Practical Rebels

Hosted by HatchMark Studio

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Latest episode

Oct 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Welcome to Practical Rebels: A Branding & Marketing Pod. Join the team at HatchMark Studio as we pull back the curtain and talk branding, marketing, entrepreneurship, and more with our friends, our partners, and our favorite industry experts. From actionable tips for businesses to implement with the resources they have at hand to industry insights for seasoned pros, we discuss the latest in this ever-evolving world. We’re here to share, help, and give a peek into the agency world. Through working with hundreds of clients at all phases of business development, we’re always learning, growing, and meeting incredible individuals. We’re excited to pass on that knowledge to you. The goal? To empower you with practical advice that you can run with in a way that’s genuinely you. To encourage you to stand out, be bold, and make your mark on your industry, no matter your space.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 12, 202650 min

64: How Economic Development Uses Marketing, Relationships, and Trust to Bring Business to Pensacola with Chris Platé

Send us Fan Mail On this episode of Practical Rebels, Veronique Zayas of HatchMark Studio sits down with Chris Platé, CEO of FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance, to talk about what it takes to sell a city. Chris spent 25 years building the largest aerospace cluster in North Carolina before bringing that experience to Pensacola, and he explains why the port, the airport, two interstates, available land, and a quality of life most markets can't match give the area a real competitive edge. He also shares why protecting the culture of Pensacola matters as much to him as growing it. The conversation breaks down how economic development works a lot like marketing, from discovery and positioning to staying top of mind through a sales cycle that can stretch three to five years. Chris walks through how site selectors look for reasons to cut a community from the list, why trusted local partners make every promise believable, and how genuine relationships and a simple phone call still close more deals than any hard sell. He and Veronique also get into the creative side of his role, including in-house video and podcast production, using AI as a starting point for ideas, and why every leader should learn enough about marketing to communicate what they want. Chris also covers the industries FloridaWest is targeting, including life science, aerospace, maritime, and cyber and defense, along with how CoLab gives startups and international companies a soft landing in the U.S. market. He makes the case for chasing singles and doubles over home runs, and he explains how manufacturing eases the tax burden for everyone who lives here.

October 5, 202643 min

63: Growing Wiser, Bolder, and Truer to Yourself in a Complicated World with Emily Ley

Send us Fan Mail On this episode of Practical Rebels, Veronique sits down with Emily Ley, the Pensacola-based founder of Simplified, who turned a planner she designed for her own overwhelmed days into a national brand sold at Target, Walmart, Staples, and Office Depot. Along the way she's written 12 books, launched a podcast and a top-ranked parenting Substack, and built an all-remote team of women who've stuck with her for more than a decade. Emily opens up about hiring for character before skill set, untangling her own identity from the brand she built, and her decision to stand up for small businesses as the plaintiff in Simplified v. Trump, the tariff lawsuit that put her in front of major national news outlets almost overnight. She also shares how turning 40 changed the way she decides what deserves her time and energy.

September 28, 20261 hr 13 min

62: Building, Selling, and Reinventing as a Creative with Mike Janda

Send us Fan Mail A “safe” creative career can flip overnight, and Mike Janda has lived that reality from the inside. We talk through his jump from a creative director role at Fox into freelancing after the dot-com bust and 9/11 fallout, then the gritty path of building Riser from a basement setup into a fast-growing agency. Along the way, Mike breaks down what actually creates momentum in the agency business: relationships that turn into referrals, the scary first hires, and the mindset shifts that help you keep moving when the ground changes. We also get real about downturns. Mike shares what the 2008 recession felt like when you are responsible for payroll, watching budgets tighten, and trying to protect your team while the market keeps sliding. From there, we move into what many creative leaders debate today: office culture versus remote work. We unpack why a great space can be a “home court advantage” for client confidence and team cohesion, while still admitting remote models can unlock talent and scale in ways a single city can’t. Then we step into the AI era with clear eyes. We discuss tools like Claude and Meta’s Muse, why content is getting noisier, and why authenticity matters more when anybody can generate polished “AI slop.” Mike lays out the most important strategic shift for designers and agency owners: you can’t just sell logos and layouts anymore. The future is consulting, business fundamentals, brand strategy, marketing strategy, and positioning yourself between the client and the AI tool so your value keeps rising.

September 21, 202634 min

61: Full Pipeline? Don't Pause Your Marketing with Logan Singleton

Send us Fan Mail When things get busy, marketing is usually the first thing to get “paused” and it is one of the fastest ways to lose momentum. We sit down with Logan Singleton from HatchMark Studio for a practical look at always-on marketing and why treating your own business like an ongoing client is the difference between steady demand and stressful peaks and valleys. We talk through the psychology behind turning off ads, slowing social media, or skipping content when your pipeline is full. Then we zoom out to the long game: marketing has lag, sales cycles vary by industry, and the habits you build now are what keep you visible later. We share real examples of lighter-touch marketing like email newsletters, education content, and simple updates that keep you top of mind without running 100 miles an hour.

