Before we tuck into this, I want to be clear. This is not a “how-to,” per se. It is me providing context and my thoughts on why an account featuring a middle-aged dude making olden time-y sandwiches from old cookbooks has blown up as quickly as it has. There might…

More flexibility leads to better insights for brands and businesses. — The single best way to gain insights into your customer, and your potential customers, is to talk to them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that enterprises big or small ask customers what they want. …

My June jumpstart to lose pandemic pounds and get healthier — Before I get into it, this is decidedly a personal piece as opposed to the subjects I normally write about, business, brands, and marketing. Also, I want to stress that I am not a dietician or a physical exercise expert, but I read a lot (no, I did not sleep…

A case study in logo overconfidence — As a marketer who started out in design and cut his teeth doing both at Netflix, I am of the opinion that graphic design, in the service of business, always has a job to do. That job changes company-to-company and project-to-project. …

How both leveraged a long-term strategy to succeed — To get the drop on the competition is to obtain an advantage by acting before they do. But in order to get the drop, companies need to be able to see what’s ahead. People tend to think of how innovative both have been as they’ve dominated their respective industries. That…

How one brand got it wrong and the other brand got it right. — Brand is the sum total of everything a company does and how it interacts with the world. One of the benefits of having a clearly articulated brand position is that when events occur, whether internal or external, you have a guide for how to react. And with the AMC/GameStop stock…

How what seems like lazy branding is actually a savvy move. — Over the last couple of decades, I’ve worked on a number of naming projects. From companies to divisions to even an open-source code project for Intel. So when Apple announced the name of their streaming service as AppleTV+ I was amused at what I considered a “meh” name. Then came…

Why the future of marketing isn’t just personalization — putting it all together is what matters — Personalization: the action of designing or producing something to meet someone’s individual requirements. Curation: the selection, organization, and presentation of online content, merchandise, information, etc., typically using professional or expert knowledge. The promise of personalization as it pertains to marketing has been that companies can leverage customer browsing and purchasing…

You won’t win by having your brand look like your competitors’. — It has never been easier to build a website. Between Squarespace, Wix, and others, one can get a website up and running in hours. Which is both a blessing — and a curse. The reason it’s a blessing should be fairly obvious. It can be done quickly, with relatively little…