The founder identified his own conflicting experiences—loving the social aspect of alcohol but hating the harm, and enjoying weed but disliking the disconnect. He built Breeze to provide the benefits of both without the downsides, starting from a deeply personal, relatable human problem.

The ultimate PLG companies are consumer brands like shampoo, which sell on brand affinity, not commoditized features. As software becomes more commoditized, B2B companies must similarly build a strong brand theme that inspires users to associate with them, creating a more durable moat than features alone.

While product differentiation is beneficial, it's not always possible. A brand's most critical job is to be distinctive and instantly recognizable. This mental availability, achieved through consistent creative, logo, and tone, is more crucial for cutting through market noise than having a marginally different feature set.

Despite beverages being a category people rarely buy online, Breeze generated tens of millions in DTC sales. This built a huge base of customers who preferred to buy in-store, creating a powerful demand flywheel. When Breeze launched in retail, it sold four months of inventory in two weeks.

Spotify leveraged its brand love to successfully expand from music streaming into podcasts and audiobooks. This emotional equity provides the necessary consumer trust for diversification, turning brand into a strategic asset for growth beyond the core product.

To avoid an inconsistent, 'all over the place' approach, companies must establish a common brand-building philosophy or framework. This shared point of view, like Molson Coors's MUSCLE framework, ensures organizational alignment and helps build a cohesive marketing culture.

Most product categories are commodities with minimal functional differences. Success, as shown by Liquid Death in the water category, hinges on building an emotional connection through branding and packaging, which are the primary drivers of consumer choice over minor product benefits.

Coca-Cola failed with ZICO not by changing its core quality, but by stripping away its ability to adapt. Large corporate systems, built for consistency at scale, enforce rigid processes that stifle the very nimbleness that made a challenger brand successful.

The traditional divide between B2B and B2C marketing is obsolete. Effective brands must speak to business and consumer audiences with the same authentic voice, bridging efforts to create a cohesive identity, much like how the NFL mothership brand supports individual team brands.