In mid-century America, the local soda and sweet shop was a fixture of small town life. Here is where Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica met to gossip, fall in and out of love and plan the next pep rally. The Fiiz Drinks chain is trying to modernize that tradition. Started in Utah in 2014 around the personalized "Your Drink, Your Way" soda concept, it has expanded the menu to snacks and desserts, and grown its footprint, to 70 locations. But can that local meeting-place appeal scale to the 500 locations that company President Scott Ball has planned over the next …

While healthy popcorn and snacks brand Lesser Evil launched almost two decades ago, it really burst from its organic shell and onto mainstream grocery shelves in just the last few years. Now at 40,000 stores, Lesser Evil has taken the same approach to growth that it does to popping corn - low and slow. As VP of Marketing Caitlin Mack tell us this week, the art and science of the product touches all aspects of the company culture. Get ready to learn about the importance of "butterfly wings" on your handful of popcorn.

There are meat-lovers' brands and then there are meat-lovers' brands. Barry McGowan, CEO of Brazilian-style eatery Fogo de Chao assures me that there are many veggie offerings on the menu and the buffet table for my vegan palate. But let's face it. The heart of this fast-growing chain is the slow-turning spits and deep carnivore vibes. As he explains this week, Fogo is all about on-premise experience - flames, meat juice, friends.

In just eight years, it's grown to a billion-dollar brand by marketing the most basic product out there: water. But don't tell that to its cult-like following that has turned the beverage company into a full-blown cultural phenomenon.

In 1992, Gary Chapman, a Baptist minister from China Grove North Carolina, coined the Five Love Languages which outlines how people express and receive love. According to Chapman, these five languages are: Words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service and physical touch.

Most retailers enhance the "IRL experience" with engaging store design, CX and occasional events. Gem Studio puts solder and a blowtorch in your hands. Created by Matt James in order to finance a Ugandan schoolhouse he had founded, this high concept retailer sells silver and turquoise jewelry, but only after the customer makes it herself. Matt and his co-founder (and wife) Lauren explored the lessons learned - about marketing, staffing and scaling - extreme experiential retail.

Why is a high-intensity workout gym chain partnering with a tequila brand, let alone Dyson, Netflix, lululemon or Christina Aguilera? Barry's has gone all in on the art of strange brand bedfellows. It is a deliberate effort to weave the company identity into customers' everyday lives. And to that end, the 90 Barry's locations have also become social centers, even party zones. Vicky Land, SVP of Brand & Comms explains how global brand initiatives and local activations reinforce one another.

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, Whataburger is taking things analog with in-person activations like weddings in Las Vegas, a museum of fan artwork, and a San Antonio Airport takeover for the Final Four. VP of Marketing Donna Tuttle shares how they're leaning into community engagement and storytelling to drive that brand love with their guests.

I think I have written this story ten times before. Playboy was one of the first magazines to go "Dotcom" on the "World Wide Web" in 1994, which is when I started covering Internet media. Since then, I have written about so many Playboy relaunches, pivots, near-deaths and mis-fired salvage operations in the past 30 years, it is a miracle the brand persists at all. And here we go again.