All Posts By

Salim Bueno

Our Work With David Blaine

David Blaine’s magic blurs the lines between illusion, art, and experience. Over more than two decades, he has captivated audiences around the world with performances that defy belief and linger long after the final moment. But as his work expanded into digital platforms like iTunes and Netflix, the question became clear. How could his visual identity evolve to meet the expectations of a digital audience without losing the mystery, tension, and emotional weight that defines his brand?

David Blaine turned to Cult Branding not just for updated artwork, but for a creative partner who could understand the essence of his brand and bring it to life in new ways. The goal was simple but ambitious. Refresh the artwork for all of his specials across major platforms, create a unified yet flexible visual identity, and ensure that each design felt like an authentic extension of his unique energy.

We began by exploring what makes Blaine’s brand so powerful. His performances are rooted in stillness, silence, tension, wonder. There is a minimalist clarity that runs through all of his work. Audiences are drawn not only to the illusion, but to the emotional weight of each moment. Every stunt is a story. Every stare, a question. That sense of presence had to translate visually in a space that favors fast scrolling and split-second decisions.

We also considered how modern digital platforms display visual content. A thumbnail on iTunes or Netflix must be instantly recognizable and emotionally charged, even at small sizes. We studied design hierarchy, color psychology, contrast, and negative space. Every detail matters when you have only a few seconds to stop someone in their tracks.

From there, we designed new covers for each of David Blaine’s specials. Some leaned into darker tones, using shadow and contrast to evoke suspense. Others brought the viewer in close, emphasizing eye contact or subtle facial expressions to convey intensity. We maintained a consistent visual language with typography, spacing, and layout, allowing each piece to stand on its own while reinforcing a broader brand identity. The result was a collection of covers that not only looked sharp on modern screens, but felt unmistakably Blaine.

The reaction from fans was immediate and positive. Longtime followers recognized the evolution while appreciating the continuity. New viewers were drawn in by the clean, modern, and intriguing visuals. The designs helped David’s specials stand out in crowded digital storefronts, where attention is fleeting and presentation is everything.

As David Blaine himself shared, “Working with BJ Bueno on updating the artwork for my specials was great. BJ is not just a branding expert, he’s a magician, making it incredibly fun to share ideas. He truly understood my brand, and we brought the project to life quickly.”

Beyond visual appeal, the refreshed artwork became a strategic asset. It improved discoverability, reinforced brand perception, and aligned every special under a cohesive creative vision. In an era where presentation often determines performance, that alignment mattered.

David Blaine’s case is a reminder that great content deserves equally great presentation. Visual identity is not just about aesthetics. It is a tool for storytelling, for signaling quality, and for building trust. For executives in entertainment, media, or consumer-facing content, this case highlights the importance of investing in brand coherence and creative strategy.

If your brand delivers compelling experiences but lacks consistency or clarity in how it shows up, now is the time to evolve. Design, when done well, becomes part of the experience.

October 3, 2025 by

Does Your Brand Look, Say, and Feel Right to Your Customer?

In the race for innovation, growth, and market share, many brands forget a simple truth: customers don’t fall in love with complexity—they fall in love with clarity.

At the heart of every Cult Brand is a clear and consistent emotional experience. And one of the fastest ways to evaluate your brand’s connection with its customer is through three deceptively simple words: Look, Say, Feel.

🔍 Look:

Does your visual identity tell a compelling story before you say a word?

If your logo vanished, would customers still recognize you from your imagery, packaging, or website? 

What story is your storefront, homepage, or ad layout telling your Brand Lover?

🗣 Say:

Are you speaking with your customer or at them?

Look at your headlines, email subject lines, product descriptions—do they express a real point of view, or are they interchangeable with your competitors? 

Can your customer quote your brand back to you?

💓 Feel:

What emotional signature does your brand leave behind?

Are you designing your brand for utility or for resonance?

How do your customers feel after interacting with you—and does your team know?Most executives focus on strategy and operations. But perception is the soil that trust and loyalty grow from. If your brand doesn’t Look, Say, and Feel aligned with your customer’s internal world, you’re not building a brand—you’re managing a commodity.

September 23, 2025 by

Marvel’s Multiverse of Loyalty

Marvel Studios may be facing theatrical turbulence, but its brand remains strong.

While critics point to “superhero fatigue” and underperforming films, Marvel has never relied solely on its box office performance. The brand’s real power lies in how it connects with its most loyal fans—its Brand Lovers—across comics, animation, games, television, merchandise, and events.

