
What is a Gutsy Brand?

Some brands just seem to ‘get’ people. They appear to connect in all the right ways and have loyal, avid followers.
When we look at what they have in common, we see some similarities. We notice that they went beyond the superficial and the comfortable, that they dove deep to understand people at new, multi-dimensional levels, and that they acted on what they discovered.
Above all we see four repeating characteristics:
- They lead with empathy
- They demonstrate a pioneering spirit
- They stand behind bold ideas
- They seize opportunities where others see tradeoffs
At GutCheck, this is what we call a Gutsy Brand, and we love to help tell their stories to inspire others to follow their example.
What’s New From Gutsiest Brands
Episode #8
The METAIL Economy with Joel Bines
Regarded as one of the world’s leading operational strategists with a 30-year track record of improving performance at retailers, brands, and consumer companies, we are delighted to welcome Joel Bines, author of The METAIL Economy, to the Gutsiest Brands podcast to discuss being revolutionary, the demographic of one, and why your customers MUST be your north star.
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Joel’s Bio:
Joel Bines is managing director and co-head of the global Retail practice at the business consulting firm AlixPartners. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading operational strategists with a 30-year track record of improving performance at retailers, brands, and consumer companies. Among the media that look to him for analysis are The New York Times, Business Insider, CNBC, and the Wall Street Journal. Joel is the author of The Metail Economy, a book on business strategies to thrive in the me-centric consumer revolution.

Rob
Wengel
CEO, GutCheck

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Episode #7
A Story Behind Every Number with Nick Graham & Brigette Wolf
With fantastic stories from Mondelēz International’s brand family – including Cadbury and Oreo – Nick Graham (Global Head of Insights & Analytics) and Brigette Wolf (Vice President, Global Head of SnackFutures) sit down with GutCheck’s Chief Revenue Officer, Jess Gaedeke, to discuss Mondelēz International’s groundbreaking innovation, authentic LGBTQ+ community engagement, and the need to remember the people behind the data.
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Nick’s Bio:
Nick is the Global Head of Insights & Analytics for Mondelēz International, Inc. (makers of brands such as Oreo, Cadbury Dairy Milk, LU, Milka, Toblerone, Sour Patch Kids, and Trident) where his team uses a blend of data science and deep human insight to drive better business decisions. He has over 20 years’ experience in insights & analytics and prior to joining Mondelēz in 2021 spent almost a decade with PepsiCo in both global and local market leadership roles .
Brigette’s Bio:
Brigette serves as Vice President, Global Head of SnackFutures, Mondelēz International’s innovation and venture hub which launched in 2018 as part of the global snack leader’s growth agenda.
SnackFutures focuses on building and growing well-being and premium brands through a model of Invent and Venture. In her role, Brigette is responsible for fueling the company’s innovation pipeline by creating and launching SnackFutures brands as well as identifying and solidifying strategic investment opportunities. Brigette also oversees the new start-up engagement program CoLab, which launched in 2021 to discover and collaborate with emerging entrepreneurs.
Brigette has been with Mondelēz International for 7 years, and in that time served as the Senior Director of Global Platform Innovation for the Gum & Candy and Biscuits categories as well as the Senior Brand Manager for Global belVita innovation. Prior to this Brigette was with Kraft Foods for almost 10 years having served as the Global Innovation Manager for Oreo and the Brand Manager of several of the pizza and meal brands.

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Episode #6
Holding The Door Wide Open with Denise Woodard
There is so much to unpack in our latest Gutsiest Brands podcast where GutCheck’s Chief Revenue Officer, Jess Gaedeke, sits down with Denise Woodard, Founder and CEO of Partake Foods. Listen in as they talk food allergies, diversity and inclusivity, grassroots campaigns for change, and Denise’s connections to Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Beyoncé.
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Denise’s Bio:
Denise is the Founder and CEO of Partake Foods, a natural food company that was inspired by her daughter’s experience with food allergies. Launched in 2017, Partake’s first product — delicious, better for you, allergy-friendly cookies — can now be found in more than 8,000 retailers including Target, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, and Whole Foods Market.
Denise is the first Black woman to raise more than $1 Million publicly for a CPG food startup. To date, the company has raised over $7.5M from investors including HER, Rihanna, CircleUp Growth Partners, FF2032 and Marcy Venture Partners.
Prior to launching Partake, Denise spent a decade in consumer packaged goods at various Fortune 100 companies, most recently as the Director of National Sales for Coca-Cola’s Venturing & Emerging Brands division. She lives in New York City with her husband, Jeremy, and daughter, Vivienne. She graduated with her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Arizona State University.

