Growth Means Breaking New Ground
In a world flooded with content, standing still makes it increasingly difficult to stand out.
In this episode of Growth Playbooks, Eddie Gold, CEO & Founder, and Michael Stern, Chief Client Officer at The Gold Studios, share their perspective on where brands should be looking for their next source of growth – and why being prepared to move into new spaces matters.
For The Gold Studios, growth has always meant breaking new ground. From working with brands on TikTok before the platform became a mainstream marketing channel to building YouTube communities and exploring emerging spaces such as Discord and Substack, Eddie and Michael believe there is significant value in identifying where audiences are heading next.
But as the volume of content continues to grow – accelerated further by AI – simply being present isn't enough. Differentiation becomes critical. Brands need to find the platforms, formats, tone of voice and creative worlds they can genuinely own, rather than risk disappearing into a sea of sameness. C6253
The conversation also explores the commercial opportunity behind entertainment. For Eddie and Michael, producing content that people enjoy is only part of the equation. The real opportunity is turning that entertainment into acquisition – driving sales, downloads, store visits and tangible business outcomes that demonstrate marketing's value to the wider organisation.
And growth requires brands to keep moving. Rather than creating a campaign and leaving it untouched, they advocate an iterative approach: launch, learn from the data, adapt the creative and keep improving. Brands need to be clear about the elements of their identity that remain fixed while giving themselves the flexibility to evolve everything around them.
Their final advice is equally clear: use specialists. As new platforms and formats emerge, work with partners that have genuine experience and expertise in those environments rather than expecting traditional approaches to translate everywhere.
Key takeaways
- Differentiation is everything. As AI increases the volume of content, brands need distinctive platforms, formats and creative territories that help them stand out.
- Entertainment should deliver commercial value. The opportunity is to turn attention and engagement into acquisition, sales and measurable business outcomes.
- Growth requires experimentation and iteration. Find emerging opportunities early, learn from the data and continually evolve – while remaining clear on the elements of the brand that shouldn't change.
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