Ashlee Erickson Blakley Of Twisted Pickle On Five Things You Need To Build A Trusted And Beloved Brand
Build trust. Trust is critical in whatever industry you are in, and with so many different platforms to market your brand, you’ll want to show up where your consumers are as often as possible.
As a part of our series about how to create a trusted, believable, and beloved brand, I had the pleasure to Interview Ashlee Erickson Blakley, Co-Founder of Twisted Pickle (www.twistedpickle.world).
Ashlee Erickson Blakley, a Professional International Makeup Artist turned Video Producer, has spent the past 25 years traveling the world, assembling a team of creatives to assist large and small companies in establishing a strong digital presence for marketing, media, and branding. With extensive experience in Paris, New York, Tokyo, and Los Angeles Fashion Weeks, she has led makeup designs for various platforms, including TV/Film, stage, screen, and Grammy-winning Artists. Ashlee’s expertise extends beyond Hollywood, as she has honed her skills in corporate America, particularly in video marketing, emphasizing a behind-the-camera approach to develop brand characters before promoting the brand. Her mantra, “Become your own Netflix series,” underscores her belief in prioritizing the human connection in marketing videos, distinguishing her as a producer and content creator known for her client-centric approach. In 2023, Ashlee teamed up with her business partner, Suzanne Greever, to create Twisted Pickle. Dedicated to telling stories and building brands, Ashlee leads the marketing and branding consulting and video production for the company.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Growing up in Texas, I was the girl that everyone came to for makeup when school dances came up on the social calendars. I was also part of a traveling competitive dance crew and we had lots of hair and makeup for auditions, performances, and competitions. This is where the bug hit me, and I started to fall in love with the beauty industry. After college, I decided to go live with a family friend in Los Angeles so that I could try out the Hollywood industry. Once I got on set, I was mesmerized by how TV and film worked, and more specifically, those in front of and behind the camera making everything come alive through storytelling. Within a month, I knew I was where I needed to be and was eager to pave my way. I had no formal training but I could talk to anyone, that’s where I learned the best lesson in life: “You’ll never be the most talented, but you can be the one that everyone wants to be around”. I ran with it.
I met one Key Makeup Artist on a film where I was a Production Assistant in Malibu. I cleaned her brushes, made her laugh, talked about life, and listened to her journey. Then one day, she was so busy that she started throwing work my way, giving me key jobs so she wouldn’t lose her connections. She said that she knew I was dependable and a good listener, on top of everything else, so she trusted me. From that day forward, that’s how I built my career — on dependability, and trust. Now I’m behind the camera, as the Marketing Expert and Co-Founder of Twisted Pickle (www.twistedpickle.world), and my clients trust me, which makes life in front of the camera a little easier for them.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I could sit here all day with this one! You have to love the mistakes that are made; it’s the only way to grow.
Since I love and live in the video marketing lane, the one thing I didn’t realize when starting was how much coaching in dialect I would be doing. I was a Speech and Communications major in college, and I love nothing more than a script, a microphone, and a monitor, but that is not the case for 99.9% of the clients sitting in front of me. This is something I took for granted.
You have no idea the number of times I’ve had to do dialect exercises, getting clients up screaming…
Yellow Leather
Red Leather
Yellow Leather
Red Leather
…just to get the verbal juices flowing for the camera.
Here’s another one: Try saying “Walrus” 5 times fast while counting on your fingers. I have many clients walking away from a day of filming telling me they never had any idea how much mumbling they do and how much they need to learn to pronounce their words.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
This sounds crazy, but one big reason that Twisted Pickle stands out among others in our lane is that my business partner, Suzanne Greever, and I are Pickleball players! We pride ourselves on not having a Pickleball learning curve so our clients don’t have to pay for that. By playing the sport, and knowing the people, and the industry, we get to work quicker and have results faster.
Our most recent national client came into the industry and market where he was opening up facilities as very green. It can be a tough place to start when you don’t know the town, where to network, who to sponsor, or even where to get started. We were able to operationalize the business, get the social platforms going, brand his identity, and give him a voice with our 30–60–90 go-to-market plan.
It’s much like dropping your kid off for their first day of school. We got the brand prepared and ready behind the scenes so they could walk into Day 1 feeling excited and confident.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Currently one of my passion projects in the Pickleball industry is helping the community of business owners come together to collaborate and not compete, with a networking group called The Kitchen Cabinet. This space is booming faster than all of us can wrap our brains around and there is a place for everyone. In the past, there has been a focus on the competition and who gets there faster, which promotes negativity and silos. Showing the community that we can all be board members for one another and take part in everyone’s growth is better than seeing all of us fail.
