Building a Brand That Lasts

In today’s episode, I sit down with Brian McDonnell, Co-Founder and CEO of melin, to discuss building a premium brand through quality, innovation, and intentional leadership. Brian shares how his passion for exceptional products shaped melin’s identity and why the smallest details can create lasting customer loyalty. We discuss the importance of hiring people with integrity, building a culture of continuous improvement, and learning to lead through questions rather than criticism. Brian also explains the daily disciplines that keep him grounded, the value of surrounding yourself with mentors, and his evolving perspective on building a personal brand while staying focused on the work itself. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Welcome to the playbook. I'm David Meltzer. We are at the greatest stadium ever built. It's amazing what $5.5 billion will buy you. It's a billion dollar scream, screen screaming behind us. But only the biggest stages for the biggest people and one of my favorite entrepreneurs and favorite products that I use to illustrate how to build a business by frequency is Brian McDonald's melon. Welcome to the playbook.

• 0:25Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 0:26Speaker 00

  So good to see you.

• 0:27Speaker 01

  Been for a long time.

• 0:28Speaker 00

  Vice versa. So I believe products, services and solutions have frequencies and prices perceived. Bottom line is what it costs you to make something.

• 0:41Speaker 01

  Hundred percent.

• 0:42Speaker 00

  Or stay in business. And just as a reminder, Brian, as a coach, most people, 80% of their business would bankrupt them. They either break even or lose money and they don't understand why they're struggling when they could just dump the people that they're losing money with, focus in on the people they're breaking even with and double down on the people they're profitable with. But you have nailed it when it comes to frequency or essence of a brand. When someone looks at, touches, feels, wears a melon cap, it has a different energy.

• 1:18Speaker 01

  Appreciate it.

• 1:18Speaker 00

  And the price in some cases doesn't even matter. For you, how intentional was that essence or frequency of the product?

• 1:28Speaker 01

  It's a great question.

• 1:31Speaker 01

  And earlier you mentioned Raise Your Basement and, uh, and looking at businesses. I've been a student of really well-made accessories, apparel and like call it sporting goods. My whole life I was a child of the snowboard boom. And anytime there was an innovation and like in the sport that allowed your adventure to be more fun and more accessible, it kind of resonated. And then on the flip side of that, I grew up with a Jewish grandma that would take me to the Saks Fifth Avenue down in the San Fernando Valley. Maybe once a year for her annual purse re-up and she would get doted on and leave there with a Dunham Burke or a Louis Vuitton bag.

• 2:10Speaker 01

  And it just stuck with me, the, I call it the essence or the energy of how the premium bag would make her feel. And, uh, so as a kid, it just left a mark on me and I've always been a product geek. A student of fashion and a believer that what we wear is, you know, who we want to present ourselves as. Every single one of us is unique and we choose how we want to be perceived. So a brand that you wear is, in my opinion, the most powerful statement you could make. I wanted to start a brand that helped people look, feel and be their best. And in order to achieve that, my belief is best is not inexpensive.

• 2:50Speaker 01

  And we needed to make room in the product to truly build the best materials, you know, you know, fail a bunch of innovating. And that's expensive as well. So the price of better, um, is, is kind of the, the ticket to entry in the premium space. And then that to your point, the price of the product is associated with the psychology of self-worth. So if we could build a brand that meant I worked hard, I deserve this, I earned this. And I'm the kind of person that wants to curate excellence in my decisions. That was kind of all the underlying essence, so to speak, that went into how we built this thing.

• 3:29Speaker 00

  Yeah. And there, I think at the premium level for hats, it's elevated throughout the years. It's kind of like vodka, right? I worked with Sidney Frank early on and vodka was a poor person's drink. And he commissioned a million dollars for the bottle, went to France, which no one did, and created this smooth vodka. And, you know, bargained to put it on the shelves to make it look different and taste different. And $2.6 billion later, Sidney knew what he was talking about. When we're dealing with certain luxury or premium items, there's a lot of perceived value where you can't tell the difference. It's more in the brand.

• 4:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:06Speaker 00

  But it started, it couldn't get there without what you're doing today at Melon. And part of it is understanding, you know, what it is that makes the quality that much better. That backs up.

