Cool Brands Grow Faster. Here’s How to Tell If You’re One

Marketing Shenanigans (#037)

Measuring brand equity isn’t about feelings or guesswork—it’s about results. Tangible, measurable results that prove your brand holds weight.

Here are four proven ways to find out if your brand is the real deal:

The Preston Rutherford Model

Turn off all your ad spend. Yep, seriously.

The sales you make with no advertising? That’s the true value of your brand.
If your brand has real equity, people will keep coming back—even when you’re not paying to remind them you exist. No gimmicks, no flashy ads, just trust and loyalty doing the heavy lifting.

Check Preston out here

The Liquid Death Merch Model

• Look at your merch and accessory sales—if they’re not your main revenue stream. (Primary Product)

• The ability to slap your logo on a hoodie, water bottle, or hat and actually sell it is a major indicator of brand power.

Case in point: Liquid Death. The brand reportedly pulls in 10% of its gross revenue from merch sales alone. That’s more than just profit. It’s proof that people want to align with your brand on a personal level.

The Kleenex Model

Has your brand become synonymous with the action it represents?
Think about it:

• "I’m going to grab a Kleenex."

• "Did you bring your Yeti?"

• "Call an Uber."

• "Google it."

If your brand name has become a verb or shorthand for an action, congratulations—you’ve revolutionized your space. You’re not just part of the conversation; you are the conversation.

Organic Branded Search

How many people are searching for your brand name or URL without being prompted?

If people are actively looking for you, you’ve done something that stuck. And that kind of top-of-mind awareness? Priceless.

The Takeaway

Building a brand that matters isn’t about cool logos or catchy slogans. It’s about creating something so undeniable that people can’t help but care.

If your brand passes even one of these tests, you’re on the right track. But if it doesn’t? There’s still time to build something that sticks. Because the ultimate goal isn’t just to sell—it’s to create something people can’t ignore.

TL;DR: Brand equity isn’t a feeling—it’s measurable. From organic search to merch sales, these 4 strategies show how to measure your brand’s true impact.

Cheers,

Teddy

Teddy Giard

In case you don’t already know, my name is Teddy, and I operate a firm that specializes in marketing strategies for outdoor brands. Our approach is simple: align your product development timeline with your marketing production timeline; by doing so, we can own the distribution of our message and our products.

If you’d like to explore working together, feel free to fill out this form, and if we’re a good fit, we can schedule a discovery call. We ask this because we keep a fairly narrow target for whom we work, and we like to be as open about that on the front end as possible. After all, time is life’s most valuable resource.