Ok let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
The greatest difference for me between these two topics, although similar, is that they have very different meanings now that we live in a digital age. In a nutshell, Branding is telling the world who you are. Advertising is telling the world where to find you. The important thing to note here is that there is a difference, but there is a balance of both to be successful. If brands don’t identify, consumers will not buy.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
First, you need to invest time and resources into building a brand identity and creating a tone of voice. Without either of these two elements, a company cannot stay on track or be expected to understand who they are, where they are headed, or how to navigate the waters of the industry. It’s also much easier to form a climate and company culture and then have employees and clients fold themselves into the brand. Human nature shows us that we want to be part of something bigger than ourselves, which is why companies with a strong brand identity have employees who want to work for them and clients who want to be part of the brand. Consumers can identify themselves within a brand and that builds strong relationships on both sides.
Can you share 5 strategies that a company should be doing to build a trusted and believable brand?
- Build a tone of voice (TOV) deck so that every employee knows who the brand is and who the targeted audience is.
- Video Marketing is key — the human company wins. Consumers don’t want to see products; they want to see the people behind the brand.
- Build trust. Trust is critical in whatever industry you are in, and with so many different platforms to market your brand, you’ll want to show up where your consumers are as often as possible.
- Stay consistent. Consumers want to see more frequent videos from brands that they identify with and then share them with others.
- Know your niche. With so much coming at us every day on social media, TV ads, streaming channels, etc., audiences are overwhelmed with products. Stand out by knowing exactly what your product is and who the end user is. If you try to be everything to everyone, you are nothing to no one.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job building a believable and beloved brand. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
My favorite “go-to” brand is Caddis eyewear. I love them. What they have done is everything I find value in — they know who they are and, more importantly, who their audience is and that’s who they make content for. This builds identification, which brings trust, which brings allegiance. They’ve built a brand that says “You’re getting older, you need readers; let’s do this together and keep your cool”. As their consumer, I identify with them and own 12 pairs of reader glasses, and I’d never shop anywhere else because they are my tribe, my community, and my people.
In advertising, one generally measures success by the number of sales. How does one measure the success of a brand building campaign? Is it similar, or is it different?
It could be as easy as the click-through on a “shop now” link on posted videos or the number of sales on a Shopify account, where people are being led there through the website and video messaging. Marketing and advertising efforts aren’t living in an ROI bubble; it’s not about walking into a store and selling a product. The difference here is the identity that a brand gives you. There is a correlation between brand recognition and the more clients/consumers you have — that’s the result of good marketing. When people identify with the product, they trust, like, and purchase the product. A key indicator is when they come back for their next purchase which matters most because then, they become family.
What role does social media play in your branding efforts?
Social media is one of my love languages, but one I have a definite love/hate relationship with for sure. Not growing up in the social media era, it’s something I’ve had to be a pioneer in as I am not a native, so to speak. It’s critical in our digital age. Yes, Google and YouTube are your top 2 search engines, but as the world gets younger and smarter, looking up the brand’s Instagram and TikTok accounts for quick “who are they” updates in 90 seconds has stepped to the front of the competition.
If you have a strong brand identity, being on social media is a benefit beyond recognition. After COVID, we can barely sit still for a 1-minute ad campaign, let alone a 5 minute “how to” video. Being able to quickly explain who you are with psychological practices (i.e. color, fonts, etc.) can help you attract consumers and quickly make them into customers.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I’d love to be able to partner Pickleball with healthcare across the board. I’d love to be able to somehow replace prescriptions with a paddle. I’d also love to have a Pickleball tournament with Republicans and Democrats… something fun to help open up the aisles a bit!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“It’s never too late for a new beginning.” I am truly a living testament to this one. At 49 years of age, I became part of an industry that I never saw on my radar. I am never one to shy away from trying new things, but this came at me in such a way that I chose to look at the possibilities it could bring me, embrace it, and write it as part of my legacy.
We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have a lunch or breakfast with? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
Barack Obama. He would be my lunch date because I have so many questions. I applaud his human connection, his love of mankind, and his need to help with affordable healthcare. If I get one more at the table, it would be Bernie Sanders so we could redefine the word “socialism”.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Visit our website at www.twistedpickle.world, and follow us on Instagram (@twisted_pickle_) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087606339767), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/twisted-pickle-llc/), or TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@twistedpickledfw)!
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