As outlined in the Cult Branding Workbook, true brand loyalty stems from meaningful relationships. Marvel continues to nurture these relationships across multiple channels, even when the spotlight dims on one.

Comics and Games: Engines of Loyalty

While moviegoers may hesitate, core fans are diving into Marvel’s newly rebooted Ultimate Universe, a fresh take on classic characters designed with reader feedback in mind. At the same time, the launch of Marvel Rivals, a multiplayer game with Twitch integrations and a $500,000 global tournament, shows Marvel’s investment in participatory brand experiences.

Consumers want to be part of something different. These ecosystems reward speculation, identity, and shared rituals—hallmarks of Cult Brand behavior.

Lessons for Brand Leaders

Brands must manage three dimensions—offering, space, and time—to create compelling experiences. Marvel excels here, orchestrating comics, games, shows, and films as interconnected touchpoints. From comic shop visits to Twitch streams to streaming binge sessions, fans are given constant opportunities to engage.

The Takeaway

Marvel’s strength is not just its intellectual property—it’s the multichannel relationship it maintains with its Brand Lovers. That’s what makes it a Cult Brand. When one format underperforms, the emotional connection remains intact because the brand lives in many places fans already care about.

For brand builders, the question is clear: Are we creating a brand that lives across the touchpoints our customers already use, or are we still hoping they’ll only meet us on our terms?

September 21, 2025 by

It’s All in the Recovery: Branding Lessons from Billy Joel

“I once asked a truly great chef how he got to be so good. He said, ‘It’s all in the recovery. How you correct your mistakes.’”
—Billy Joel, And So It Goes

There’s a quiet brilliance in that quote from Billy Joel’s new documentary. It’s not about perfection, it’s about resilience. About owning the moment after the moment goes wrong. For great chefs, artists, and yes, great brands, what separates the average from the exceptional is how they respond when things don’t go as planned.

In the Cult Branding Workbook, we discuss the critical difference between brands people like and those they love. That difference often reveals itself in how a brand recovers, how it listens, how it adjusts, and how it honors the relationship with its most loyal customers.

Mistakes Are Human. Recovery Is Emotional

All brands make mistakes. A product flop. A tone-deaf campaign. A change that alienates your best customers. It’s easy to freeze, deflect, or overcorrect in those moments. But Cult Brands lean into the opportunity instead.

Why? Because recovery is one of the most intimate acts a brand can perform. It says, “We see you. We hear you. You matter.”

Netflix has misfired on pricing and programming decisions more than once, but the speed and clarity of its recovery often deepen loyalty. Apple has walked back design changes, not out of fear, but because listening to its core users is part of the brand’s DNA. These aren’t signs of weakness. They’re signals of trust.

The Cult Branding Rule of Contribution

In the Cult Branding framework, recovery aligns with the Golden Rule of Contribution: Cult Brands always give back. Owning a mistake and making it right is a powerful way of giving back to your Brand Lovers. It shows humility. It shows strength. And it builds something that can’t be bought: credibility.

Customers don’t expect perfection. But they remember how you made them feel when things went wrong.

Leadership in the Recovery Moment

As Billy Joel reminds us, recovery is a craft. It takes intention. It takes humility. And it takes leadership.

Ask yourself:

  • When something goes wrong in your customer experience, do you have a system for turning it into a deeper connection?
  • Is your internal team empowered to make things right in real-time?
  • Do you know what “recovery” looks like from your Brand Lover’s perspective?

True brand loyalty isn’t built in the launch moment. It’s built in recovery.

The Art of Being Human

Billy Joel’s story isn’t just a music story; it’s a human story. And Cult Branding is, at its core, a human-centered strategy. Your customers don’t need you to be flawless. They need you to be real. And when you fall short, they need to know you care enough to get it right.

That’s where loyalty lives. So the next time your brand faces a misstep, don’t panic. Recover well. Because, as Billy said, that’s where the magic is.

August 17, 2025 by

The Loyalty Multiplier: Why Openness Builds Unshakable Brands

Most companies chase the “ideal customer.” They build entire campaigns around demographic precision, age ranges, income brackets, and buyer personas. But Cult Brands do the opposite.

They don’t narrow their audience.
They open their arms.

The Cult Branding Rule of Openness is simple: Cult Brands are radically inclusive. They don’t build walls. They build invitations.

Openness Isn’t Just Nice, It’s Strategic

According to the Cult Branding Workbook, “Cult Brands don’t discriminate. They openly embrace anyone who is interested in their companies.”

