Welcome back to Well Played: Conversations on Marketing and Brand, the Australian marketing podcast where Esther Kelleher and Kate Ware unpack the biggest ideas shaping marketing strategy, brand building, consumer behaviour and culture.

This week we're diving into one of our favourite topics yet: Brand Lore. Not law as in legislation...

Lore as in the rituals, stories, symbols, traditions and emotional connections that make brands unforgettable.

What is it that makes someone instantly recognise Aesop from the scent of a hand wash? Why do people refill the same bottle for years? Why does Taylor Swift have fans analysing every lyric and Easter egg? And why are brands like Dove, Country Road, RM Williams and Samantha Wills remembered long after a campaign has finished?

This episode explores why the world's most iconic brands don't simply sell products. They create worlds.

Lore isn't your logo. It isn't your colour palette. And it isn't your latest campaign. It's the stories your customers tell about you when you're not in the room.

This week we discuss:

✨ Brand lore and emotional branding

✨ Aesop's extraordinary customer experience

✨ Samantha Wills' reflections on founder brands

✨ Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty

✨ Taylor Swift's Easter eggs

✨ RM Williams, Country Road and sensory branding

✨ ABC Australia's creator-led content strategy

New episodes every Friday. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok: @wellplayedpod

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