Too many people are afraid to introduce a new idea. Too many people are afraid to say “yes” to their agency. Too many people are afraid to take the lead. Too many people are afraid to act without knowing the outcome. Too many people are afraid to be too bold, too unique, or too strange. [...]

One of the key effects of the Great Recession is the criteria by which client decision-makers approve work or choose their agencies. It used to be primarily on chemistry, which was borne out by an agency that went deep to understand the client’s business and expressed an insight in marvelous creativity. Unfortunately, this is not [...]

Now that we’re certain of the value of story selling, the pressing question that remains is how to tell and then sell stories on the web. We don’t think the existence of the story is in question as every product’s or service’s value can be expressed as a story. The difficulty is in framing that [...]

We’ve heard quite a bit over the past several years about how the web has changed the way we read, even the way we think. In particular, the often-publicized worry is that the change has been a negative one– that we no longer read deeply, and we can no longer focus our thinking as we [...]

The question for this editorial might be “do you look out” in the nature of seeing what’s happening in the marketplace, and what that might mean in the evolution of strategy and messaging? These days, I’m on the road more than I’m at home. Traveling from client to client, place to place, you see things differently. And when you’re traveling, you tend to find yourself more on the lookout than not following, or focusing on the trend of change. Moving, you are the change.

The wealthy are cheap and old.  Those are just a couple of conclusions to draw from our review of magazine reading in households making $250k or more.  How else do you explain the presence of Costco Connection and AARP: The Magazine among the most read titles.   When it comes to favorite magazines however, it [...]

Many agencies believe in story telling. We believe in Story Selling. There is a big difference. Story telling is about telling the audience what you are going to tell them; then tell them; and now tell them what you just told them.   Story Selling is: Story. Story. Story. Story. Story. We call this marketing [...]

I get a kick out of agency sites that end with the general message, “We would love to work with you,” or something along those lines. What baffles me is they are assuming the prospective client would be a great client they would love to work with. Basically, they are proposing to get married at [...]

What makes something dead and something living? The difference is in how much of an emotional response we can get out of people; this is the basis of successful real estate and resort marketing communications. Experienced emotional marketing pros are talented enough to bring the dead back to life by injecting life back into dead [...]

Been reading way too much in blogs and real estate publications on how the medium is the problem in today’s marketing and not the message. I don’t agree with this at all. Both are changing and both need to be addressed. The medium without a doubt is changing. With advertising for both newspapers and magazines [...]