On Brand: A Podcast About Branding For Brand Builders, By Brand Builders

What makes a brand unforgettable instead of overlooked? Tom Miner knows. As Head of Global Social Media at Crocs, he helped drive one of today’s biggest brand turnarounds. Now author of Social First Brands, Tom shares how embracing productive tension, making personality your secret weapon, and riding trends that matter can turn comments into real community. What You’ll Learn in This Episode Why Crocs’ turnaround shows the power of leaning into brand polarity How to know if brand tension is productive instead of problematic What it really means to be a “social first” brand—and why fearlessness is key Why unhinged marketing works for some brands and flops for others The difference between comments, engagement, and true community Episode Chapters (00:00) Intro (00:35) Welcome to Tom Miner (01:22) Crocs as a brand turnaround case study (04:41) Embracing polarity and productive tension (09:08) What it means to be a social first brand (13:21) Fearlessness and comfort levels in social stra