Jess
Gaedeke
CRO, GutCheck

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Episode #5
Find Courage through Emotion with Brandon Larson
You’re going to find so much richness and insight into what it means to be gutsy and to truly lead with empathy in this interview between Brandon Larson, Director of Brand Strategy & Communications at Microsoft, and Jess Gaedeke, CRO at GutCheck, we recommend you stop reading this intro and go straight to your favorite platform to listen in!
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Brandon’s Bio
Brandon describes his career as brand strategist as working “at the intersection of strategy, technology, and psychology” which enables him to make an impact by pairing the digital experience with an understanding of human behavior. Brandon has helped to transform some of the world’s leading companies as well as launch them.

Jess
Gaedeke
CRO, GutCheck

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Episode #4
This Is Your Life with Lauren Wang
Jess Gaedeke, GutCheck’s CRO and former Nielsen Leader, sits down with Lauren Wang, the founder and CEO of The Flex Company – the top-selling sustainable period-care brand that is blazing a trail by making periods more comfortable – to talk entrepreneurship, gutsiness, empathy, and influencing.
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In perhaps our most empathy-forward discussion yet, Lauren Wang shares her inspiring story about how, after suffering for 15 years with infections from menstrual products, she decided to change the status quo, not just for herself, but for menstruators everywhere. Listen in to discover her obstacle-strewn path to success, her challenges in moving from D2C to mainstream retail, and, fascinatingly, how she convinced people who don’t menstruate to put their money behind her and her product.
Lauren’s Bio
Lauren Schulte Wang launched The Flex Co. in 2016, with the dream of transforming the lives of people with periods. After suffering from chronic infections for 15 years related to tampon use, it dawned on Lauren that it was time to change the status-quo. She set out to create period products that were more innovative, sustainable, and made for the 21st century.
Lauren frequently speaks on women’s health and entrepreneurship, and has been featured in TechCrunch, The New Yorker, WIRED, The Washington Post, and NPR.
Lauren is a member of YPO and a graduate of Y Combinator, and she gives back to her startup roots by mentoring entrepreneurs through both organizations, as well as with the Norrsken Foundation. Prior to founding The Flex Co., Lauren spent over a decade marketing leading consumer brands for companies including Coca-Cola, Upwork, and IBM, and advocating for issues she’s passionate about. She was the first in her family to graduate college, working full-time to earn her business degree from Georgia State University.

Jess
Gaedeke
CRO, GutCheck

Lauren
Wang

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Episode #3
How To Grow Companies with Kristin Luck
Jess Gaedeke, GutCheck CRO and San Francisco 49ers superfan, speaks with serial entrepreneur Kristin Luck, Founder of ScaleHouse, President of ESOMAR, and ‘cat with 13 lives’, about scaling businesses, empathetic entrepreneurship, the benefit of female investing representation in male-dominated industries – like porn – and procuring silverware from Denny’s!
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You’re going to laugh a lot and learn a lot in this wild conversation with Kristin Luck, who was once fired from Dairy Mart before going on to build and scale three technology companies with private equity backed exits! Listen in to discover how a now leading kombucha brand disrupted the market through an empathetic approach, why it takes guts to grow and scale a business, the importance of having a strong brand evangelist, and why, with 85% of purchase decisions being made by women, the investment community could benefit greatly from having more women in senior roles.
Kristin’s Bio
Kristin Luck is known for building innovative technology led companies that scale quickly through non-traditional sales and marketing techniques.
She serves as an advisor and growth strategist to a slew of cutting-edge marketing and analytics technology and services firms through her growth strategy and M&A advisory firm, ScaleHouse. She is a founder focused on helping fellow founders and executive teams scale and monetize their businesses and works frequently with firms in international markets to execute their entry into the U.S.
Kristin has consistently driven triple digit YOY performance improvement to leading marketing tech and services firms including The Harris Poll, Voxpopme, CanvsAI and SightX. Her work has been recognized in both the commercial (Fast Company, Forbes) and academic press (Research World, Journal of Brand Strategy) where she explores emerging marketing and growth strategy trends. She is consistently ranked as one of the top 100 sales and branding experts to follow on social media.

