NerdBrand Podcast
Nerd culture isn't just for a select few anymore; it's everywhere! It's in the movies we watch, the games we play, and the tech we use every day. Join us as we share our thoughts on how visual design, branding, and advertising shape our favorite movies, comics, books, video games, and other nerdy interests.
NerdBrand Podcast
SDCC 2026 with Jason and Danielle
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
ABOUT NERDBRAND
NerdBrand is a national branding and advertising agency based in Louisville, KY.
Learn more about NerdBrand.
Hear more of the NerdBrand Podcast.
Not trying to turn this into a news show, but I'm trying to keep it brand specific with branding news.
SPEAKER_00Well, and plus we're nerds, of course, we're gonna talk about Marvel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean we have to address it because I mean of course we're gonna talk about Comic Con. Yeah. Oh yeah. So anyways, welcome to this episode of the Nerd Brand Podcast. Uh we're gonna be talking about, yeah, I know probably a lot of people that don't care about, but San Diego Comic-Con happened. And there was a lot of stuff that dropped. A lot of brands are out there, some were visibly absent. Uh, and so stay tuned. So on this episode, San Diego Comic-Con, did you see any of it?
SPEAKER_00I saw some clips of it, and there were definitely some things that caught my interest and really like sparked some excitement for me, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What was the one thing that uh got you that you was the most like standout? I mean We're not gonna bury the lead.
SPEAKER_00Right. No, I mean, honestly, I'm just gonna go right into it. The fact that they got Ryan Gosling uh as ghostwriter, that was something that they finally did, something for casting that was right. Um, and there's actually some excitement that I think he's gonna be really good for the role and just all that excitement and all the things going. I think this is a really good fit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I was hoping we talked about this later to like lean into the episode and get people excited, but we're just gonna drop right to it.
SPEAKER_01No, we're gonna go ahead right to it. Because that's one thing I've noticed on YouTube is a lot of people try to bury the lead and it's very annoying. Yeah. And it's like, okay, so they can either continue to listen because we are gonna dive in further with other Comic Con news that happen with other things that are coming. Um, and some sad news because you know, with Comic Con, for example, the Batman part two is delayed until 2028, which is so weird. But well, we all kind of know why DC's having a bit of a problem and there's a bit of an issue. I am going to uh address at some point, either now or later, uh, the whole merger issue with Paramount and Warner Brothers. Because I don't think really people realize how many properties Warner Brothers has, and that's why we're bringing up Comic-Con because there was some Warner Brothers news, but there wasn't a whole lot um because of this, which is a shame. Um like we had Spaceballs. Yeah. The next movie, I guess is what they're calling it, which is funny.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Space Balls, the new one.
SPEAKER_01The new one, yeah. Um my favorite thing was the uh I'm not I don't know, maybe you are, but I'm not as excited about the Doom movie for Avengers. Yeah. Uh they even put they even hot they got the other Ryan, they got Ryan Reynolds to dress up as Deadpool.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01And he was walking around the event and he Yeah, that was like a whole unannounced thing.
SPEAKER_00They just were like, we're gonna make it happen and we're gonna try to get some attention to it.
SPEAKER_01He got burned pretty good by Paul Rudd, though.
SPEAKER_00He did.
SPEAKER_01Uh he did. Yeah, for our listeners, uh Ryan Reynolds owns the soccer team Rexics, and so uh they've not been doing well, apparently, and Paul Rudd follows that. And so Deadpool asked him, says, Why is Thor crying? And Paul Rudd jumped in and responded because he is a Rexics fan.
SPEAKER_00It was pretty damn good. Pretty darn good.
SPEAKER_01After that, I was like, I think Ryan Reynolds was hoping that he would get to own that moment, but that didn't happen.
SPEAKER_00Nope. That that got stripped away real quick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So there was a lot of cool moments. Uh, a friend of ours, she was actually there. Um, I'm having lunch with her later this week. And uh yeah, she got to go. I told her I said I'm jealous, because you know, you it's so insane. So the amount of money this event has, I don't know if you know it about it, and I kind of I can let you speak to this.
SPEAKER_00No, go on ahead.
SPEAKER_01So there is, for example, there's the exhibition hall, like you have Kentucky Exhibition Center downtown, right? So they kind of have that in San Diego, but all the hotels participate, which means all of their halls are also participating. Yes, so it's almost like everybody's on board, and it there isn't like, oh, go to Marriott or go to there or go to here, go to it's not the case.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's not like you know, this this exclusive sponsor or this hotel chain sponsors. It it's everyone.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. There was a lot of uh there was a lot of stuff with Funko Pop as we've got a couple here, and so they had an interactive booth. Um, I would recommend brands if you're out there and you have a business. And our last episode we were with Leah, uh, who's our director of marketing, we were talking about sponsorships and sponsorship costs, but also one important thing, interactivity on the booth. Yes. So they nailed that.
