Dec 1, 2020The Importance of Doing LessSome of the best work advice I ever received wasn’t work advice at all. It was basketball advice. A couple years ago a friend and former university basketball player joined my recreational team for a game when we were short on players. The next day I asked him for tips…Advertising4 min read
Mar 26, 2020Do It for the Culture*Written with Zach Kula Despite its frequent use, culture is something of an elusive term. But at its essence, it is the things that collectively matter to us at a given point in time. At this moment in North America, the Me Too movement is culture, Trump’s Wall is culture…Advertising4 min read
Mar 26, 2020The Invisible StrategyI’m a strategist who doesn’t like strategy. Well, I suppose that’s not entirely true. In fact, I love strategy. I just don’t like seeing it. A strategist should be like an actor — the audience should never see the actor at work, they should only see the performance. …Advertising2 min read
Mar 26, 2020Hip Hop Music and the Future of AdvertisingThe song ‘Hold Up’ off Beyoncé’s most recent solo album has 15 different credited songwriters including Diplo, members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the lead singer of Vampire Weekend, and Soulja Boy. It has 3 different producers and samples 4 different songs. You would think that with so many cooks…Advertising3 min read
Mar 26, 2020Why I Don’t Talk About InsightI can’t tell you how many definitions of the word ‘insight’ I have encountered over the years. Yet somehow, despite its constant use, we still have yet to agree on quite what it means. …Advertising2 min read
Mar 26, 20206 Tips for a Great Creative BriefThis morning I was emailing a colleague some thoughts about what makes a great creative brief and it occurred to me there could be some young strategists out there who might find them of interest. So, with that in mind, here they are below. …Advertising2 min read
May 11, 2018Surviving the End of Ads*Written with Zach Kula Advertising as we’ve known it may not be dead, but it’s certainly dying, and the ever-worsening vital signs are all around us. Nielsen reports that since 2012, TV viewership amongst 18–24 year olds has declined by 44%. In the last decade newsstand sales of magazines have…Advertising4 min read
Feb 21, 2018Six Ways Blockchain Will Disrupt MarketingMarketing is about to get disrupted and the disruption will be significant. To give a sense of just how significant, it will likely be on the scale of how broadcast television introduced advertising to the monoculture or how the internet made advertising interactive. …Blockchain5 min read
Jan 2, 2018Purpose, Now More than EverNovember 8th, 2016 didn’t go as planned. The thing so many thought would happen, didn’t happen. Or perhaps more accurately, the thing so many believed was totally inconceivable, DID happen. The polls got it wrong. Trump won, Clinton lost. Up is down, left is right. Cats and dogs living together…Advertising4 min read
May 13, 2016Let’s Be BraveThe Soft Complacency of Lowered Expectations — There was a time in the not so distant past when the ad industry was abuzz with excitement about a new way to reach consumers. It was called social media and for the first time in a long time we were wrapping our collective heads around a new medium and…Advertising4 min read