This isn’t about political correctness or inclusivity for its own sake. It’s about understanding a deeper truth: people don’t want to feel like customers—they want to feel like they belong.

Openness taps into three of Maslow’s most powerful human needs:

  • Belonging
  • Self-esteem
  • Self-actualization

When brands meet those needs, they move from being a product in someone’s cart to a part of someone’s identity.

Let’s take a look at two brands that embody this.

Costco: One Price. One Club. Everyone’s Welcome.

Costco doesn’t care what you drive, where you live, or what your job title is. The warehouse is the great equalizer.

You pay your annual fee, and you’re in. You push the same oversized cart, stand in the same sample lines, and get the same deal on 48 rolls of toilet paper as the guy in front of you. Whether you’re a retiree, a single parent, or a tech CEO, the experience is shared—and that’s the point.

By removing barriers and leveling the playing field, Costco fosters a culture of value, trust, and belonging. Their membership isn’t exclusive; it’s inclusive. And that’s why people renew year after year without a second thought.

The Savannah Bananas: If You Show Up, You’re Part of the Show

The Savannah Bananas are a baseball team, but calling them that barely scratches the surface. They’ve turned the sport into a joyful, rule-breaking circus. And what makes it work? Radical openness.

Banana Ball isn’t just for sports fans. It’s for kids, parents, comedy lovers, tourists, and anyone who wants to have a good time. You don’t need to know the rules. You don’t even need to like baseball. If you’re in the stadium, you’re part of the experience.

From dancing players to mic’d-up umpires to fans dictating rules mid-game, the Bananas tear down every wall between performer and spectator. They’ve reimagined baseball by asking one simple question: How do we make everyone feel included?

And it’s working. Every game sells out. Every crowd cheers louder. And fans don’t just leave with memories, they leave feeling like insiders.

Openness Wins Where Precision Fails

Exclusive branding may feel sophisticated, but it often alienates the very people who could become your most passionate advocates.

Openness expands your surface area for loyalty. It allows unexpected fans to step forward. It builds emotional equity by giving people a place where they feel seen.

Here’s the irony: the more open you are, the more cult-like your following becomes. Because people don’t tattoo exclusivity. They tattoo belonging.

For Brand Leaders: Questions to Ask This Week

  • Are we unknowingly excluding people through our language, imagery, or tone?
  • Where can we lower the barrier to entry without diluting the experience?
  • How can we build rituals or experiences that make new customers feel like insiders from Day One?

The Cult Branding Rule of Openness isn’t about appealing to everyone. It’s about welcoming anyone who feels the pull.

Let them in, and they just might never leave.

August 10, 2025 by

Great Leadership Starts With Clarity of Purpose

In Cult Brands, leadership isn’t just about strategy, operations, or profit.

It’s about creating clarity, especially when it comes to the customer.

As the Cult Branding Workbook puts it:

“Each team member must clearly understand how he or she contributes to the customer’s experience.”

This one sentence captures what most organizations miss:

Great brands aren’t built by marketing. They’re built by people who know why they matter.

The Invisible Work That Shapes Loyalty

It’s easy to focus on the flashy aspects, such as campaigns, launches, and events. But your customer’s experience is shaped by countless unseen moments:

  • A cashier who remembers your name
  • A bakery associate offering a cookie to a shy child
  • A bagger walking you to your car in the rain

Those moments don’t belong to the CMO. They belong to the entire team.

Leadership That Connects the Dots

Great leadership means helping every employee connect their daily work to the customer’s emotional journey.

It means:

  • Sharing the Brand Lover’s mindset, not just performance metrics
  • Making the purpose of the brand part of onboarding, meetings, and recognition
  • Turning core values into decisions, not just posters

At Publix, every associate, from the deli counter to the loading dock, understands they’re part of something bigger. “Where shopping is a pleasure” isn’t a slogan; it’s a shared mission. Leadership reinforces this not through speeches, but through systems that train, trust, and reward customer-focused behavior.

Brands Customers Love Start With Teams That Care

If your team doesn’t feel connected to the customer, the customer won’t feel connected to the brand.

So the question isn’t “What does marketing need to do?”
It’s: “Does every person on our team know how they create brand love?”

If not, leadership still has work to do.

August 8, 2025 by

Where Are You Now? Why This Simple Question Drives Great Brands

In the rush to scale, innovate, and stay ahead, most CEOs focus on what’s next. But real growth doesn’t start with the future—it starts with the truth.