• 4:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:20Speaker 00

  The price.

• 4:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:21Speaker 00

  Right? You put a melon hat on, I promise you, you feel the difference. People walking around, I love your hat, right? For some people that wear hats like me, there's a difference, kind of like I love your bag or I love your watch. So that feeling is so hard to capture. What are some of the qualities of a melon hat that makes it feel so good? Not look good, so other people make you feel good, but it actually feels better.

• 4:48Speaker 01

  There's, uh, it's funny, the, I call it the recipe internally, the product team. Which we're blessed to have built an amazing team of progressive builders in the, in the business. But the product is a result of ingredients and passion. So the only way to make something work better, feel better, perform better is to truly work with better. So we've got an amazing amount of textile sourcing and development that goes on in technology. Some of the simple principles where anyone that wore a ball cap regularly their whole life knew that after one good day of sweating or a golf round on a hot day or a workout, it's going to pick up sweat stains. It was based on the textiles, um, absorption properties.

• 5:28Speaker 01

  So we went in deep on figuring out how to wick moisture off the scalp, dissipate the sweat before it ever penetrated the exterior of the crown fabric to avoid sweat stains. So small technologies like that, triple quilted antibacterial sweatband that would minimize acne buildup on your forehead. Based on the natural oils that come off the human body. We built a floating visor into the product, just so that the hats would float if they ended up in waterways, et cetera. But a ton of, I always say there's no magic pill to make a melon hat better. It's thousands of small tweaks that have and continue to remain in the brand's DNA.

• 6:08Speaker 01

  The three pillars in our logo stand for world's most premium materials, unique details and problem solving innovation. So every new product we build, the product team presents through those three qualifiers.

• 6:20Speaker 00

  And behind every great product are great people. What are the characteristics or quality of the people that you hire?

• 6:27Speaker 01

  It's a great question. It's actually goes back to the logo as well. Our logo is the capital letter M and we always say it's built on a strong foundation. That foundation is the caliber of humans in which we build with, and we call that the integrity. So it's, it's the number one selfish reason I wanted to own a brand and own a business was to be able to qualify the people you're going to put around you. And I'm a believer, much like I'm a student of yours, all of us is capable of far more than we ever believe we're, you know, capable of. And I, I'm a believer that it's the power proximity of the energy and the belief in you from people around you making deposits that ends up, you know, pushing people past their self-limiting beliefs.

• 7:11Speaker 01

  So our whole team, there's not one person out of the hundreds of employees we have that hasn't been overly scrutinized, put through the paces. We try to scare them off at the point of hiring and we want hunger, we want integrity. And, uh, it's just a great team, like very blessed.

• 7:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, especially today where more people work for a culture than a company. And so to build that culture isn't easy. For me, it's being repetitive and honest about three things. Values and then practices, behavior and then execution. And so I have Monday, Wednesday, Friday meetings to go and reiterate, I call it being annoying, which really sucks when you're the boss, right? Cause you have to be annoying at home with your kids, repetitive and honest. And then you're annoying at work because you're repetitive and honest. And there's a fine line when you're repetitive and honest of either inspiring people or interfering with their inspiration.

• 8:08Speaker 02

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• 8:36Speaker 00

  Have you learned in building, because your culture is known throughout the industry? Have you learned some, uh, practices that you have to build such a great culture?

• 8:45Speaker 01

  That's a really good question. So I'm a short fuse, super passionate person, wear my heart on my sleeve. I always say my brain's so full of truths, I have no room to hide or disguise a lie. So I have a problem in delivering, um, the, call it the nicer way of giving feedback. So it's been something that even my coach Muncie here, who's with us today, has helped me really, really work on the way in which you show up for your team and the way you deliver messages. It's something that, um, is super important to me. I constantly, every all staff meeting we have, I run through mission, vision, values. I'm trying to pound that in and create disciples so that in the event I'm not there, they can carry the torch.

