Ed Hayes has spent 20+ years designing brands, and he's watching something flip. While the rest of the world races toward frictionless, AI-streamlined everything, the smartest brands are doing the opposite. They're adding friction on purpose.

Chelsey and Ed get into the analog revival happening across categories: Birkenstocks, Le Labo, A24, and a taco shop in NYC that refuses to translate its menu. They cover why brand architecture is being designed to slow people down, how friction is becoming a premium signal, and whether "brand" even survives once AI takes over the shopping experience.

If you're a growth or brand leader trying to figure out where the puck is going, this one is full of examples you'll keep thinking about.

Follow Ed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-hayes-8846a5232/

Check out Bloom's projects here: https://www.bloom-london.com/

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Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

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Why brands aren't just hosting experiences anymore. They're charging for them.

In this episode of the Growth Department podcast, Chelsey sits down with Tom Gray, Chief Strategy Officer at Imagination Group, the global experience design consultancy that helps brands build game-changing strategies and experiences for customers, employees, and stakeholders. Tom has spent his career designing the kind of brand experiences people willingly show up for, talk about, and increasingly, pay to attend.

Tom unpacks the shift from the attention economy to the connection economy, why 93% of what we see on social media is now algorithmically fed to us, and what that means for marketers trying to break through with real human moments. He breaks down the neuroscience of how experiential memories get tagged in the brain, why brand salience is being rewritten, and how brands like Ford, Visa, and Harley-Davidson are turning experiences into product, not just promotion.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• The shift from attention economy to connection economy and what it means for your 2026 strategy
• How experiential marketing creates stronger brand salience than digital advertising
• The neuroscience of memory tagging and why emotional experiences stick
• Why charging for brand experiences increases engagement, attendance, and word of mouth
• The IKEA effect and how investment shifts perceived brand value
• How Ford turned a test drive into a paid stunt driver experience that audiences shared organically
• Why experiential is moving from the promotion P to the product P in the marketing mix
• How Visa Live, Harley-Davidson festivals, and Hershey's theme parks built brand IP through experience
• How to identify your brand's unfair advantage in audience passion points like music, sport, and wellness
• Why the best marketers stop talking to themselves in offices and get curious about real customers

If you're a CMO, brand marketer, or experiential strategist trying to figure out where in-person fits in your 2026 marketing mix, or whether your brand has earned the right to charge for it, this episode delivers the framework.

Connect with Tom Gray and Imagination Group on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomoppad/

Check out Tom's articles and past projects: https://imagination.com/

Book he recommends: Playground by Richard Powers
Podcast he recommends: Conversations with Tyler (hosted by economist Tyler Cowen)

Follow the show and subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.

The era of the Instagrammable photo backdrop is over. So what's next?

In this episode of the Growth Department podcast, Chelsey sits down with Diana Zwetzich, experiential designer and founder of guest-centered brand activations, to talk about why most brand experiences are falling flat and what separates a forgettable pop-up from an activation people actually remember.

Diana built her career on architectural design and environmental storytelling for global brands, including the viral 29 Rooms experience and Refinery29's Luna Lounge at Coachella. Now she's bridging the gap between experiential design and hospitality, helping brands stop performing and start hosting.

In this conversation, Diana breaks down the missing layer in experiential marketing, why beautiful design alone creates attention but not connection, and how the peak-end rule should reshape every guest journey you plan in 2026.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why "hosting" beats "performing" in every brand activation
• The real reason Instagrammable photo moments are losing impact
• How to train brand ambassadors to actually connect with guests
• The peak-end rule and why your tunnel entrance doesn't matter
• How to measure ROI on experiential marketing beyond reach and impressions
• Why smaller, more intimate activations often outperform big-budget spectacles
• The two moments you actually need to design (everything else is noise)
• How to brief an experiential agency so your activation has intention, not just aesthetics
• What brand loyalty, sentiment, and long-term recall really look like in post-event data

If you're a B2B or B2C marketer planning trade show satellite events, intimate client dinners, pop-ups, or experiential activations this year, this episode is your blueprint for doing it right.

Connect with Diana on LinkedIn and read her articles on guest-centered experience design. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-zwetzich-844738107/

(her book recommendation = 10x is Easier than 2x)

Follow the show and subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Growth Department slows the conversation down so founders and business leaders can go further, faster.

If this episode helped you think differently, follow the show and share it with someone building alongside you.