Where are you now?

This question is simple, but it’s often the most overlooked. And yet, it’s where we always begin when building Cult Brands.

It’s not just about your financials or your place on the org chart. It’s about how your customers see you, how your employees experience you, and how your culture is living your brand values today—not years ago.

The Four Truths of Brand Reality

To understand where you are now, you need to examine:

  1. Internal Culture
     Is your team aligned with your values, or just executing tasks?

  2. Customer Perception
     What do your best customers feel about your brand? What stories do they tell?

  3. Cultural Relevance
     Are you part of a meaningful conversation, or just another ad in the scroll?

  4. Market Positioning
     Do customers see you as a leader, a disruptor, or something they can live without?

These truths don’t come from dashboards alone. They come from conversations—with your people, your Brand Lovers, and your critics.

Why This Question Matters Now

We’ve seen brands launch impressive campaigns, only to realize they didn’t reflect who they really were, or what their customers cared about.

That’s what happens when a business skips this foundational step. You can’t tell a powerful story if you don’t know where it begins.

The Cost of Misalignment

Assuming you “already know” your brand reality is risky. Cultures drift. Customer needs evolve. And what worked five years ago may be irrelevant today.

Alignment isn’t a one-time check—it’s a habit. A great CEO asks, “Are we still who we say we are?” and listens hard to the answer.

Ask Yourself:

  • What story do our customers tell when they talk about us?

  • Would they miss us if we disappeared?

  • Are we building a brand that inspires loyalty—or just transactions?

  • Do we still matter in their lives?

  • Is our internal culture reinforcing or diluting our brand?

Where Growth Begins

Before you rebrand, expand, or launch something new—pause. Ask the question that can change everything:

Where are we now?

If the answer isn’t clear, that’s where the Cult Branding process begins.

Let’s uncover the truth—and build something your customers can’t live without.

July 29, 2025 by

GE’s Timeless Logo

Despite transforming from a maker of light bulbs and appliances into a modern leader in aerospace, healthcare, and energy, General Electric (GE) has held onto one powerful visual constant: its iconic logo.

The GE monogram—a flowing script “GE” encircled by decorative swirls—was first trademarked in 1900. Since then, while the company has diversified, the logo has barely changed. Aside from slight updates in color (notably shifting to a softer blue in 2004) and line thickness, the core design has remained intact.

That wasn’t an accident. It was a strategy.

Consistency as a Strategic Asset

The GE logo has long stood for innovation and reliability. A 1923 ad described it as “the initials of a friend.” By using the same mark across products ranging from light bulbs to jet engines, GE unified its offerings and built brand equity that crossed categories. Customers didn’t need to understand the product—they trusted the emblem.

This consistency worked as a unifying thread across a sprawling business. Instead of fragmenting its identity as it entered new markets, GE used its logo to say: “This is all part of one trusted story.”

In branding terms, the monogram became shorthand for quality, progress, and American ingenuity. The decision to retain it—even as GE recently split into three focused businesses (GE Aerospace, GE HealthCare, and GE Vernova)—reinforces the emotional and symbolic value baked into the brand over decades.

Why Cult Brands Stay Visually Steady

Cult Brands don’t chase change for change’s sake. They know that symbols matter—they offer meaning, stability, and recognition in a noisy world. Apple. Nike. These brands build emotional resonance by showing up the same way, again and again. Familiarity breeds trust.

GE’s logo may not inspire tattoos, but it does evoke confidence. Generations have grown up seeing it in their homes. That repetition has created a subtle but powerful emotional connection. The logo is more than a mark—it’s a memory.

Leadership Takeaway: Treat Your Logo Like an Asset

For CEOs, the GE story is a reminder that brand consistency is a leadership decision, not just a design one.

When you preserve your visual identity across time and transformation, you tell your team, your customers, and your market: “We know who we are.” That clarity builds trust and allows your brand to stretch into new territories without losing credibility.

If your logo still captures the soul of your brand, don’t redesign it—reinforce it. Evolution in business doesn’t require revolution in identity.

As GE shows, a strong logo can carry a company’s story across generations—without losing its voice.

July 27, 2025 by

It’s Not Just What You Say—It’s Where You Say It

Most brands see media strategy as logistics: channels, CPMs, impressions.
But the media isn’t just a delivery system—it’s a declaration.

Your media choices tell your customers who you are and what you value.

Every placement, every partnership, every format sends a message—whether you intend it or not.

