Not too long ago, media agencies were a necessary first stop for any brand that hoped to connect with its target customers. Only the agency had the information necessary to create an intelligent media plan or the relationships and cost-efficiency (due to their ability to make aggregate media purchases) required to place a buy with…
The Johari window is a tool for getting at what we don’t know about ourselves: our blind spots. When I first learned about it in graduate school, I thought of blind spots as negative. Not knowing what others readily perceive about us seemed like a liability. But the longer I am an executive coach for…
Think globally, act locally. It’s a decades-old rallying cry that is not often executed effectively. Attempts to implement this overarching management idea as a brand strategy can either be too rigid or too flexible. Not striking the proper balance can lead to brand inconsistency and regional irrelevancy. This is especially true of consumer-packaged goods (CPG)…
To understand the future of retail and its ever-evolving intersection with technology, look no further than Daft Punk. Early on, Daft Punk tried to convince the world that they were technology rather than humans. To prove the point, their live performance consisted of the two robots perched atop an enormous pyramid of screens, blaring lights…
If you follow all the hype around blockchain, you may be led to believe the technology is the answer to all our woes. Time will tell. But in the short term, blockchain is realistically poised to address some pressing problems for businesses. Chief among them is the issue of transparency in the advertising supply chain….
While advances in technology were a major focus at Adobe Summit 2018, CEO Shantanu Narayen and other industry leaders reinforced the point that people are still at the center of a successful experience business. The “experience makers” theme reinforced the value of every single role across an organization and how each one is a crucial…
If you Google “how to make your brand stand out,” you’ll find 189 million near-identical results all with seven “sure-fire ways” on how to make your brand the next big thing. However, to find out how to really stand out, brands should look to an industry that is known for doing just that: cinema. In…
I’ve lost count of the number of journalists who have asked for my perspective since WPP announced its investigation into misconduct claims against Martin Sorrell almost two weeks ago. I don’t engage in speculative conversations with journalists, on or off the record, but in any event, I assumed Sir Martin would continue to lead WPP…
A common mistake we see brands make is that they take their TV commercials or YouTube videos and upload them directly to Facebook without any changes. But by doing that, they’re leaving potentially millions of views on the table. Facebook video culture is different, and a few tweaks go a long way. Here’s how we…
Brand voice has long been a product of written copy, whether it be on websites, marketing materials or email newsletters. With the relatively recent advent of voice recognition tools like Amazon Echo and Google Home, however, brand voice is becoming decidedly more literal. By 2019, the voice recognition market will be worth $601 million. And…
It was Benjamin Franklin who sparked the debate between freedom and security. Back then, it was a robust conversation among our Founding Fathers as they contemplated the laws and direction of this new land. Today, it’s an even more appropriate discussion as we consider placing surveillance on every street corner in order to keep our…
This year, as I was walking the floor at CES, I was struck by many of the innovations that I encountered. Toasters that tweet. Smart fridges that talk to your TV. Shoes that vacuum. While some of these technologies are amusing, and others are interesting, it gave me pause to think–is it meaningful enough? Innovation…
In today’s cluttered and always-on world, greater relevance with customers is what wins the battle for brand supremacy. That relevance is built by becoming a brand that people want in their lives, one that keeps pace while everything around us accelerates. We call these relentlessly relevant brands. Names like Apple, Google and Netflix are such…
We’ve all heard the famous Dieter Rams quote, “Good design is as little design as possible.” A great interface is one that the user doesn’t see, think about or struggle to understand. In the words of Steve Jobs, “It just works.” When it comes to digital products, this means putting the user at the center…
Each new year brings a slew of articles filled with prognostications for marketing and advertising professionals. Few areas attract more of this future gazing than programmatic and online display advertising. These conversations, though, are too often in the abstract and lack specifics necessary for marketers to fully appreciate their importance or successfully leverage the suggestions….
Rarely does anyone write about Amazon without including the word “giant.” Research shows that 43 percent of all online retail purchases were conducted through Amazon in 2016. Incredibly, this scary growth continues as Amazon’s net sales grew by more than $10 billion between the third quarters of 2016 and 2017. Just because something is big…
Show me an established category, and I’ll show you a startup that’s disrupting it (or about to). The trusted rules of the road for managing and marketing brands simply don’t cut it on the fast and furious freeways of the startup world where change is everywhere. Established categories and brands have been upended overnight. In…
For the past five years, industry leaders have been heralding the golden age of out-of-home (OOH) advertising, predicting it will evolve into a medium that could do pretty much anything. The rhetoric around out-of-home today feels reminiscent of mobile, where for years the saying went, “This is going to be the year of mobile.” Now,…
The past decade brought us a digital revolution, and with it came a wide range of distinct concerns for the marketing and advertising industry: the question of transparency in the media supply chain, skepticism around accurate metrics, fake news, data privacy breaches, manipulated audiences and more. Today, we’re at a turning point where the limitations…
A protectionist mindset that’s been brewing politically worldwide for quite some time is suddenly at the doorstep of every digital platform and global brand. Marketing players are now making locally-minded data moves that stand to hurt companies of all types; though the business ramifications have yet to be appropriately recognized. Public policies, such as the…
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