Why brand is a business function, not a marketing function

When Condado Tacos doubled in size in four years, guests started confusing the taco chain for a furniture company. In this episode of Content Amplified, Evan Pardue, Director of Brand and CX at Condado Tacos, breaks down the 18-month brand refresh that fixed it, and why he refuses to call it a rebrand. Evan explains why brand is a business function, not a marketing function, how the team built brand pillars that ladder up into content pillars (including an innovation series with the head chef and the Mystery Marg campaign, which turned a hidden flavor into a guessing game with thousands of guest submissions), and how a scrappy Spotify playlist hack solved a problem the team didn't have a developer to fix. He also shares how leadership pushed the refresh into every touchpoint, from phone trees to finance, and why his boss's metaphor, that everyone was learning new choreography together, is the best description of what change management actually feels like. If you're wondering whether your brand needs a refresh or just needs to show up more consistently, this conversation is the playbook. **About Evan** Evan Pardue is the Director of Brand and CX at Condado Tacos, a casual dining taco chain with 52 locations across 10 states, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. He has led Condado's brand and creative teams across social, CRM, and art direction for nearly four years. Before Condado, he worked for a group of Chick-fil-A operators across the Houston metro area. He led Condado's 18-month brand refresh, what he calls the company's "coming out of the closet moment," from first insight through full organizational alignment. **Show Notes** - Connect with Evan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanpardue1/ Text us what you think about this episode!