Origin Story: How Your Story Should’ve Successfully Been Told
Most ads don’t work. Why? They’re missing the key ingredient.
Shared Stories and Advertising Magic
Why do so few stories end up being about vulnerability, setbacks, or scars? Because it takes an uncommon level of guts and skill.
6 Degrees of Benjamin Franklin
Doing business with — making yourself vulnerable to — a complete stranger feels bad. Nobody wants to put themselves in that situation.
How to Tell Your Company Story (Like a Fox)
8 steps to effectively build a tribe of emotionally invested customers who will become your biggest advocates.
Wiener Dog Marketing: For the Love of Wiener Dogs
What idea have you thought of doing, but haven’t had the courage to do, for fear that you might not do it well enough?
Recipe for Success: Strategy First, Messaging Next, Creative Last
You'll need to follow either Pizza Hut or Rolling Stone. It depends on whether customers are wrong about you, or they're right.
Learning from the Legends: Yes, Virginia, It Really Is That Simple!
Marlboro was a failed filtered cigarette brand, marketed to women with the slogan “Mild as May”
Iron Chef Branding — 2 Practical Steps that Work in the Real World
Whip up that gourmet message, not from scratch, and not by following a predetermined recipe, but by making use of whatever ingredients are already on hand.
Are Your Ads Gossip Worthy?
You probably read this and thought: that’s an unrealistic expectation. Kind of like expecting an ad to “go viral.” Who gossips about ads, of all things? And why would anyone want people gossiping about their brand?
Three Wise Men Appeared on My Path
Karen Post gave me the first definition of a brand that did not include colours, style guides, and logos. Brain Tattoos said, “A brand is the STORY embedded in the mind of the market”.
10 Basic Truths of Advertising, Part 1
America has always sorted its mail over a trashcan, and now just as ruthlessly sorts, filters, and dismisses every other incoming stimuli. Modern life demands it.
Offering Something Great? What’s In It For You?
People believe in social proof and social signaling, making price an almost-fail-safe guide to quality. So if your price is out of line with your claims, people distrust the claims.
Good Strategy, Bad Strategy — A Primer
Good strategy always contains three elements and bad strategy doesn’t. Let’s look at each of these three defining elements before presenting a streamlined version specific for Advertising Strategy.
Social Media Strategies for Ugly Duckling Businesses
Contrary to what some social media experts presume, not every business sells things that people like talking and learning about.
Super-Hero Advertising — The Power of Your Genesis Story
Starting with Superman and extending to every superhero thereafter, every character “launches” with an origin story.