Pebble Presents
Welcome to Pebble Presents, where we explore the latest trends in marketing, research, and brand strategy. Join Emelia Rallapalli, Founder of Pebble Strategy, as she uncovers inspiring and interesting stories from leaders in business, marketing, insights, and design.
Whether you’re new to the world of business and insights, or a seasoned practitioner of the dark art of marketing, Pebble Presents is a place to hear Emelia and her guests dig into the inner workings – and potential futures – of the world of innovation, creativity, and marketing.
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Pebble Presents
Episode 6: Building Strong Brands from the Inside Out with Butler Looney
In this episode of Pebble Presents, host Emelia Rallapalli chats with Butler Looney to talk design and building strong brands from the inside out. Butler discusses how he went from an art history major to Executive Creative Director at a tech company, the importance of having a clear and focused design brief for creatives, and why he has developed a sense of empathy for business stakeholders when making a case for design within companies and organizations.
Emelia Rallapalli is the founder of Pebble - a brand strategy and marketing research consultancy. With decades of experience in global brand planning, strategy, and research, Pebble has helped shape businesses of all kinds, from ambitious start-ups to global Fortune 100 companies.
Butler Looney is Executive Creative Director at Honeybook. Based in San Francisco, he has worked for top design agencies like Turner Duckworth as well as in-house, leading and building teams at companies like Fitbit and Headspace.
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Resources and References
- Article: “Design assimilated into business, but did business ever understand design?” by Natasha Jen for The Drum - https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2025/04/01/design-assimilated-business-did-business-ever-understand-design
- Honeybook: https://www.honeybook.com/
- Butler Looney on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/butlerlooney/
Show Notes
0:23 - Emelia introduces today’s special guest: Butler Looney.
1:44 - Butler recounts the twists and turns of his journey into brand and identity design.
13:27 - Emelia recalls a personal story involving Butler and her son (and branding), and asks what factors are most important when he decides on his next projects: the people, or the opportunity/brand.
16:41 - Utilizing a recent quote by Natasha Jen: “Designers now speak business fluently, but business has not learned to see design,” Butler and Emelia discuss the miss between the business side and design, and where it would be possible to bridge that gap.
26:42 - Emelia asks how to better arm marketers and creative leaders in business with being able to make the case for the importance of thoughtful design.
30:26 - Butler and Emelia discuss why creators need sandboxes to play in, and the leap of faith it can take for stakeholders to get on board when you can’t prove the results of design ahead of time.
34:34 - Butler details how he became the Creative Director at Honeybook (where he is now), and the business case he made to persuade the organization to rebrand.
40:19 - Butler explains how he started working with new-to-world brand, Fanstake, and what it was like to work on it.
45:35 - Butler runs through the significant rebrand he undertook at Ginger - how it came to be, a bit on the design strategy.
52:09 - Emelia introduces a new segment of questions for Butler: Lightni