And when the media misaligns with your brand’s soul, your message gets lost—or worse, mistrusted.

Media Is Message, Not Just Medium

It’s not just what you say. It’s where you say it.

Would you launch a campaign about inclusion and community by buying aggressive pop-up ads on a clickbait site? Probably not. But brands make subtle versions of this mistake all the time—showing up in places that don’t match their values, audience mindset, or intended tone.

When media placement doesn’t reflect your beliefs, your customers can feel it—even if they can’t quite articulate what’s off.

A Hypothetical Misstep: What If Walmart Got It Wrong?

To see how this plays out, let’s imagine a version of a real campaign—but with the wrong media strategy.

Earlier this year, Walmart partnered with Megan Thee Stallion to launch her Hot Girl Summer swimwear collection—designed to empower women of all shapes and sizes with bold, inclusive style.

Now imagine if Walmart had launched that line with print ads in outdated Sunday circulars, or low-res banner ads on discount coupon sites.

Technically, they’d reach people. But emotionally? They’d miss the moment.

That kind of media would clash with the spirit of the campaign. It would strip away the cultural relevance and energy of Megan’s brand. It would send a message that says, “We’re checking a box,” not “We get it.”

What They Did Instead: Soul-Aligned Media Strategy

Walmart got it right—because they knew it wasn’t just about the product. It was about the placement, the partnership, and the platforms.

The Hot Girl Summer swimwear line launched in 500+ Walmart stores, lived front-and-center on Walmart.com, and was promoted through native Reels on Instagram and TikTok—right where Megan Thee Stallion’s audience spends their time, shares culture, and drives trends. The campaign even took center stage at Miami Swim Week, making a bold statement in a space that celebrates confidence and style.

At the heart of this cultural moment was Marcus Moore, one half of Contenders award-winning Executive Creative Director duo, who led the creative direction for the campaign. Marcus brought bold vision and nuanced insight, ensuring that the message didn’t just show up—it showed up right. His approach blended authenticity, empowerment, and cultural fluency, giving the campaign the emotional depth and relevance it needed to resonate.

Also part of the powerhouse team at Contender is DeChazier Pykel, Executive Creative Director, whose creative leadership continues to set the standard for culturally driven campaigns.

🌟 See why DeChazier is one of the top creative voices shaping culture-first branding.
👉 Watch his reel here

This wasn’t just smart advertising. It was emotionally intelligent brand building.

The result? A campaign that felt organic, empowering, and exactly where it needed to be.

Because when media aligns with message—and message aligns with meaning—you get more than impressions.
You get impact.

Ask Yourself: What Is Your Media Strategy Saying About You?

  • Are you showing up where your customers feel seen?
  • Are you choosing placements that reflect what you believe?
  • Are you using the media to invite, or to interrupt?

Every media decision tells a story about your brand.

If you’re not intentional, your placements may be saying more than your message.

Media is memory. Make sure the memories you create match the meaning you intend.

Ready to Align Your Media with Your Message?

If your brand is ready to stop just reaching people—and start resonating with them—we’re here to help.

Let’s talk about how to make your media strategy a true reflection of your brand’s purpose.

July 9, 2025 by

How to Create Brand Evangelists

Every brand wants loyal customers. But loyalty alone isn’t enough to spark real growth. The brands that thrive—the ones that become movements—do something more: they create evangelists. These are the customers who don’t just buy—they believe. They advocate. They bring others along for the ride.

How do you turn everyday customers into passionate brand evangelists? It doesn’t happen by accident. It starts with intention.

Here’s how to build the kind of brand people can’t stop talking about:

1. Know Your Brand Lovers

Identify the customers who light up when they engage with your brand. Learn what makes them tick.

2. Build Around Their Values

Align your actions and messaging with what matters to them. Show them you understand who they are.

3. Empower Their Voice

Give loyal fans platforms to share their stories. Celebrate them, not just your products.

4. Create Rituals, Not Just Offers

Loyalty isn’t built on points. It’s built on moments that feel meaningful and repeatable.

5. Lead with Empathy, Not Algorithms

Data helps scale. But empathy creates connection. Your team’s genuine care is your brand’s greatest asset.

Every anonymous customer is a potential evangelist—but only if you treat them like more than a number.

Are you building a brand people want to talk about?

Or one they barely remember?

Let’s talk: If your brand is ready to move beyond transactions and build a tribe of loyal followers, we can help you get there.

July 6, 2025 by