The Latest at VOMP Studios - I turned 28 on Wednesday. It feels kinda like a “free year”. I survived the 27-club and 29 is basically 30 but we’re not there yet.

This week’s riffs for the creative vandals, outlaws, misfits, and pirates of the internet:

• Create Cooler: How brand strategy & design is like building a home

• Build Better: What kind of entrepreneur are you?

• Earn Easier: The 5 stages of “Buy My Shit”

• Break The Rules: Possibly my favorite collab of all time

• The Hit List: Music to turn up and tune out

Branding x Design = Like A Dream Home

Let’s be real: building a brand is like building a house... if you also had to host a dinner party in it while it’s under construction.

Throwing a dinner party sounds tough enough already.

After last week’s riff, we know that getting a brand off the ground takes more than slapping together a logo and picking a “fun” font.

It’s about strategy and design playing nice—or, better yet, collaborating like the Traveling Wilburys (Please tell me you caught that reference).

Here’s the deal: strategy is the blueprint, and design is the hammer, paint, and overpriced throw pillows.

When those two get together, you don’t just get a house—you get a freaking dream home. Or in branding terms?

A masterpiece that looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright home but operates like Tony Stark’s Malibu home before it got shot into the ocean.

Think aesthetic meets function like a Shinola Watch or a Mont Blanc pen.

Strategy + Design: The Power Couple

First off, no house—or brand—magically appears out of thin air unless you’re friends with that one wizard kid with a forehead scar.

Remember from last week: Hope ain’t a strategy, kid.

Everything from the logo to the color palette to the tagline is born out of a deep dive into strategy.

The internet allowed us to lead every customer through a hyper-specific journey to serve them better (and profit, duh).

It’d be a huge miss NOT to dive into it, don’t you think?

Don’t ask yourself: “Does this look cool?”

Ask yourself: “Does this connect to the brand’s soul?”

So, how do we make the magic happen?

There’s a professional answer to this:

It all starts with a brain trust of creative directors, strategists, account managers, and designers all huddling together to figure out what makes your brand tick.

This is the long-winded answer people give when they want you to pay them.

It’s not, usually, the best answer.

There’s a no-shit answer that will actually help:

Use the Socratic Method to ask yourself “why” to this one question so many times that you either launch it as your life mission or you realize it’s not worth your time…

“Why the fuck should this thing exist?”

That’s the question.

The answer to this one question drives the answer for every single brand question you could ask.

So let’s work through how you can arrive to your answers.

Moodboards: The Tinder Profiles of Branding

Moodboards are like speed dating for your brand.

They’re visual vibes based on the strategy we’ve cooked up.

Each one reflects a unique angle—like one board might scream “warm and fuzzy” while another whispers “precision.”

(Yes, brands can whisper. It’s a vibe. You’re telling me you’ve hit T-Bell after Midnight? Liar. The Bell whispers, it doesn’t shout.)

Think of it this way: moodboards are the appetizers before the main design feast.

They get everyone on the same page without the awkward “Are we doing this right?” moments.

It inspires a creative aesthetic to get the ball rolling.

Logos: The Face of Your Brand’s Personality

For the 936th damn time: a logo isn’t the brand.

But it’s the handshake, the wink, the “Let’s grab drinks sometime” moment.

I’m not going in again on logos this week.

Colors: How They Talk That Shit

You ever see red and think Coca-Cola?

Or that one turquoise and immediately picture Tiffany’s?

That’s the power of color, kid.

It’s a line of good ole’ branding Columbia.

And it’s important.

Textures: Your Brand Should (Literally) Feel Like Something

Textures are the secret sauce.

It’s like asking for your fries well-done or your steak rare.

You know the difference by the feel.

They’re the difference between a brand that feels polished and one that feels like someone smacked a WordArt gradient onto it.

Imagery: Your Brand’s Moments in Time

“A picture is worth a thousand words” might be the most overused line ever, but it’s still true.

Photos and videos don’t just fill space; they sell your vibe.

A picture captures a scene but a video provides the mind structure to tell the story.

You HAVE TO bring intention when the lenses come out.

You’re snapping pictures of your own freakin’ brand.

Plan it out and dial it in? You look like a creative director.

