Brand Slam Podcast

College athletics is no longer just about winning games. It is about building brands powerful enough to compete in a rapidly changing market.

On this episode of Brand Slam, hosts Steve Rosa and Joe Kayata sit down with Jason Butikofer, Deputy Director of Athletics/Chief Operating Officer at the University of Connecticut, to talk about how one of the country’s most recognized college athletics brands is navigating the NIL era.

The world’s biggest superheroes are built on more than spectacle. They’re built on identity, emotion and fandom.

In this episode of Brand Slam, hosts Steve Rosa and Joe Kayata go inside Hasbro’s Marvel universe with Mike Pullano, Senior Director of Global Brand Strategy & Marketing leading the Disney Marvel portfolio. From Spider-Man and Black Panther to X-Men, Deadpool and The Avengers, Mike shares how one of...

Culture travels when people believe in it. In this special episode of Brand Slam, hosts Steve Rosa and Mary Sadlier take listeners inside the International Portuguese Music Awards (IPMA) in Providence, Rhode Island, where music, storytelling and identity come together on a global stage.

From red carpet conversations with actress Daniela Ruah from NCIS fame, to performances and interviews with artists like D.A.M.A., Nelson Sobral an...

Culture is not a marketing tactic. It is the brand. And winning brands know how to activate it. 

In this episode of Brand Slam, hosts Steve Rosa and Joe Kayata sit down with Michael Benevides, President and CEO of Portugalia Marketplace and Portugalia Imports Inc., to explore how a family business rooted in Portuguese heritage became a nationally recognized brand experience. What began more than 30 years ago in a garage has gr...

The Boston Marathon is one of the most iconic and enduring brands in sports. On this episode of Brand Slam, presented by (add)victory, the sports marketing division of (add)global, hosts Steve Rosa and Joe Kayata sit down with Scott Stover, Chief Marketing Officer of the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.), to explore how the Boston Marathon has evolved into a global brand while staying true to its Boston roots.

With “Marath...

The strongest brands know when it’s time to reinvent themselves. And right now, baseball is in the middle of exactly that kind of transformation. Once challenged by shifting attention spans, the game is finding new life through global talent, a faster pace and a more connected, energized fanbase. On this episode of Brand Slam, hosts Steve Rosa and Joe Kayata sit down with longtime MLB executive Dan Duquette to explore how bas...

The best brands don’t just sell products. They give people something to say about themselves. ISlide built an entire company on that idea by taking a simple utility item, the slide sandal, and turning it into a platform for self-expression. Today, ISlide shows up on the feet of professional athletes, high school teams and fans across nearly every major sport. What started as a locker room staple has become a recognizable badg...

Our 50th episode marks an exciting milestone for Brand Slam, and to celebrate it we welcome back one of our favorite guests, Kathryn Tappen of NBC Sports. 

This episode takes listeners inside one of the most powerful storytelling stages in sports: the Olympic Games. When the world tunes in to watch history unfold, broadcasters play a critical role in shaping how those moments are experienced, remembered and shared. Few underst...

Episode 49 takes listeners inside one of the fastest-growing and most competitive arenas in sports: betting. With Super Bowl LX approaching, the biggest game of the year has become about far more than the final score. It’s a national ritual and now it’s a multi-billion-dollar marketplace of wagers, odds and real-time emotion. Today’s fan experience is shaped by data, prediction and participation, and few brands si...

Episode 48 takes listeners inside one of the most dominant franchises in modern sports: the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fresh off back-to-back World Series championships, the Dodgers are rewriting the blueprint for what a modern sports dynasty looks like. Great dynasties do not happen by accident. They are built with intention, culture and a relentless commitment to winning, much like great brands. In sports, that formula shows up on the ...

Great brands don’t just promise value; they prove it where it matters most. In healthcare, that moment happens at the pharmacy counter, where millions of Americans face a confusing and often emotional question: What is this medication going to cost me today? Episode 47 explores how GoodRx is transforming that moment from anxiety into confidence. The company has built a brand on trust, clarity and humanity, showing that when p...

The best marketers know how to read the room, and few people on earth do it better than an elite auctioneer. Brand Slam Episode 46 takes listeners inside the high-stakes world of auctions to uncover how energy, emotion and crowd psychology can drive marketing outcomes that spreadsheets can’t.

In this episode, hosts Steve Rosa and Joe Kayata sit down with Jacqueline Towers-Perkins, a London native turned New Yorker with near...

When passion meets purpose, branding magic happens, and Leandro Petersen knows it better than most. As Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer for the Argentine Football Association (AFA), he’s helping turn Argentina’s fútbol legacy into a global brand phenomenon. In this special bilingual episode, Petersen joins Steve Rosa and Michelle Spriegel to talk about building one of the most recognizable brands in sport &mdash...

Cuando la pasión se encuentra con el propósito, ocurre la magia del branding, y Leandro Petersen lo sabe mejor que nadie. Como Director Comercial y de Marketing de la Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA), está ayudando a convertir el legado futbolístico de Argentina en un fenómeno de marca global. En este episodio especial bilingüe, Petersen se une a Steve Rosa y Michelle Spriegel para hablar sobre cómo construir una de las marcas...

This week, Brand Slam hits a milestone: our two-year anniversary! Two years of conversation, curiosity and serious mic time–44 episodes deep, packed with enough stories to fuel your commute for months, all with the people shaping how we think about brands, business and culture.

When we launched the podcast, we couldn’t have predicted the journey it would take us on. Along the way, we’ve built relationships, learne...

What happens when the brand is a person?

When your most valuable asset is a human—known as much for feeding people in crisis as for fine dining—you’re building a brand and capturing a personality.

In this episode of Brand Slam, hosts Steve Rosa and Mary Sadlier sit down with Ellen Kaplan, VP of Marketing at the José Andrés Group, to explore how a hospitality brand grows into a global media presence, without losing...

When it comes to building a brand, the secret ingredient might just be the same one that makes an unforgettable meal: genuine hospitality.

On this episode of Brand Slam, (add)ventures founder and CEO Steve Rosa and Joe Kayata sit down with Steve DiFillippo, the culinary visionary behind Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse. With 10 locations from Boston to Atlanta, Davio’s has become a national name, but its commitment t...

Sustainability isn’t just a buzzword, it’s becoming a brand essential. And no one understands that better than the Environmental Media Association (EMA). In this episode of Brand Slam, hosts Steve Rosa and Joe Kayata go behind the scenes of a major milestone, how our virtual production studio became the first on the East Coast to earn EMA’s Green Seal for Studios. EMA CEO Debbie Levin joins the conversation to tal...

AI is rewriting the rules of branding, media and digital strategy. In Episode 41 of the Brand Slam podcast, (add)ventures founder and CEO Steve Rosa teams up with Joe Kayata to tackle how to navigate AI's accelerating impact on the way we search and connect with audiences.

Joining them is Pete Pachal, founder of The Media Copilot, a newsletter and podcast that explores how generative AI is transforming the media landscape. Pete is...