Executive Interview Series: Joe Yakuel on Building a Scalable, Consistent Brand
At Win Brands Group, our focus is on building brands that customers come back to. That takes more than great product and strong operations — it requires marketing that scales with the business while staying closely connected to the customer at every step.
Today we’re speaking with Joe Yakuel, Founder and CEO of WITHIN. Known as a leading digital marketing agency for retail and consumer brands, WITHIN has partnered with companies like Ben & Jerry’s, The North Face, and Timberland to unite brand storytelling with performance marketing.
We sat down with Joe to talk about what breaks when brands scale too fast, how to keep your message sharp as you expand channels, and what most teams miss when it comes to post-purchase marketing and long-term retention.
Win Brands Group: Win is all about taking what works and scaling it responsibly. But scale can often dilute a brand. What have you learned about keeping brand clarity as companies grow?
Joe Yakuel: As companies grow, departments start optimizing for their own goals. Marketing is focused on growth, CX is handling support, leadership is watching margins. On their own, those priorities make sense. But without a shared direction, the brand starts to fragment.
That’s when the cracks show. Messaging becomes inconsistent. The customer experience feels different depending on where they interact with you.
The brands that scale well keep everyone aligned around a clear foundation: who we’re speaking to, what we stand for, and how that shows up at every touchpoint. When that alignment holds, scale doesn’t dilute the brand. It strengthens it.
Win Brands Group: That challenge only grows once a brand moves from DTC to omnichannel. What’s the biggest marketing shift they need to make?
Yakuel: The biggest shift is realizing you’re no longer in full control of the brand experience. In DTC, you own the entire flow: site, packaging, support. Once you go omnichannel, you’re sharing that space with retailers, distributors, and marketplaces.
So marketing has to adapt. You need packaging that communicates clearly without a landing page. You need ad creative that works even when someone sees it after they’ve been in-store. You need attribution models that don’t assume a clean click path. You’re marketing with less control, so everything needs to be more intentional.
Win Brands Group: What’s one area of marketing you think brands consistently underinvest in during growth?
Yakuel: Most brands underinvest in the post-purchase experience. Once the sale happens, the focus shifts to the next conversion, but the customer journey is just getting started.
That’s a missed opportunity for LTV, referrals, and retention.
Email, unboxing, support, reactivation, all of that is marketing. And if you do it right, it turns first-time buyers into repeat customers. It’s not as flashy as launching a new campaign, but it’s where long-term growth actually comes from.
Win Brands Group: What’s one marketing belief you have that you think more brands should adopt?
Yakuel: Brands think they need to reinvent the wheel every time. New campaign, new idea, new angle. But what actually works is consistency. Showing up with the same core message, clearly and repeatedly, until it sticks.
Repetition builds recognition. Recognition builds trust. And trust is what gets someone to buy, and come back. It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing what works, better and more consistently than anyone else.