The story behind the name DeepSnap - A lesson in branding
In light of renaming my coffee from "Grumpy Bear Coffee" to my core, "DeepSnap Coffee", I want to talk a little bit about branding.
(Branding is something I've done for about 15 years.)
DeepSnap has always been an idea.
Back in 1999, I was a high school kid playing football. I was a long snapper and thought it would be cool to start a website teaching other snappers. So I grabbed the domain: deepsnap.com.
I was really excited about the internet.
When my football career ended in 2012, photography was waiting for me; I just didn't know it yet. Instagram had just come out, and I started taking photos.
I grew my account to about 70,000 followers by 2013 and then deleted it.
It wasn't the online attention; it was the comments in real life. About how great my life was, when I was in fact miserable, navigating a post-football life with post-concussion syndrome and a left eye that was blurring and contributing to daily migraines.
Everything was fake.
Instead, I made a new account about coaching, and I went with my ole "@deepsnap".
I was working on starting my first business and still coaching on the side.
If you scroll far enough down my Instagram feed, you’ll still find photos of me coaching college snappers. That was part of the transition.
Somewhere between football and coffee, I built an ad agency.
That agency specialized in branding.
Logos, names, campaigns, the full package.
I've produced TV commercials and was even the creator of YouTube's 2020 Super Bowl Commercial.
I think about this stuff a lot—probably more than I should. A brand is much bigger than a single product. It’s the story you’re telling, the promise you’re making, and the consistency people come to expect.
Amazon was just books...
Grumpy Bear was also an idea.
It was fun. It had energy. It gave me permission to jump into coffee without overthinking it.
Sometimes that’s exactly what you need—something playful to get you moving. Grumpy Bear was that for me. It was the spark that got the coffee side of my world off the ground.
But as things evolved, it became clear where the alignment really was.
DeepSnap has always been the stronger through-line.
It’s not just a name—it’s a container for stories.
It’s not just about me—it’s an idea other people can project their own stories onto.
Did I like Grumpy Bear? Yes. I loved it. But over time, it just complicated my day-to-day and what the mission really was all about.
When I first created it, I knew there was potential for it not working - I was mainly thinking about trademarks at the time.
So we went in a direction that embodied a lifestyle.
Here’s where we are today.
I’m focused on three things:
Sure, there will be a few spinoffs. There always are. But these three are the heartbeat right now, and they allow me to focus on getting people out there.
Wherever "there" is.
And each of them ties back into the same through-line.
Storytelling has been there from day one.
Coffee has become the ritual that fuels it.
And hats—well, they’ve turned into an unexpected canvas for creativity.
This isn’t about juggling random projects. It’s about building a brand that actually makes sense.
Also Read: The story behind the hats
The takeaway?
Everything in life is seasonal, but I hope to find something more timeless. A calming sound amongst the noise. That’s what DeepSnap has always been for me, and I hope it can mean something to you.
I started this newsletter a couple of years ago as a nudge toward adventure. Now that the moody season is officially upon us, let's finish this year strong.
