I get asked to interview marketing leaders/CMOs often. Here are the top 10 questions that I like to ask, presented in no particular order: 1. Which project does the best marketing and branding in our industry? Which project is most cringe? 2. What cognitive bias do you most exploit…
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth ~ Mike Tyson Sometimes, your brand is in the midst of crisis. Discord is buzzing. Twitter is pounding. Your network is down. It could be a bug or worse, a hack. What do you do? Get ahead of the story…
"Social norms are the invisible rulers of society" ~ Unknown After a week-long strategic onsite in the Rockies, my colleague Gabriel and I found ourselves unwinding in a hot tub. It was a Friday night, and the last thing we wanted to discuss was work. Curiosity sparked, I asked…
"Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness" ~ Malcolm Gladwell Positioning against the market leader offers unique advantages. You can steal their mindshare, hijack their word-of-mouth, or refocus the market conversation. But…
“Don’t always go through the tiny little door that everyone is trying to rush through...go around the corner and go through the vast gate that no one’s taking." ~ Peter Thiel In some cases, the impact of your technology remains unseen by the general public. Whether you&…
A deck of cards is built like the purest of hierarchies, with every card a master to those below it, a lackey to those above it ~ Culbertson At the core of all communication lies a simple goal: to take root in the human mind. Your message needs to spread like…
Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive ~ Andy Grove, Former CEO of Intel Corporation Every industry has its own champion - the market leader that dominates the competition with its massive market share, trend-setting innovation, and renowned brand reputation. For other players, especially newcomers, challenging such a…
We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by people we have never heard of ~ Edward Bernays Narratives hold immense power in driving behavior. People are moved by stories. They can have a profound impact on the way we view the world around us.…