High-Value Brand Assets Most B2B Companies Haven't Tapped Yet (with Louis Grenier, Founder of Stand The F*ck Out) — The Dave Gerhardt Show (from Exit Five)

#377 | 80% of B2B brands are completely forgettable - and it's not because their product is weak. Dave sits down with Louis Grenier, founder of Stand The F*ck Out and author of the book by the same name, to unpack a study he ran scoring 100 B2B companies on how distinctive their brands actually are. Louis breaks down the real difference between "distinctive" and "different," why almost no B2B SaaS company has a mascot (and why that's a missed opportunity), what Wiz and Mutiny are doing that most brands aren't, and why sound might be the most underused brand asset in marketing. They also get into how Louis built the entire 100-company study himself using Claude Code and parallel AI agents, and why picking a lane and committing to it beats chasing the "perfect" idea.

Timestamps

(00:00) - - What makes a brand distinctive vs. differentiated
(03:35) - - Why brand distinctiveness matters more in the age of AI
(05:54) - - Inside the study: scoring 100 B2B brands on 8 assets
(07:49) - - Wiz and Mutiny: two brands that stood out
(12:12) - - Why almost no B2B SaaS company has a mascot
(15:39) - - How to get buy-in for a risky brand idea internally
(17:29) - - The research behind how brand memories are actually built
(20:35) - - Linear: picking a lane and going all in
(24:01) - - Why sound is a brand asset most companies ignore
(30:58) - - How Louis built the study using Claude Code and AI agents

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