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely they did.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so there is a lot there to that uh to come up with that. And we'll talk about a little bit of interactivity because a lot of people try these interactive events, it's really hard to pull off. It is. Um, you know, we had mentioned last episode how we were at an event with a client and they had an interactive thing. Very simple, yep, very, very simple. Um and they're something you don't see well, it's something you don't see a lot.
SPEAKER_00And one of the big things in whether it's a trade show or a sponsored event is you can't do things that are done over and over and over because everybody's seen it, and once they've seen it, it's dead. Yeah. Like what they did was brilliant. It was like you said, it was super simple, but they were able to execute it well. They literally just got little stickers of their logo printed, slapped it over top of the toy logo. Yeah, and that was Chef's Kiss right there. I mean, talk about branding affordably, boom, there you go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and then one of them, I know they were both supposed to pop out bubbles, but I think one of them malfunctions. So I saw the other one doing it, and I was like, oh, that's good.
SPEAKER_01Well, it was an outdoor event uh for those listening, and it was it was 90 something degrees outside, so it wasn't. I know that you were you and I were there and endured it. Um our intern Taylor had was not a part of the team yet, and Leah was out of town, so she got to miss all that heat. Um, I I lasted for like two and a half hours. I don't know how long you and Dixon were there.
SPEAKER_00Um, I think Dixon left similarly to you, and then my ride showed up around like 6 45 ish.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you were you were close to the end of the event.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was like, I think because what did an end? Like eight o'clock, seven thirty? Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. So I know I wasn't like right at the end, but I was long enough, and you could tell people were getting hot. You could tell there were people that like, you know, either they were going to go to all the booths and drink, which could be fun, could be problematic, depends on your point of view. Or they were just ready to go and they were following someone who wanted to drink all the drinks.
SPEAKER_01I would recommend the the one thing that I saw at San Diego Comic-Con was they had outdoor, like sp I don't know what to call them, spritzers. I it's basically water.
SPEAKER_00Mr. things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. But it wouldn't um they do this in uh Japan, I think, where it goes out, but it doesn't get you wet, it doesn't cause issues, but it cools the air down underneath considerably. Um so if there's a company out there that does that, you could make some money on events, uh, especially if they're outdoors.
SPEAKER_00Especially in the US, that's for sure. Especially in your in the south where the humidity is something else.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think Louisville's got uh some concerts coming up in September. We got Bourbon and Beyond and Louder Than Life.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you would make a killing doing those, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00People travel from all over the country. There's some people who like travel from other countries to come, which I think is absolutely insane, but I guess it makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I don't see a lot of promotion for those, but we're not quite yet to September. I think we're around the corner though, because August is just a week away.
SPEAKER_00Usually it's around um the time that the state fair ends because like everybody's trying to push state fair right now because that's at the expo center. And then once state fair is over, then you'll start seeing the push for it. Um, I mean, they're doing a great job on their socials about promoting tickets and stuff. You know, they did the whole, you know, dollar down till June 30th and things like that. So you're seeing those. Um, but you won't see like full-blown ads and full-blown like paid efforts until after, because you know, it's the state fair, everybody wants to push the state fair.
SPEAKER_01And then well, a lot of these events I think have uh that are big enough and well known enough, they don't they don't have to push marketing very hard.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01People kind of put it on their calendar, they reserve a year ahead. Like San Diego Comic-Con. If you want to go to that, you gotta get a year ahead to book a hotel, maybe two. Yep. Um, you're not just gonna book it like two weeks before the event and fly out, that's just not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01So there is a bit of that. Um, I think that with uh with with all the news that that came out, um pivoting to the the the merger with Paramount and Warner Brothers, sadly. So it is delayed, but it isn't gonna stop, but it's really it's a shame. Um I know.
SPEAKER_00Like I I was kind of hoping that they'd both kind of stay their own individual entities because they both do things individually so well that I have fears that once they merge their certain like pros that they stand out individually for are just gonna dissolve.
