CREATIVE BREAKTHROUGHS
So many creative breakthroughs result from weaving together unlike threads: • Georges de Mestral, a Swiss electrical engineer, didn’t cook up the science behind Velcro in a lab. The principle came to him looking at [...]
April 2018
March 2018
THE #1 HAZARD
When companies try to identify and revitalize their brand identity, some tend to dismiss or gloss over actions that may have seriously damaged the brand in the past or ignore the loss of relevancy. Management [...]
February 2018
FUNNY IN THE WRONG WAY.
There is something uncomfortably awkward about many brands that try to advocate aspirational qualities, suggesting to the consumer that copy-catting these brands is all it takes to gain success and be cool. Brands stuck in [...]
December 2016
SMALL IS THE NEW BIG
Market Place is our client – always. Our collective client. It’s different now – radically different. We are living in an era of enlightenment. New breed of intelligence. The great awakening. Matching up needs to [...]
OBSERVE AND DISCERN
In the old business world, the decisive emphasis was on information. The more a person knew, the greater the advantage. Today, simply knowing lots of information is no asset. It can be a mammoth, crippling [...]
November 2016
THE CONSUMER OWNS THE MARKET
Today, the consumer owns the market — a market that is both global and fragmented, where small is the new big, scanning is the new reading, and insight is superior intelligence. Brand-owning firms and even [...]
THINKING IS OVERRATED
Thinking is overrated. It comes in the way of: Observing, noticing, considering, and gleaning.I love processes, methods, and routines. For me, they help to free me from being pulled into the weeds. Not to be [...]
October 2016
BURST THE BUBBLE BEFORE IT BURSTS YOU
Burst the bubble before it bursts you! Data science and predictive algorithms can streamline work but they cannot restore command-and control to Marketing. Data management can help you path trends. It cannot help you spot [...]
July 2016
THE GREAT WALL OF CONTROL
Everything changed when the internet opened up shop. We all started to speak to each other. The internet neutralized command-and-control marketing. When individuals connect with other individuals, transparency left no place to hide. The Great [...]
June 2016
MASTER THE FOOTING
Think intuitively and with conviction. Even with our unprecedented ability to spit out data and analysis, it will never be fast enough to pre-empt today’s ever-changing landscape. This may seem a little bewildering for the [...]