Apr
17
2017
Wait. Hear me out. I’m not ready to call time of death on differentiation just yet, but something is going on that makes me wonder whether we need a new model for what drives value at the heart of...
Mar
21
2017
Recently, a CMO client said to me in frustration, “Our brand needs more urgency.” What she meant was she needed the brand to start working harder faster, contributing to business performance sooner. It’s no surprise that CMOs are under...
Mar
03
2016
Diana Vreeland was a legendary figure in the fashion industry. But the vast majority of people probably have never heard of her. She was the managing director for Vogue magazine in the 60’s and was known for her distinctive...
May
18
2015
I was at a sustainability conference recently, thinking about my boots. "Business casual" is interpreted very loosely in Silicon Valley. CEOs turn up for meetings in t-shirts. Ties are donned ironically. I was wearing my Red Wing boots as...
Sep
17
2013
Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House, once famously said "All politics is local." It was a lesson he learned in his first political loss: unless you connect to the needs and desires of the folks near you, you...
Apr
16
2013
One of the reasons I named this blog "Brand Is Action" is that I believe this is how brands will be built in this next era of branding - not through image but through behavior. The experience of the...
Oct
30
2012
Last night I learned again the true power of Twitter. At least for me.
In the last 5 months, I've moved to New York City. Big change: new job, new responsibilities, new city. An exciting opportunity. But now, most of...
Oct
06
2011
In case you hadn't noticed, we're awash in photos. Whether it's the number of new photos uploaded to Instagram (150 per second), the number of photos on Facebook (approx. 90 billion) or Flickr (approx. 6 billion), or the number...
Jun
08
2011
As a long-time Apple fan, I followed a live blog of Steve Job's keynote speech at the Apple Developer's Conference yesterday. By then, the world knew most of the Apple news: iCloud and a new operating system plus a...