September 14, 202659 min

60: A Modern PR Playbook For Brands with Whitney Lee

Send us Fan Mail AI is already telling people where to eat, where to stay, and what brand to trust. The question is whether your business is giving it anything worth recommending. We sit down with Whitney Lee of True Story PR, a hospitality-focused PR and marketing leader. We get specific about the misconception that PR equals press releases or “getting on the news.” For Whitney, PR is the visibility engine that pulls new eyeballs in and keeps loyal customers from forgetting you. She explains how earned media, influencer marketing, partnerships, and pop-up activations fit together, why editorial coverage is tougher in a search-driven publishing world, and what metrics actually make sense when a client asks for ROI. Then we go deeper into the human side of brand building. We talk thought leadership on LinkedIn, why faces outperform logos, and how to humanize brands that do not have a neat founder story. We also dig into differentiation, the courage to be known for something, and how to handle reputation risk and crisis communications with transparency instead of fear.

September 8, 202650 min

59: From Sports Newsrooms to Credit Union Marketing with Jennifer Perez

Send us Fan Mail A credit union rebrand is one of the fastest ways to learn what your audience really trusts and what they ignore. We’re joined by Jennifer Perez, VP of Marketing at Gulf Winds Credit Union, who brings a rare perspective from sports broadcasting, journalism, and mortgage marketing into the world of community banking and financial services branding. We talk about the storytelling rules she learned in newsrooms and how they translate directly into content strategy today: know your audience, move faster than your approval process wants to, and stop treating “polished” as the goal. Jennifer shares why raw, timely content often beats perfect content on social media, and how marketing teams can build repeatable content pillars that work across LinkedIn, Instagram, and whatever platform changes next.

August 31, 202644 min

58: How Professional Service Firms Can Win Trust on LinkedIn with Sean Johnson

Send us Fan Mail Most professional services leaders don’t need another reminder that “you should post on LinkedIn.” You need a way to do it without feeling cringe, without turning into a motivational influencer, and without getting trapped by metrics that don’t translate into real business development. We sit down with Sean Johnson, founder of Madison, to break down what actually works for boutique consulting firms and other B2B service businesses: executive thought leadership that sounds like a real human, shares specific lessons from client work, and builds trust over time. Sean explains why faces consistently beat logos, why company pages still matter as an on-ramp, and how a service-first mindset removes the narcissism objection. We also talk about the “trust in the aggregate” approach, the belief that no one post's metrics define the success of your efforts. If you want a simple, repeatable LinkedIn marketing strategy for B2B growth, hit play.

August 18, 202641 min

57: How A County Brand Wins Jobs & Talent with McCall Lugo

Send us Fan Mail Most people think economic development is a closed-door game of incentives, spreadsheets, and political talking points. The truth is messier and far more human: companies don’t just choose a site, they choose a life their workforce will tolerate or even love. That’s why we brought on McCall Lugo, Director of Economic Development at the Baldwin Alliance, to talk about what modern economic development really demands from a fast-growing county like Baldwin County, Alabama. We dig into how Baldwin Alliance supports recruitment, retention, and expansion while also working in workforce development, talent attraction, and the partner-heavy reality of being a “connector” across government, industry, and local communities. McCall shares how and why Belong In Baldwin evolved from a talent attraction campaign into a flexible community identity used by municipalities and employers to help new hires plug in faster. We also unpack why a strong brand and online presence can give a region an edge long after incentives get attention.

August 10, 202652 min

56: Past, Present, & Future of Tourism Marketing with Lindsey Steck

Send us Fan Mail Everyone's chasing "destination vibes" on social right now. But the real work behind tourism marketing is a lot more technical, and a lot more human, than a pretty feed makes it look. We're joined by Lindsey Steck, Marketing and Communications Manager at Visit Pensacola, to talk about what it actually takes to promote an entire county. She walks us through how a destination marketing organization earns media coverage, builds an organic social strategy people actually use to plan trips, and moves past the scroll-and-forget content everyone else is putting out. We get into the real mechanics of creator marketing and influencer partnerships. How does Visit Pensacola use visitor research to choose the right creators? What do negotiations and deliverables actually look like? Lindsey breaks down why the line between earned and paid media keeps getting blurrier, especially as creators publish through legacy outlets, broadcast partners, and newer platforms. Then we zoom out to platforms and performance. Short form video comes up, along with why Pinterest still drives real website conversions, and why YouTube might be the most underrated long game for travel marketing and SEO as search behavior keeps shifting. If you've been chasing trends or obsessing over likes, this one's a good gut check to focus on saves, web conversions, and real intent instead.

July 27, 202643 min

55: Trade Show Marketing That Converts with Chris Tonn

Send us Fan Mail It's easy to assume marketing in 2026 means going all in on digital: automation, targeted ads, algorithms doing the heavy lifting. But Chris Tonn, co-founder of Rocket Drones, is proof there's still real money on the table when you show up in person. We talk about why trade shows and conferences remain one of the most underrated ways to convert leads, especially if you sell something complex. Chris shares how Rocket Drones turns booth visits into genuine conversations using hands-on demos like their inflatable drone cage and flight simulators, and why that kind of engagement builds trust faster than any ad campaign can. If you've been wondering whether trade shows are still worth the investment, this episode makes the case for why in-person still works, and how to make the most of it.