• 9:27Speaker 01

  And then when there's times of course correction, um, I do take a few deep breaths, think through the way I would have said it. Ask who, you know, for the more motivational way of delivering back. And I, I was taught through many mentors and paying attention to guys like you. Oftentimes, a leader's job becomes to ask the questions to help them discover what needs to change, rather than point out or almost feel like you're attacking what needs to change. So I find myself asking a lot of questions of, you sure we should do that again? Or run me through why we did that again? And let them kind of come to their own reality. And that's a tool I use very often. When you have really high quality people with low ego

• 10:12Speaker 01

  and a culture built on progress and learning, I feel like it opens the door to have those sorts of conversations. And we encourage the leadership, the team to challenge one another. Ask the question, if you don't know why you're being asked to do something, understand why so you can do it better for the outcome that it's for, you know?

• 10:30Speaker 00

  You have a great coach, by the way.

• 10:32Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 10:33Speaker 00

  Questions and suggestions absolutely change the interaction with people. I wish somebody would have taught me as a young leader, but I was much more closed minded than you as a young leader, to ask this question, would it help you if? That the one little question changed the way that I manage people. And then the second question was the one that I want to ask you is, how do you receive help? Because another one of my problems as a young leader was I never asked, do you know anyone that could help me? So I wasn't relying on my people because I was afraid of the board. I didn't want them to think I didn't know what I didn't know. I was afraid of my employees because I didn't want them to know what I didn't know. So I never asked anyone, hey, do you know anyone that could help me?

• 11:19Speaker 00

  And I've missed out on all this help and I was telling people, not asking questions. So for you and your leadership journey, how important is it for you to ask for help and ask that question?

• 11:31Speaker 01

  It's to me, I'd argue, I didn't realize I was doing this, but I built a personal brand of someone who wants to stay learning. I married a woman way smarter than me on purpose so that I would learn at the dinner table every night. I've, I've literally surrounded myself with mentors. I'm that person that's always seeking to pick up something. B student, played a week of college soccer before I quit the party. Like just was in a bit of trouble growing up was always kind of like, questioned if I had what it took. My dad was a successful entrepreneur, lost everything. And so to me, I had this fire of like, I want to get it back to the family at some point. So I'd say like, our successes come through

• 12:15Speaker 01

  straight refusal to quit and the ability to stay learning and evolving. And so for me, at all times, I'm looking for picking up that one liner. My whole house has framed one liners that are programming my mind everywhere I look. I have reminders that go off on my phone that are programming the way I think. Start the morning off with gratitude exercises and I always act as if, if today was my last day, would I be like pumped that I left it on the field? And, and Tony Robbins, coach of mine, early on, taught me the kind of principles of success. And it was to measure the things that matter on your deathbed. So I live every day through this, like these five kind of,

• 12:59Speaker 01

  call it, you know, disciplines in life, father and a husband, physical, spiritual, philanthropic and financial. And so like every day I kind of gauge my score on a one to five on each of my five pillars. So a 25 score would be a perfect day, which I've never gotten. But it's just a reminder at the end of the day to go, you know what? I didn't really spend much time with the kids today. I gotta go get my score up or I didn't really give back or help anyone today. I gotta go do something, right? It's just helpful reminder.

• 13:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, and that's where actually the assignment of time to the alignment of God, for me, what I call non-negotiable behaviors, which means no matter what happens circumstantially today, I'm going to have a minimum amount of time on my sleep, my health, my family.

• 13:47Speaker 01

  My favorite learning for me.

• 13:49Speaker 00

  And, and it'll change your life. And people still don't understand non-negotiables. And I think you have to have faith to have non-negotiables and to be able to say to yourself, no matter what happens today, no, I'm a human being, so I, Bedros will be here later. He taught me, look, man, you're human. If you don't get your sleep because your mom is in the hospital, you gotta double down the next day. You never stack two L's. That's piece of advice Bedros had given me. You talked about one liners. I live by one liners. I close every podcast I do, including the one we're about to do, with, you know, be more interested than interesting, be kind, be kind to your future self and do good deeds. These one liners make a big difference.

• 14:34Speaker 00

  And we have to be repetitive and honest with ourselves. I put them everywhere. The one that I have most everywhere, I don't use it as a closing, but it's the best lesson I can give and receive. You're either humble or you're about to be.

• 14:48Speaker 01

  I've heard you say that before and I've lived by that as well.