Jess
Gaedeke
CRO, GutCheck

Kristin
Luck

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Episode #2
Irrational Expectations with Karen Howland
Jess Gaedeke, GutCheck CRO, former leader at Nielsen, and current turtleneck aficionado, speaks with Karen Howland, Managing Director of CircleUp Equity (a tech-powered investment platform) about which brands she believes have guts, which she feels a special connection to, and why we should have irrational expectations in business.
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In this unique episode we take a look at how an innovative investment firm is using a blend of technology and human experience to help entrepreneurs stand behind their bold ideas and pioneer new paths.
Jess and Karen show how being grounded in empathy and creating highly personalized experiences lead brands to sustainable growth, and how Circle Up invests in companies that have traditionally been denied access to capital.
Karen’s Bio
Karen joined CircleUp in 2018 and serves as Managing Director. Before joining CircleUp, she served as an independent consultant providing financial services to small-to-mid sized consumer-centric companies. Prior to that, she spent over 15 years at top-tier international investment firms, including Citadel, Barclays Capital, and UBS where she held positions in the Investment Banking and Equity Research divisions focusing on the consumer and retail sectors. Mrs. Howland received her B.S. from Tulane University.

Jess
Gaedeke
CRO, GutCheck

Karen
Howland

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Episode #1
People, Purpose, and Provenance with Craig Dubitsky
Rob Wengel the CEO of GutCheck, founder of Experience Innovation, and iced tea drinker extraordinaire sits down with Craig Dubitsky, Chief Innovation Strategist at Colgate-Palmolive, the founder of Hello Products and likely the friendliest guy you’ll ever meet.
Craig is obsessed with design, transformational brands, and elevating the everyday things around us.
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In this inaugural episode, Craig and Rob take a spirited and fast-paced look at the importance of being human-centric in designing and marketing everyday products.
From how method soap was launched to the reason why his favorite book is an anthology of design patents, Craig reveals why every touch point between a brand and its audience matters, why being rooted in empathy is so important, and why you should reject those who tell you that you can’t do something.
Craig’s Bio
Craig is obsessed with design, transformational brands, and elevating the everyday things around us. He was an early investor and board member in method, the co-founder and creative lead at eos Products, the CMO of Popcorn, Indiana, and a board member of the Art Directors Club. He is Chairman of Lexicon’s Advisory Board because he digs names and was named to Advertising Age’s Creativity 50 as one of the Most Influential and Innovative Creative Thinkers and Doers. Craig’s a lover, not a fighter, and started Hello Brands because he was tired of hearing about a war in his mouth.

Rob
Wengel
CEO, GutCheck

Craig
Dubitsky
Colgate-Palmolive

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Bucking The Trend
See why, as humans, we love brands that demonstrate they are willing to go out on a limb, go against the flow, and dare to be different.
Seeing The Results
Following an empathy-first strategy does not mean you need to choose between people OR profits. Discover the real life results.
Doing What It Takes
Dive into the four key components it takes to be a Gutsy Brand and explore brands that have been highly successful by following these principles.
Are You Ready To Be Gutsy?
It’s not always easy to go out on a limb and put people first and foremost in your decision making.
At GutCheck, we empower research and marketing professionals with the insights they need to stand boldly behind their recommendations, and guide strategies that help bring their brands into more authentic connection with the people they serve. This is something we call Agile Human Experience Intelligence™.
We’d love to talk with you about how we can enable your brand to be gutsy through the power of Agile HXI.
© 2020 GutCheck is a registered trademark of Brainyak, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2020 GutCheck is a registered trademark of Brainyak, Inc. All rights reserved.