Leslie Stahl, I’ve always liked you. And good for 60 Minutes keeping people of a certain age working when the rest of the world is youth-crazed. But the segment you did last Sunday was sort of silly. Yes, it is interesting that the Trump campaign–actually both campaigns–made such extensive and strategic use of social media. […]
What we have here, from the perspective of a communications professional, is a new narrative. Actually, depending on how you look at things (and how long you’ve been looking at them) it is an old narrative with a new set of voices. And, like any narrative there is an opposing narrative.
What Colin Kaepernick started isn’t […]
I’m blessed with a client who is a conceptual thinker and providing a lot of food for thought. The “opportunity” facing us is that he is in an industry sorely in need of a new image. It is an industry which, for a number of reasons, lacks the necessary image to attract younger workers, especially […]
We just returned from the “Land of Lego.” In other words, Denmark. The colorful little blocks we all grew up with were invented there in 1949 in a town called Billund. In the past fifty years, they’ve gone around the world. Once almost bankrupt, they have re-emerged to become by some accounts the largest toy […]
I’m a Malcom Gladwell fan. I’m also a self-proclaimed “challenger brand marketing” expert. So, Mr. Gladwell’s latest book: David & Goliath, is right up my alley.
He reminds us that the industry giant is not often what it appears to be and that size alone is not a strategy. In fact, size can often be a […]
My friend Ann sent me this. It’s a little funny but mostly sad. The last time we were in Greece, we were gathered up and found ourselves at the receiving end of a “micro-public-relations” campaign. We discovered–between the grape leaves–that our hosts were on a mission. The premise was that the international media and particularly […]
It was hard to believe, even thirty years ago, that this was the best or most efficient way to do anything. No doubt you’ve heard it on the news but, being from Chicago, I can’t resist a comment. Today is the day the trading pits are closing at the once mighty Chicago Board of Trade […]
One of the questions I like to ask my clients, or ask myself about my client’s business, is: where are you? Are you a movement, an organization or an institution? It’s a question essentially about organizational energy levels and social dynamics. And, the implications for branding are significant.
A movement is exciting. A lot of businesses, […]
Most of us were educated or trained that “form follows function.” A good guiding principle to be sure. Allowing for the observation that this rules-out serendipity entirely, I’ve been part of a recent investigation into sales automation platforms that has reminded me that there is always an opposing theory. Specifically, Saleforce.com presentation in which we […]
Admittedly, this is an unfortunate acronym. It just doesn’t sound good. But it is good. A BHAG is a big, hairy, audacious goal. Or, to put it more mildly, a “reach-goal.” But BHAGs have a couple of characteristics worth noting that separate it from a typical reach goal. Chief among these is that it isn’t […]