SPEAKER_01I think that's inevitable whenever you have leadership change, but they've lost $29 billion in revenue, which is about five percent. And so that'll do it. That's why the LSNs are coming in with Paramount, they're buying it for $110 billion, which is overpriced, but that's also to cover the debt because they have to buy the debt.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Either by debt or you buy equity.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01And so there's no equity. So um at the end of the day, it'll save it for sure.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01The brother of uh so Ram Emanuel was Obama's chief of staff. His brother is like uh like a mogul in Hollywood. He finally spoke up in the Wall Street Journal about the whole thing and basically slammed the attorney general of California and others about it and explained a lot about what's going on and why not. Spencer Pratt's actually been pretty accurate on what he's saying about what's going on because we've got I've got f we got friends in movies, and so I mean it's crazy that there are so many like Hollywood initiatives that are going east.
SPEAKER_00I mean, heck, I know um a friend of mine was an extra in a recent comedy that's gonna come out over the next year or two. I mean, she can't really say much, so therefore, you know, she's but bounded by an NDA. So, and of course, I don't want to say too much and accidentally shout her out and her get in trouble.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But I mean, this was literally happening in Louisville.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, Leah's always looking for something extra.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Crocker Bell CEO gets laid off. I'll do it. Want to be an extra movie? I'll do it.
SPEAKER_01That's the equivalent of throwing a water balloon at someone. That's what just happened.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, you gotta love the ambition though. She's hard worker.
SPEAKER_01Heck yes. She is. Don't steal her.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01Not allowed to do that.
SPEAKER_00You hear that Cracker Bull, don't take her.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or anyone.
SPEAKER_00She's not allowed to leave.
SPEAKER_01No one is allowed to leave. Yeah. But you know, the Paramount stuff, you know, you've got Star Trek, you've got um St. Thomas the Cruz, as it's been called. I know.
SPEAKER_00I'm just dying laughing at that one.
SPEAKER_01Uh, you know, so that's Mission Impossible, that's Top Gun, you got all that with Paramount. Oh, yeah. Warner Brothers is DC Comics, and that's where I think, and and why I think the Batman is delayed. Yeah. Sadly. Yep.
SPEAKER_00Um because they got to get through all that merger and all those.
SPEAKER_01Well, they don't know what's gonna happen, and and but could we get another Batman before Robert Pattinson is in his fifties, please?
SPEAKER_00I will say though, Batman does age like fine wine.
SPEAKER_01So that's true. Um, but still, it's they have this this this habit of just doing that in the fans and the brand suffers because the awareness. So when you do a movie, you have to market the movie, then the movie comes out. And it used to be that you would go get it on demand, then you go get it on DVD. So every time there was a phase of that movie coming out, marketing would spin down and have to spin back up. It was very expensive. Now it's like the movie comes out, goes to theaters, and right away streaming and you pay for it on streaming.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, if it even hits the theaters, a lot of times you've got things that are you know exclusively on you know Amazon Prime or a Netflix documentary that just gets on Netflix. I mean, it kind of sometimes can cut the theater, the middleman, out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So there's a lot of there was a lot of films. Um obviously DC or I'm sorry, Marvel had the show with Doomsday. They brought out most of the cast. Um, I'm not particularly uh just me. This is just me. I'm not excited for it. Um I I think that that you're a hot take for the episode. I'm a hot take for the episode. I'm not excited for for like look, end game, that was it. That was it. Storybook closed. Yeah. And I'm okay with it at that moment. But I understand studios want to make money and they had all this other IP, because IP is the brand, and those things make billions of dollars, and so it's relevant to our show. Exactly. Uh, but the uh the at the end of the day, yeah, I don't think that they're going about it quite quite well.
SPEAKER_00So I I agree. It's kind of one of those let's end on a good note and let's not, you know, kind of like what we said with the um with like trade shows and things, like don't do something to the point that you're just killing it. Yeah, like the same activity, you're killing it, same characters, you're killing it.
SPEAKER_01I was very surprised. There's two things, and well, then we'll move on to the next segment. Is that um I was very surprised Henry Cavill wasn't there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Henry Cavill is an amazing man, and if he ever sees this, would love to have you on the show to interview you. He posted his um cooker, his barbecue, like he was smoking in his backyard with a hickory cooker. Yep. And every man was like, you know, hashtag gay for cavill. Yep. Oh yeah, of course. Like he just does that, but he's rebooting the Highlander franchise. So, but I didn't see that anywhere at Comic-Con. And I thought that was very interesting. Also, he's working on, and I didn't know it was a show, but it's on Amazon. Amazon owns MGM Studios and all that. They're doing Warhammer 40k. Yep. And he's doing that. So Henry Cavill's trying to save the nerdverse with regards to the movies. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, I've heard I heard about the Warhammer through my boyfriend. He was very excited to hear that. And he even mentioned, I'm surprised that there's never not been like a bigger announcement for this. Like, well, you know, welcome to Hollywood.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. It's uh there I can see where they're trying to like recycle some stuff, but a lot of the uh YouTubers out there that have made movies, that particularly in the horror genre, have done extremely well.