• 14:51Speaker 00

  And I still make the same mistake. What one liner resonates with you, the one that's around your house the most?

• 14:58Speaker 01

  There's one, I know you're connected to the Napoleon Hill Foundation.

• 15:03Speaker 00

  Chairman.

• 15:03Speaker 01

  But yeah. But there's one that I read long ago and it goes off in my phone every morning. And it says, I asked not for more wisdom, but more wisdom with which to receive the gifts that I was born with. And it kind of speaks to, I'm not asking for the handout. I'm asking for the ability to realize I'm capable.

• 15:24Speaker 00

  Awareness.

• 15:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:26Speaker 00

  And do you meditate?

• 15:27Speaker 01

  I do.

• 15:28Speaker 00

  How, when did that start? Yeah, it takes time. What, what, when did you start?

• 15:34Speaker 01

  Years and years ago, I actually do it at random times. Sometimes we'll go to a movie with the family and while everyone's watching the movie, I'll just zone out and like lock in because it's quiet and there's no phone or whatever.

• 15:45Speaker 00

  Right, right.

• 15:46Speaker 01

  But yeah, it's, it's not something that's a consistent part of my routine. It's, it's almost like, oh yeah, I have a second. I should, I should lock in on some present thoughts, you know?

• 15:57Speaker 00

  Personal brand. We have talked about your personal brand internal to the company, which is a very important thing to build.

• 16:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:05Speaker 00

  But it's becoming more important to build a personal brand outside

• 16:08Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 16:09Speaker 00

  of your business. And not, everyone has to have a massive campaign or platform. But the way that AI works is that if you don't have content, there is no website for Melon, right? People will become aware of Melon or you and they will search it on their favorite AI. And if you don't have content, there's no rabbit hole that gives you free feeding. Right? The reason that I exploded was that I had created content now with this intent. I called it perpetuation. I knew to perpetuate content would be a great legacy, but I didn't know that when people become aware of David Meltzer, you guys leave here and say, I went to this great mastermind. Have you ever heard of David Meltzer?

• 16:51Speaker 00

  No, they'll now use a chat of some sort. They'll go to David Meltzer, 10% of the people will love you, 10% will hate you, which is perfect because that 20% will share you with everyone. And your feeding, your social silo will keep feeding them free content without buying ad spend. How are you looking at as a leader of a company that is in this trajectory, your personal brand outside of the company?

• 17:21Speaker 01

  It's a really tough question for me. I've struggled with it for a long time. My wife's got a higher profile. She's a news anchor and social media is part of her existence.

• 17:32Speaker 01

  I've always fancied myself as like the guy doing the work, not talking about the work. And I'm realizing that the greatest gift I could likely give back would be to let people in on what the, the mindset that goes into things, the work, what it actually looks like. And so it's part of the reason I'm here is to start to pick up from what you've created. That I find that if I find so much value in the followings of other people sharing, you know, it's a kind of, I'm obliged to step into that and give some of that back too. And I'm excited to do it. I think it's, it's one of those like, and we got to post about it or and we got to shoot it or and we got it. And I just think I need to personally adopt that as part of the program currently.

• 18:16Speaker 01

  I mean, I've had professional content shot of me at many things, sent to me all chopped up, ready to be, all I gotta do is hit post and I just don't do it. And I'm like, why is that? What is in the way of me wanting to do this? So I'm on a journey to kind of unlock that.

• 18:32Speaker 00

  That's a great journey because we want to capture all the content we can, modify it for every platform, amplify it intentionally, and then perpetuate it for the very reason we were talking about. If you haven't tried on or tried a melon cap, you're missing out. Price does not matter when you buy the best that lasts. And I like to buy things that last that I use all the time. And I will tell you, it is one of the few products that exceeded my expectation for the first product that I bought. And God knows how much else I've spent since. One of my favorite gifts to give in my business. So we are certainly blessed to have you.

• 19:15Speaker 00

  I am here with the co-founder and CEO of Melon, the incredible Brian McDonald.

• 19:21Speaker 01

  I appreciate you so much for having me, David. Thank you.

• 19:24Speaker 00

  Stay here.

• 19:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:27Speaker 00

  This is David Meltzer with the playbook.