Soul & Science : #104: Building a Brand That Lasts Beyond the Hype | Sara Kear, CMO at Condado Tacos and Tequila
SHOW NOTES
Energy gets attention. Trust builds loyalty.
In a world obsessed with virality, longevity still wins. The best brands aren’t just loud—they’re reliable, repeatable, and relentlessly consistent.
With a background in digital strategy and brand storytelling, Sara Kear, Chief Marketing Officer at Condado Tacos and Tequila, has turned a regional taco spot into a fast-growing national brand built on creativity, consistency, and community.
In this episode, Sara joins Jason to talk about balancing creative energy with operational discipline, rebuilding a brand after rapid growth, and how structure can actually unlock innovation. She shares lessons from Condado’s rebrand, the role of “flavor rebellion” in defining identity, and how listening—to both teams and guests—became the company’s most powerful growth strategy.
Key Takeaways:
✅ Consistency is the foundation of brand trust
✅ Creative limits can expand, not restrict, innovation
✅ Listening to your audience reveals what data can’t
✅ Growth without structure risks brand identity
Memorable Moments:
💡 “A million small moments make up the feeling of belonging.”
💡 “We outgrew our brand before we realized it—so we paused to rebuild.”
💡 “Confines create creativity. When you define the sandbox, you can scale.”
💡 “Fun brings people in. Trust makes them family.”
Brought to you by Mekanism.
In a world obsessed with virality, longevity still wins. The best brands aren’t just loud—they’re reliable, repeatable, and relentlessly consistent.
With a background in digital strategy and brand storytelling, Sara Kear, Chief Marketing Officer at Condado Tacos and Tequila, has turned a regional taco spot into a fast-growing national brand built on creativity, consistency, and community.
In this episode, Sara joins Jason to talk about balancing creative energy with operational discipline, rebuilding a brand after rapid growth, and how structure can actually unlock innovation. She shares lessons from Condado’s rebrand, the role of “flavor rebellion” in defining identity, and how listening—to both teams and guests—became the company’s most powerful growth strategy.
Key Takeaways:
✅ Consistency is the foundation of brand trust
✅ Creative limits can expand, not restrict, innovation
✅ Listening to your audience reveals what data can’t
✅ Growth without structure risks brand identity
Memorable Moments:
💡 “A million small moments make up the feeling of belonging.”
💡 “We outgrew our brand before we realized it—so we paused to rebuild.”
💡 “Confines create creativity. When you define the sandbox, you can scale.”
💡 “Fun brings people in. Trust makes them family.”
Brought to you by Mekanism.
Soul & Science
Does marketing live in the heart, or in the head? Should you trust your instinct, or your integers? If the answer is both, should you lead with one more than the other? As a creative agency, Mekanism has been asking these questions of ourselves and our clients for over 10 years. Join co-founder and CEO of award-winning creative agency Mekanism, Jason Harris, on his quest to answer these questions with the world’s leading marketers from the brands we’ve all come to love. Named CEO of the Year by The Drum Magazine, Jason will draw from his experience during these easily digestible 20-minute episodes to explore the Soul of these famous brands and the Science of staying relevant, exploring how they’ve become culture defining emblems in our modern world.
Brought to you by Mekanism
Brought to you by Mekanism
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