SPEAKER_00I'll tell you right now, Markiplier, I'll just go ahead and call him out. He's one that I freaking love, and I would love to interview him on the show. Yeah. Um, if he is ever watching this, extremely talented, not only as an actor, but a director, an editor. I mean, the amount of steps and the amount of effort he went in to do his entire movie himself from start to finish. There's it's no wonder it took three, four years to do.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And there's a reason that it outperformed a bunch of the stuff in Hollywood. I mean, it was like the top-grossing movie that weekend.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was true passion project.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's a true passion project and it's something refreshing. People are tired of seeing the same old stuff over and over. Right. It's a new light. And it, if anything, I it inspires me to like really push for you know for independent people to make their own films. Yeah, that's what we need more of.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Can somebody make a comedy though, please?
SPEAKER_00No, I will agree with that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's a lot of horror.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Which is fine. You gotta start somewhere, but you know, there's other genres, you know.
SPEAKER_00Right. Um I could go for a good rom-com.
SPEAKER_01Anyways, speaking of comedies, um, let's get into uh so we're a while back we did an episode on Cracker Barrel.
SPEAKER_00We sure did.
SPEAKER_01And we stepped in it. We uh we had our opinions about Cracker Barrel. We posted it on LinkedIn. Um, one of our team uh at the time did it as well. The next thing you know, we we it was I know I was there. I was done with that. It was not intentional. We did not do ambush marketing for this, but our stuff got hundreds and hundreds of views.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it did.
SPEAKER_01And a lot of comments and replies occurred, and we were like, oh, whoopsies. And then we then we realized that this is actually a thing nationwide.
SPEAKER_00Like, oh shoot, people actually listen to us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, well, not just that. I mean, we we accidentally did what we called in the last episode of ambush marketing. We sort of stepped into a a genre or a topic that was pretty hot at the time, but justifiably so. I mean, the logo was very bland.
SPEAKER_00Um my opinion still stands.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, you were pretty harsh on it, but you were correct. And so um, and you were not alone.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01So the CEO has been told to leave the the company, and you saw something recently where she's gone someplace else. We don't really have that info.
SPEAKER_00I literally saw it on TikTok the other day that um some big brand was making a huge change, and I'm sure hopefully by the time this gets posted, I can find that video again and send it to you for editing, Jason. But basically, they were doing a whole rebrand, and somebody was like, Well, guess who's in charge of that? It's her. Right. So I'm just like, Can we just not rebrand everything we walk into? I understand wanting to make your mark and wanting to make your presence known, but you can do so in other ways that aren't completely restructuring the entire business model.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean And that's my hot take. You can uh you can look at this here. This is their stock and uh when it happened, this is why this is why she got let go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So imagine if you own shares.
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, I I can tell you right now, not only were consumers not happy, but so were stock owners.
SPEAKER_01Lost 50% almost. Well it did. Forty-seven dollars is I think where it was at as a as of this post. That's about right. Yeah, used to be 122. So that's quite a bit. 40% of its value, it says, since she was hired. So having a CEO, having the right CEO that makes the right decision, it matters.
SPEAKER_00Um leadership is important.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, everything rises and falls with leadership. And so I wish we wish her well wherever she goes. Oh, of course. Because it's not saying that she's terrible at her job, she's just terrible at that job at that company, obviously. The proof's in the pudding.
SPEAKER_00Maybe it also in other places she's worked too, because apparently her reputation precedes her, sadly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, she was a senior Taco Bell.
SPEAKER_00Right, and I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_01That didn't go well either.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. That's why I'm like, I fear that her reputation precedes her, and I again wish her well. But if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's a duck.
SPEAKER_01So after so making bold moves in a brand and in marketing and advertising can only work in certain circumstances, and I don't think you can plan those things out. You just have to know the territory, and you also have to know the people that work in the company. Absolutely. Because if you start an initiative and people aren't bought in, then it ain't going anywhere. It just isn't.
SPEAKER_00Well, and you also have to look too, like, you know, and I know this is probably super obvious, but you have to look at the consumers. I mean, you've got people who are loving the the old and the vintage vibe of Cracker Barrel. I mean, heck, you have millennials who are freaking out about the stuff that they grew up with is now considered vintage because vintage is something older than 20 years. So, you know, people are loving the nostalgia. People are loving the vintage, they're loving all of that vibe. And so by going in and, you know, modernizing everything, it's like, well, gosh, that was kind of like one more thing that's being stripped away from our childhood. One more thing that's being, you know, stripped away that reminisces on how things used to be done. Yeah. And there's a lot of nostalgia to it.
