EP.79 BRAND THERAPY AND BEYOND with Jaime Schwarz, MRKD.dj Founder and Creator of Brand Therapy

Jun 7, 2025

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ABOUT JAIME SCHWARZ:

BIO:

Jaime Schwarz is an award-winning copywriter and creative director, having worked with over 100 brands at NYC agencies before starting his entrepreneurial journey.

In 2017 he authored the world's first NFT-focused patent and launched BrandTherapy.coach, a product market fit-focused consultancy built on the technique of letting the brand speak for itself.

After co-founding seven startups and consulting for dozens more, in 2022, Jaime pivoted into the web3 world by using AI to literally teach brands to speak for themselves and co-founding The TeamFlow.Institute using team intelligence to maximize the momentum of decentralized teams to create the Company Betterment Industry.

He also co-founded ParallelWorlds.us and positioned it as the world's first spatial transformation company. Since then, once his patent was granted, he has been building MRKD as an IP-founded venture focused on empowering the IP economy through co-creationism.

He serves on the board of Wayfinders on the Hudson, is an advisor to XRSI.org, and lives in Hastings on Hudson with his wife and two boys.

Jaime’s LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/jaimeschwarz

Websites:

brandtherapy.coach (Company)
jaimeschwarz.com (Portfolio)
calendly.com/getbrandtherapy/30min (Other)

Email: jaimeschwarz@gmail.com

SHOW INTRO
Welcome to the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast EPISODE 79 … and my conversation with Jaime Schwarz an award-winning copywriter and creative director, founder of Brand Therapy and a number of other ventures.

On the podcast our dynamic dialogues based on our acronym DATA - design, architecture, technology, and the arts crosses over disciplines but maintains a common thread of people who are passionate about the world we live in and human’s influence on it, the ways we craft the built environment to maximize human experience, increasing our understanding of human behavior and searching for the New Possible.

he NXTLVL Experience Design podcast is presented by VMSD Magazine part of the Smartwork Media family of brands.

VMSD brings us, in the brand experience world, the International Retail Design Conference. The IRDC is one of the best retail design conferences that there is bringing together the world of retailers, brands and experience place makers every year for two days of engaging conversations and pushing the discourse forward on what makes retailing relevant.

You will find the archive of the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast on VMSD.com.

Thanks also goes to Shop Association the only global retail trade association dedicated to elevating the in-store experience.

SHOP Association represents companies and affiliates from 25 countries and brings value to their members through research, networking, education, events and awards. Check then out on SHOPAssociation.org

Jaime Schwarz spent years work in the fast-paced world of New York advertising agencies where he came to deeply understand brands. Since then, his entrepreneurial journey has led to patent awards, and a few business ventures that truly bring things to the NXTLVL.

We’ll get to all of that in a moment but first though, a few thoughts…

* * *

OK so where to start on this one...

You know… I try to lead teams by being authentic and transparent. Candid when it matters to get to the heart of the matter and circumspect when sharing the whole story it might not be appropriate.

But thinking about my interview with Jamie Schwarz makes me sit back in my chair and consider what I think I know.

I think I know a little about a lot and I say that not lacking humility, but I've been always compulsively curious about stuff. All kinds of stuff.

I like to know why things work the way they work, how people got to the places they got to in their careers, how history unfolds and the story of culture is our told and retold. And all sorts of other stuff.

I like reading about quantum physics but will confess I still get confused about how traveling at the speed of light and coming back to your origin will mean that you come back years in the future while the passage of time for you may only be a few moments.

I loved the movie interstellar.

I don't know things like that just sort of confused me, but they fascinate me nevertheless.

I digress.

I think I probably know a little bit about enough and in some cases it just might be that I know enough to be dangerous as the saying goes.

One of the motivations to doing the podcast is that I get to speak to lots people who are just way smarter and tuned in than me…and I generally add here that the bar is actually set pretty low because there are so many really smart people in the world.

I like studying about the things that I try to engage in conversations about. I'll read books, watch hours of online content – presentations, speeches and interviews. I'll dig up articles and make sure that I show up ready to go for a conversation.

Early on in the podcast series I had someone thank me for showing up well prepared. I just sort of thought that that was my responsibility to make sure that if someone was offering their time to have a discussion that I would have done my necessary background preparation to make it worth their while.

Some interviews I sort of set as stretch goals - people who I want to talk to because they have deep insight on areas that I am interested in but in which I may not have more than an intermediate or novice education.

My wife, a veteran of print and television journalism, a multi-book author, strong advocate of radical listening and who also has the uncanny ability to see way beyond the immediate conversation would always say to me that when in discussion you need to leave the interview questioning whether you know more about the person at the close of the conversation than you did when it started.

That's an interesting starting point when entering a conversation because it sets the basic premise for who's doing the talking - how much listening is going on and how you listen not to simply add your own opinions, solve the problem or give advice, but to dig deeper in your understanding, resulting in better attunement.

I will confess that sometimes I am fully aware that my enthusiasm for subject matter leads to jumping in, offering personal experiences and contributing ideas. Conversations can chase multiple ideas, but I also think that's a result of what I consider as associative thinking - one idea connects to another and sets off a cascade of related or interdependent subjects. And then a whole array of rabbit holes lay before us. Each one leading to a delightful journey. Oh now which one to choose – why not all – let’s go!

I have come to use these introductions to podcast interviews as replacements of a sort for a blog I used to write for VMSD magazine called “Brain Food.”

I take the time to consider what the conversation with my guest is about and set to musing on ideas that emerged in the conversation. Some of them are personal, stories that resonate deeply with personal or professional experiences. Others are thought bubbles that I offer up for further investigation.

I think that most of this episode is like thought bubbles. It covers the nature of branding and relationships with consumers, trust in marketing and storytelling, NFTs and creating derivative works and related IP legal issues, Web 3.0, Deconstructivism, co-creation in a digital mediated world, Ai and collective intelligence, the pace of change, art and digital twinning and the inherent value of co-creative works, quantum computers and hacking bitcoin, object permanence in the digital space… and, and, and you get the idea.

There is so much here that you might say it lacks focus, but I think it actually offers up the idea of complexity in our fast-paced digitally mediated world where interdependencies reign, everything is connected to everything in one multi-dimensional system and to what end it is sweeping us along.

We can come to these various rabbit holes of conversation because Jaime Schwarzis an award-winning copywriter and creative director, having worked with over 100 brands at NYC agencies before starting his entrepreneurial journey.

In 2017 he authored the world's first NFT-focused patent and launched BrandTherapy.coach, a “product market fit-focused” consultancy (about which he speaks in our talk) that is built on the technique of letting the brand speak for itself.

I could have prompted Jaime with any of these subjects and just sat back and taken it all in.

ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:

LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582b

Websites: https://www.davidkepron.com (personal website)

vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645 (Blog)

Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.com

Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/

NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/

Bio:

David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why’, ‘what’s now’ and ‘what’s next’. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe.

David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels.

In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies.

As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace.

David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation’s Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.

He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.

In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com.

The NXTLVL Experience Design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production is by Kano Sound.

The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.

Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.