Show up with no plan? You look like a paparazzi trying to make your own brand look bad in the tabloids.

Don’t do that.

It’s a bad idea.

Final Rant

All those things (and about 812 others) make up a brand.

But each micro-decision warrants the question:

Why the fuck…

• Should this color palette exist in our brand?

• Should the logo look like this instead of that?

• Should our fonts be bold or thin?

• Should our products feel like this instead of that?

• Etc, etc, etc.

It’s not indecision or procrastination if you’re truly building a brand.

That’s what a brand is - a business that holds value in those questions.

Which Type Of Business-Builder Are You?

No, actually.

All entrepreneurs and creators are not created equal.

Each are born with different natural talents.

Here’s what I mean: Joe Rogan and Warren Buffett are both entrepreneurs.

But let’s be real—if you swapped them, it’d be a bigger trainwreck than the Tooth Fairy leaving money under your tree and Santa slipping presents under your pillow.

Buffett riffing about DMT on a podcast?

Rogan trying to manage 383,000 employees?

Yeah, no.

Both would tank faster than the morale of Diddy’s PR team.

Why? Because the word "entrepreneur" is so broad it’s practically useless.

It’s like calling every dog simply, “dog.”

Labradors and Pitbulls have wildly different vibes and the same goes for those building a business.

Let’s unbundle this so we can all stop trying to be Elon or Zuck and lean into what we’re already naturally talented at.

Types Of Entrepreneurs (And Why You Should Stop Trying To Be Elon)

Technical-Entrepreneur 

The tech wizards. The nerds talking about nodes. The hoodied coders.

They build rocket ships and headsets while the rest of us argue over iPhone storage or whatever the hell “the cloud” is.

Think Elon, Zuck, or Jack Dorsey. If it involves code or cool gadgets, they’re your people.

But these dudes did it when you had to learn code. You couldn’t use an AI tool to do it all for you.

So if their idea ever broke, they could instantly fix it since they actually knew how to build the thing.

They had the idea and the ability to build it from scratch. (The 1% of 1% of 1% builders).

This you?

Capital-Entrepreneur 

These folks turn money into more money. They grow money instead of just making money.

They’re playing Monopoly IRL.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are the poster boys—proof that spreadsheets can be sexy if you’re rich enough.

Think Bobby Axelrod having +$400 million days on Billions.

These are the players with some of that good ‘ole fuck you money.

They toss around phrases like “deltas” and “economies of scale” like everybody else gets it (we don’t).

Writer-Entrepreneur 

Writers who built empires with words.

Tim Ferriss didn’t just write The 4-Hour Workweek; he built an industry around it.

Same for J.K. Rowling, who parlayed Hogwarts into a global franchise.

Or Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post.

Ink-slingers get paid, my friend.

4. Video-Entrepreneur 

YouTubers and content creators who print cash by staring into cameras.

MrBeast reinvents fast food and charity while Marques Brownlee makes us all feel bad about our budget smartphones.

The Paul brothers (love them or hate them) built an empire on the back of video virality.

5. Fashion-Entrepreneur 

They design the stuff you want to wear (or can’t afford).

Virgil Abloh (RIP) and Georgio Armani turned drip into domination, proving you can run the world if your closet is fly enough.

6. Artist-Entrepreneur 

They’re creators first, business tycoons second.

Joe Rogan makes Spotify rain cash and Christopher Nolan makes box office hits while arguing film is still better than digital.

They create in their own way with the consistency of a Tibetan Monk.

Why This Matters: Founder-Market Fit

You’ve heard of product-market fit.

It’s like the holy grail of startups, right?

But let’s talk about its cooler, lesser-known cousin: founder-market fit. 

If a founder doesn’t vibe with the market they’re in, they’ll hate their life.

And guess what? They’ll quit the second things get hard.

But if a founder loves their niche, they’ll grind it out until they stumble into success.

Tim Ferriss is Exhibit A.

He ditched supplements (Brainquicken, remember that?) because it burned him out.

Instead, he found his jam: Writer-Podcaster-Entrepreneur.

(Sounds like that line from Happy Gilmore when he’s referred to as the “golfball-wacker-guy.)

The result? A dude who loves his work and a book that redefined “work smarter, not harder.”