SPEAKER_01And if you mess with nostalgia, you're it's a very powerful and potent tool for advertising.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it very much is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But also recognizing cultural things too. Like Cracker Barrel really wasn't very good at that. I think they tried to take Cracker Barrel into a direction and into an audience that it's just not relevant for. Yeah. Sometimes you just can't.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you have to remember the roots of the business and where it started.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So they started near gas stations, and that that's really the roots of it. And so that was like highway exits and things like that. They really weren't for the city. Right. And so when the CEO came in, they did this promotion in in uh New York City where everybody's like Texas line dancing, which isn't even it was like all of these, all of these things were like getting smashed together. Yep. And it kind of came off very disingenuous.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it I watched the video too, and I even was looking at it, and I'm sure you noticed I just kind of kept looking at it and just grimacing, like, what is this? This is not no.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So when it comes to nostalgia, um, they brought Don't mess with it. Don't mess with it, right? So here is an opportunity, and we'll close out with this. Um, nostalgia is currently being messed with right now by Hasbro. I don't know if you've seen this or not, but it is the 40th anniversary of Transformers and Generation 1 Transformers. So I was eight or 10 in uh when the movie came out in theaters, my mom and dad took me to it. I bawled and cried because they killed Optimus Prime. Now the movie's coming out again, being re-released, and it's supposed to be, I guess, in a new 4K, whoop-de-doo-daw, whatever. However, here's the thing: they've added new footage at the end to Prime for a new movie. No pun intended. Oh, of course. No pun intended, even though it I could. Yeah, this is where it would be handy if we had sound effects on the board because then cue that cheesy laughter the ha ha ha. Yeah, the girls could just be like But at the end of the day, um, they're going to bring it. There was the storyline that happened in the in the T television show or The Resurrection of Optimus Prime. They did it a couple different ways, and they actually did it creepier than the killing him in the movie. So they didn't really help my childhood any, you know. Pete, like, you know, I know it's sad. Like, Jason, you're 50. What's wrong with you?
SPEAKER_00Well, and I'll also go into one too. Uh, Pokemon is having their 30th anniversary this year.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And, you know, the spike the spike of, you know, the trading cards and everything is already just a hot mess to begin with, with scalping and you know, stores having to set restrictions and everything on it. Um, and I will say, like, the company itself, when it comes to here's what we're doing on the 30th anniversary and the things that they're like pushing out, yeah, phenomenal. The card art is amazing. You know, they're releasing a lot of really cool things, but the distribution, every single fan, including myself who grew up playing the games and trading cards and everything, was just like, oh gosh, this is gonna be so cool and these look so great. But I'm never gonna get my hands on it. Or it's gonna, I'm gonna have to pay way above MSRP for this. And, you know, maybe it's not their fault, but there's just that's another piece of the nostalgia where it's not necessarily the company being at fault, but just people being people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, maybe maybe we'll get a G.I. Joe that'll finally have that'll finally happen that everybody will be happy.
SPEAKER_00We need something nostalgia to go right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Maybe your third time's a charm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, He-Man went right, but there was a very small audience for that, let's be honest. I mean, I like it, but it's still a small audience. Transformers and he and and G.I. Joe is a little bit bigger, still has niche, right? But to like your point of Pokemon, I mean, there's still an audience for that. Oh, yeah. I think every trying to reach a broader audience, that's what's killing the industry right now and a lot of these brands is they're trying to appeal too broadly to people.
SPEAKER_00Stick with your audience, stick with your niche.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Those are the to quote Henry Cavill. Don't forget the audience that matters. Exactly. Because if you do, then it'll fail. And on that note, if you've enjoyed this episode of the Nerdbrand Podcast, like, subscribe, do all the things, find us online anywhere in your favorite podcasting app or on our YouTube channel at Nerdbrand Agency, or you can go to NerdbrandAgency.com slash podcast, download, listen to the audio there.
SPEAKER_00Don't forget to check out our social medias as well. We've got our Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. We have an X account. Obviously, like you mentioned, I'll mention it again because it's technically a social media platform, YouTube. We will be posting all the episodes because now we've got cameras.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I went and I bought cameras and now we're doing like real stuff. Like like we're we're grown up now.
SPEAKER_00We're look we're legit now, guys.
SPEAKER_01Anyways, thank you all for listening and remember keeping her strong.
