscription model nobody asked for, version two of a product nobody bought version one of, a website refined instead of a sales call made. He also names the Social Lid (the people who love you and are still wildly accurate about who you used to be) and the Proof Move, the one action that gets you out. Key takeaways Belief does not get you in the room. A year of reading his goal off the wall changed nothing. Sales calls, conferences, and asking would have. The lid has two halves, and most advice only treats one. Mindset is the half on every bookshelf. The other half is the map you do not have and the room you have never been in. Substitution feels like progress. The most dangerous step in the Threshold Loop is real, useful work done in place of the uncomfortable work that would actually move you. The Social Lid is well-intentioned. The people closest to you are not working against you. They are describing who you used to be — and pitching that version of you. The way out is the Proof Move. One action this week that the current version of you would not normally take. Thirty letters to thirty agencies. One yes. Guest Info - Ryan Roghaar Ryan Roghaar spent two decades running the creative and brand-strategy firm R2 and has co-hosted Eggs! The Podcast for nearly 500 long-form conversations with founders, artists, and builders. He is the founder of RŌG Health, a commercial-readiness and decision-support firm for medtech and medical-device companies, and publishes The Path, a weekly business newsletter. His book, The Lid: The Invisible Barrier Between Here and What's Next, came out of a pattern he kept hearing in those conversations — capable people stalling right after things start working. thelidbook.com (https://thelidbook.com) Find more info on Ryan's book and download the free first chapter. ryanroghaar.com (https://ryanroghaar.com) eggsthepodcast.com (https://eggsthepodcast.com) - Ryan's Podcast thepathweekly.com (https://thepathweekly.com) - Ryan's newsletter roghealth.com (https://roghealth.com) - Ryan's consultancy agency linkedin.com/in/ryanroghaar (https://linkedin.com/in/ryanroghaar) - Ryan's LinkedIn Host Info - Joe Baron https://www.brandedbaron.com/ (https://www.brandedbaron.com/) - Joe Baron creative agency site Mark It 2 Me Website https://markit2me.com/ (https://markit2me.com/) - Catch up on past episodes or sign up to the newsletter for more info not included in the episodes.

2. 

   29 Sept 2026

   26: McLaren’s New Logo and Why Rebrand Outrage Rarely Matters

   McLaren changed its logo and the internet reacted like the company was going under. The criticism is fair — but a new logo almost never hurts a brand, unless it erases the thing people recognize you by. In this solo episode, Joe breaks down what McLaren changed and kept, answers a skeptic’s “how?” with five reasons, reveals the line Gap and Cracker Barrel crossed, and shares four lessons for smaller businesses. Key takeaways • Loud isn’t right — outrage doesn’t measure damage. • Needing to explain a logo isn’t a failure. It’s the job. • A logo change hurts when it erases what people recognize you by. • The product is what people are loyal to — see New Coke. • Don’t rebrand because you’re bored. 00:00 McLaren’s new logo and the internet’s reaction 00:50 When does a rebrand actually hurt a brand? 01:02 The rebrand outrage cycle: Jaguar and Cracker Barrel 01:43 Why designers complain the loudest 02:14 Why the McLaren critics have a point 02:51 What McLaren changed and what it kept 03:47 Needing to explain a logo isn’t a failure 04:23 Does a logo need to show what you do? 04:38 Telling the story: Ep. 11 and McLaren’s homepage film 05:40 Does the new logo hurt McLaren? 05:53 Answering “how?”: five reasons it won’t 07:03 Nobody outside the room knows the brief 08:41 When a logo change actually hurts 09:06 The line: Gap, Cracker Barrel and New Coke 10:39 What small businesses should take from this 11:10 Four lessons: product, story, consistency, positioning 12:24 Don’t rebrand because you’re bored 12:40 Honor the past + the Brand Gut-Check Notable quotes “The noise is loud, but the loud isn’t the same as being right.” “Needing to explain a logo isn’t a failure. It’s the job.” “A logo change hurts when it erases what people recognize you by. Evolving is fine. Erasing it isn’t.” Brand Refresh Checklist - https://www.brandedbaron.com/rebrand-checklist (https://www.brandedbaron.com/rebrand-checklist) Episodes to check Episode 15 - The Brand Gut-Check Episode 11 with Jason Frostholm Mark It 2 Me website — https://markit2me.com/ (https://markit2me.com/) Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/mark_it_2_me_podcast (https://www.instagram.com/mark_it_2_me_podcast) HOST - Joe Baron Branded Baron — https://www.brandedbaron.com/ (https://www.brandedbaron.com/) Follow on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/brandedbaron/ (https://www.instagram.com/brandedbaron/) Follow on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/brandedbaron (https://www.youtube.com/brandedbaron)

3. 

   22 Sept 2026

   25: What Running a Brand for 19 Years Actually Costs | Matthew Johnson

   Matthew Johnson has run Seventh.Ink (http://Seventh.Ink) by himself for nineteen years. Four years ago he moved his inventory into a warehouse. This spring he moved it back out. He breaks down why, what in-person sales actually look like right now, and how a monthly Patreon series became the only deadline on his calendar that cannot slip. Key takeaways —   Scaling up is only a good decision if you are willing to reverse it. The warehouse solved a real problem in year fifteen and created a different one by year nineteen. —   A subscription is a deadline before it is a revenue stream. The monthly pin and patch series is the only thing that cannot slip, so everything else organizes around it. —   Quality is the through line, not the theme. Customers arrive for one series and stay for the blanks and the ink — some of them buying a yellow shirt they swore they would never own. —   Convention sales came in at roughly half of last year across his entire vendor network. If your numbers are down, it is worth knowing it is not just you. —   Make the call before the math makes it for you. Wait too long and it does not shrink, it implodes. Chapters 00:00Cold Open 00:10Intro 01:26Haunted Collection 17 03:08Portfolio Book Archive 04:58Bringing back old graphics without killing sales 07:19Releasing Halloween in August 09:21The four releases a year 12:19The monthly pin and patch series 13:27Designing for fans vs everyone 16:20Promoting a Patreon page 18:24Magic the Gathering, Lord of the Rings, and more Fantasy 20:04Why pins and patches 23:01DTG vs Screen printing 24:59Color separation and why it matters 28:56Art books, collectibles, and an idea worth stealing 33:35The Warehouse - Having it then Giving it up 37:14The Call with Johnny Cupcakes 38:14Make the call before it makes itself 39:39The Dip in Sales - The economy and convention truth 41:54Wholesale, Retail, and a Brick and Mortar Store 43:09Rapid Fire Questions 47:40The Wrap up Guest bio Matthew Johnson is the artist and designer behind Seventh Ink, a one-man art and clothing brand he has run since 2007. A graduate of the Art Institutes International Minnesota, he is a graphic designer and web developer by trade and still freelances under Seventhfury Studios. Seventh Ink spans apparel, enamel pins, patches, prints, and original art, with an annual Haunted Collection now in its seventeenth year. He works out of Tampa, Florida. Links - https://seventhink.com/ (https://seventhink.com/) patreon.com/seventhink (http://patreon.com/seventhink) instagram.com/seventh.ink (http://instagram.com/seventh.ink) Host - Joe Baron https://brandedbaron.com/ (https://brandedbaron.com/) Social media- @brandedbaron Show Website https://markit2me.com/ (https://markit2me.com/) Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mark_it_2_me_podcast (https://www.instagram.com/mark_it_2_me_podcast)

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Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.