Why Founder-Market Fit Beats Talent Alone

Some entrepreneurs are so talented they could crush anything—yes, even fanny pack fashion.

But talent only takes you so far if you’re miserable.

Elon Musk building handbags? Sure, he’d make it work.

But let’s face it, the world needs his brain in tech, not leather stitching.

The advice?

Find your founder-market fit and play the infinite game you actually enjoy.

Otherwise, burnout will slap you in the face harder than Will hit Chris for not keeping his wife’s name out his mouth.

Cha feel?

How to Sell to People Who Don’t Even Know They Need You

Marketing isn’t just shouting “BUY MY STUFF!” at strangers like a lunatic with a megaphone.

(That “Buy My Bikes!” commercial from the 90’s is the closest that plan ever came to success).

It’s about guiding them through a customer journey (usually without them even realizing it).

You’ve got to slide into your prospect’s brain like a DM they didn’t know they wanted.

Enter the 5 Levels of Prospect Awareness - Eugene Schwartz’s 1966 brainchild from Breakthrough Advertising. 

For those of you who don’t know: This dude was one of the best old-school copywriters of all time. He coulda slang Escobar’s product back to him if he had written a sales letter for it.

Think of these levels as the five stages of marketing foreplay.

From clueless to committed, it’s your job to guide them every step of the way and maybe make them feel something along the journey.

Phase 1: Completely Unaware

These people don’t know you, don’t know your product, and don’t even know they have a problem.

They’re the marketing equivalent of someone who thinks ranch wasn’t a gift from God to put on pizza: lost and unaware of the tragedy.

How to Market to Them: 

You’re here to play a game of Captain Obvious.

Educate them without making them feel like idiots.

Create content that says, “Hey, did you know this thing you’re doing is low-key ruining your life and isn’t actually making you feel good?”

For example: “Why Your Golf Swing Could Be Wrecking Your Spine (And Your Weekend).”

Pro Tip: 

Don’t whip out the sales pitch yet.

These folks are colder than an Eskimo’s ass cheeks.

Warm them up with facts, stories, and content that screams, “I’m here to help, not sell.”

Phase 2: Problem Aware

They’ve realized something’s wrong.

They’re the guy Googling “Why does my back hurt after golfing?” at 2 a.m., fueled by regret and ibuprofen (and no, it’s not your father).

They know the problem but haven’t found the solution yet.

How to Market to Them: 

Be the hero they didn’t ask for.

Write blog posts, make videos, or dominate search results with keywords like, “Best ways to fix golf-related back pain.”

At this stage, you’re their Google Whisperer, sliding into their search results like a well-timed pickup line.

Pro Tip: 

Show up in the places they vent.

Forums, Reddit, Quora—wherever people are whining about their problems, you’re there to drop knowledge bombs like a wise, non-annoying Gandalf.

Phase 3: Solution Aware 

These people know there’s a fix, but they’re still browsing.

Their credit card is twitching in their wallet as “Put Me In Coach” plays in the distance.

How to Market to Them: 

This is where you flex.

Create guides, comparison posts, and videos that say, “Here’s the fix, and guess what? I’ve got the best one.”

Think: “Top 10 Gadgets to Save Your Back on the Golf Course.” People love simple lists. It’s science.

Add affiliate links or push your product—because they’re almost ready to click “Buy.”

Pro Tip: 

Retarget like a pest.

If they’ve visited your site, hit them with ads that say, “Hey, still thinking about fixing that back pain? We’ve got you.”

Creepy? Maybe.

Effective? Absolutely.

Phase 4: Product Aware

These folks know the problem, the solution, and that your product exists.

They’re circling your sales page like a shark deciding if you’re worth the bite.

How to Market to Them: 

Now it’s about trust.

Show off reviews, unboxings, and side-by-side comparisons.

If you’re in the golf game, this is where you’re saying, “Here’s why my product will fix your back and make your swing look sexier.”

Pro Tip: 

Be transparent.

If your product isn’t perfect for everyone, say so.

Nothing builds trust like brutal honesty.

That’s a pro-tip for life too but I’m gonna just leave that there.

Phase 5: The Most Aware

They know what they want.

They’ve got your product in their cart but haven’t hit “Buy” yet because they’re hunting for a coupon code or free shipping.

