Question: What do the Catsup Crapper, Think the Unthinkable, Sparking Creativity, and The Aeron Chair have in common?

Answer: Topics that will likely come up when Barry and Luke take the Think & Link stage in October.

We’re talking creativity, innovation and design in October with two authors, professors and grand thinkers. We have Dr Barry Kudrowitz paired with Luke Williams on the Think & Link stage for this one and based on past performances this looks to be a creatively curious conversation.

We have Bruno Singulani, global brand identity and design from Nestle along with Nicole Atchison, CEO of PURIS Holdings here in Minneapolis. PURIS is cultivating the future of food through a plant-based approach using peas. And Nestle is a global brand in food as a key to enhancing the quality of life for everyone.

We have Omar Ansari, Founder, Surly Brewing paired with Andy Pearson, VP of Creative Liquid Death. Both of these individuals and brands have been swimming upstream, defying the norm and breaking the molds of their respective categories.

We think this pairing is so good, Apple Pie and Ice Cream are going to be jealous.

Areas of learning from this episode:

One: What it takes to question authority and norms of culture, and do something dramatically different from standard.

Two: The importance of creativity in our community, in whatever form it takes and how that is changing in this current economy.

Three: Creativity in a world where risk is measured in social media, cancellation and polarization.

We’ve been rather proud of our pairings at Think & Link; Pants Optional, but we’ve outdone ourselves this time. We’re pairing Château La Mission Haut Brion Bordeaux red wine with the best meal you’ve ever enjoyed. We have Vince Voron, formerly of Apple, Coke, Dolby and now with Ripple, he is known for designing iconic elements into brands. And, Soon Yu, Author, Innovator, Formerly VF Corp; and Soon Yu has written a best selling book, Iconic Advantage which showcases brands and designers who have proven what iconic design delivers for brands. If you’re not enjoying this one, check your pulse.

If you’re a fan of behind-the-scenes brand stories, we’ve got you covered in this Think & Link pairing. We have Guy Kawasaki and Lisa Mann on the stage and their combined experiences have influenced this fantastic list of brands; Apple, Kind, PepsiCo, StumbleUpon, Canva, Motorola, Oreo, Chips Ahoy!, and Trident. And, those are just the public ones, there are certainly more unlisted.

We’ll be talking about the importance of activity, getting outdoors, connecting with nature, entrepreneurship, loved brands, designed experiences, and so much more with this inspired global leader.

Joy Howard is one of our favorites we met while working with Patagonia. After leaving Patagonia, she went on to lead marketing at Sonos and Lyft before launching her own venture, Early Majority—a beautifully responsible active outdoor gear company.

There’s something intuitively elegant when these two founders are on the stage. Ashley Sumner is the founder of Quilt, an audio social app designed to be a safe space and started a meme in the founder community with “I am a XFemaleX Founder”. Jann Parish was an iconic CMO and left it behind to become a co-founder of GLU, Girls Like You, a beauty brand with her daughter Lila.

In this episode, we have the iconic David Rubin, Chief Marketing Officer of The New York Times. Yes, that little known publisher has agreed to grace our show. David’s only requirement was a pairing with a legend in marketing Fernando Machado, the former Chief Marketing Officer of Burger King and Activision Blizzard. Fernando and David will be talking about digital transformation, returning vibrancy to experienced brands and the role design has played.