What happens when you blend creativity, strategy, and relentless execution? Greg Wise welcomes Melissa Rosenthal, Co-Founder of Outlever, to explore the real-world meaning of brand and how media and marketing collide. Melissa shares her journey from shaping BuzzFeed and Cheddar to leading marketing at ClickUp, where bold out-of-home (OOH) campaigns turned heads and drove measurable results. Listeners will hear how she negotiated prime Times Square placements, why buses became her secret weapon, and why testing, measurement, and audience context are everything. Melissa also opens up about launching Outlever, the exhaustion and exhilaration of entrepreneurship, and why her LinkedIn strategy is her own “personal billboard.”

Melissa Rosenthal is the Co-Founder of Outlever, a company transforming brands into the number one news source in their industries. Previously, Melissa served as Chief Creative Officer at ClickUp, CMO at Insight Timer, CRO at Cheddar, and VP of Creative at BuzzFeed. Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and Business Insider’s 30 Most Creative People Under 30, Melissa has shaped some of the most recognized and fastest-growing brands.

LinkedIn

• Melissa’s early days at BuzzFeed and Cheddar and the leap to B2B SaaS
• What “brand” really means across company stages — from reputation to perception
• How out-of-home campaigns became ClickUp’s competitive advantage
• Strategic buying: negotiating Times Square ads and selecting high-visibility placements
• Measurement tactics: from aided/unaided awareness to sales team feedback
• Navigating leadership buy-in and scaling investment in brand
• The journey from ClickUp to launching Outlever — and why timing matters
• How Melissa uses LinkedIn as her personal “billboard” and inspiration from OOH in digital strategies

• Scrappy ABM Podcast
• Momentum AI
• SurveyMonkey
• ClickUp
• Outlever
• Brex
• BuzzFeed
• Cheddar
• Insight Timer

Brand isn’t just a logo or a marketing line item—it’s the foundation of your business. In this episode of Beyond the Billboard, host Greg Wise sits down with Bill Kenney, CEO and partner at Focus Lab, to unpack what it really means to build a brand that sticks. Drawing from 15+ years leading a B2B branding agency, Bill explains why brand is not a marketing expense, but a business pillar. He outlines how performance-only thinking creates a short-term hamster wheel, and how companies can break free by investing in identity, culture, and long-term affinity. From Series B tech startups to M&A transformations, Bill shares what signals show a company is ready for a rebrand—and what red flags say otherwise. For marketers trying to earn executive trust, this conversation is a roadmap to internal alignment and sustainable growth.

👤 Guest Bio

Bill Kenney is the CEO and partner at Focus Lab, a B2B brand agency helping high-growth startups and venture-backed companies define and express their boldest, most original selves. He brings more than 15 years of experience evolving businesses from generic design shops into strategic branding partners. Bill is also the author of Conquer Your Rebrand, which outlines Focus Lab’s full branding process for CMOs and CEOs.

👉 Connect with Bill on LinkedIn

📌 What We Cover

• Why performance marketing alone creates a rat race of short-term returns
• The evolution from creative-led marketing to finance-driven metrics—and back again
• How brand drives recruitment, internal alignment, and long-term customer affinity
• What brand really means beyond the website—"it's literally everything"
• Focus Lab’s analogy of branding as building a house, not just decorating one
• Key pain points that signal it’s time for a rebrand (e.g., M&A, growth-stage gaps)
• What happens when internal teams don’t have the time or alignment for brand work
• Real client stories from Totango, TrustedSec, and Marketo
• Why Bill thinks of LinkedIn as his own out-of-home billboard

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Scrappy ABM Podcast
• Conquer Your Rebrand by Bill Kenney
• Focus Lab

Independent agencies are thriving in a tough economy—but not for the reasons you might expect. Hosts Charlie Riley and Greg Wise sit down with Daniel Weiner from "You Should Talk To" to explore why nimbleness and speed give smaller agencies a real edge. Daniel shares sharp insights into what brands often misunderstand about agency relationships and the specific challenges marketers face when trying to communicate value to executives. This episode dives into the tension between full-service solutions and specialization, the return to brand storytelling, and why not every marketing effort needs to be a win to be worth it.

Daniel Weiner is the founder of "You Should Talk To," a service helping brands pair with agencies that match their specific needs. He focuses on connecting marketers with independent agencies based on relationship quality and expertise, not just reputation or size. Daniel brings deep knowledge from both the agency and brand sides, giving him a unique lens into what makes these partnerships work. LinkedIn

• The current landscape for independent agencies in today’s economy
• Why nimbleness and speed are key advantages of independents
• The tension between specialization and full-service offerings
• Common misconceptions brands have about agencies
• What challenges brands face in today’s marketing landscape
• The shift back toward brand marketing and storytelling
• Accepting that not all agency work will succeed, and why that’s normal
• How marketers struggle to explain marketing realities to executives