These are your hottest leads, and they’re ready to seal the deal.

How to Market to Them: 

At this point, it’s all about closing the deal.

Retarget them with ads offering discounts or bonuses: “10% off if you buy today!” or “Free shipping if you act now!”

No need to overthink the sales copy—they’ve already done the mental math.

Sometimes people just need to be reminded to buy - no discounts required.

Pro Tip: 

Don’t get cute.

These prospects don’t need your life story; they need a reason to click “Buy Now.”

Keep it simple and tempting.

Build tension in copy to force the “click”.

The product you sell relieves that tensions.

Be the Trusted Guide

Marketing to the 5 Levels of Prospect Awareness is like being the wingman of the century for your customer.

Because we’re actually trying to help them, right? RIGHT!?

Your job is to nudge them from “I didn’t even know I needed this” to “Shut up and take my money!”—without being a shithead.

Educate, build trust, and always be their go-to resource.

If you do it right, they’ll not only buy from you but also come back for more.

And hey, if you can make them laugh along the way? Even better.

Now, get out there and charm the pants off your prospects—metaphorically, of course.

Unless, you know, that’s your niche.

When Gotham Meets Streetwear Royalty

Holy collaborations, Batman!

The Dark Knight just swapped his cape for street cred, teaming up with Kith for the most massive merch drop this side of Gotham City.

In honor of Batman’s 85th anniversary—yes, he’d barely be the oldest US President ever —Kith and Warner Bros. have unleashed a collection so big it could give Wayne Enterprises a run for its money.

Here’s everything you need to know about the raddest collab I’ve see all year:

Ronnie Fieg: The Dark Knight We Deserve

This isn’t your average superhero T-shirt line you see in the wrong section at your local Target.

The Batman x Kith Collection includes apparel, accessories, and lifestyle goods inspired by eight iconic Batman films.

From Tim Burton’s moody Gotham to Christopher Nolan’s gritty realism, every era of the Bat gets its due.

Standouts include:

- The Wayne Industries Moto Jacket, because nothing says “billionaire vigilante” like biker-inspired Nappa leather.

- The Joker Wool Coaches Jacket, featuring heavyweight double-face wool and custom Joker artwork that screams “chaotic chic.”

- Batman Satin Bomber, complete with yellow piping and tonal Bat patches—because subtlety is for Superman fans.

There’s also an entire lineup of bucket hats, truckers, and beanies, plus collabs with New Era, Hot Wheels, and Modernica.

Yes, that means there’s a Kith X Hot Wheels Batmobile and a fiberglass chair covered in Batman movie posters.

This is the coolest shit of all time.

The Batcave Comes to Kith LA

If you’re in LA (I thought about catching a birthday flight back), you probably saw it this week.

Kith Los Angeles transformed into a full-on Batcave, complete with Batmobiles, Batsuits, and memorabilia straight out of the Warner Bros. archives.

It’s like Comic-Con crashed into a high-end fashion boutique—and nobody’s complaining.

The Batcave experience runs from November 19–24, coinciding with the collection drop on November 22 (today).

I’d suggest you tell Alfred to move some money around to swing some of these drops.

Free Screenings: Popcorn, Soda, and Nostalgia

What’s better than Batman merch? Free Batman movies.

That’s right—Kith is hosting screenings of eight legendary Batman films across New York, LA, and Miami.

From Michael Keaton’s brooding Batman to Robert Pattinson’s emo crimefighter, every era gets its moment in the spotlight.

Don’t worry - Christopher Nolan’s trilogy was placed right during the drop.

Bonus: Every attendee scores a limited-edition Batman | Kith Trading Card.

The first 20 in each location get their card PSA-graded, proving you were there before eBay prices went insane.

Oh, and did I mention the popcorn and soda come in custom Batman | Kith packaging?

Because of course they do.

Why This Collab Matters

This isn’t just a collection—it’s a cultural moment.

Batman has been a symbol of grit, justice, and insane gadgets for 85 years, and Kith’s fresh take blends nostalgia with modern swagger.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan (prove it, poser) or just here for the drip, this collab hits harder than a Batarang to the face.

And I’m here for it.

Different creative pursuits call for different music to jam to. Here’s what I jammed to this week on The Vomp Playlist: