Challenge: Create 12 Ads in 30 Minutes – Coffee & Archetypes
If there's one thing I love about understanding a brand archetype, it's the clarity it can bring to how you pitch and present your marketing. There are usually 12 'themes of humanity,' broad strokes do more than just express who we are. They can also connect us more...
From Laid off to Lit Up | My ‘Aha Moment’ Story
For most of us, the choice to start our brands falls down to a single moment. An experience. A choice.
The song that inspired my brand name ‘Dream Again’
In late 2018, I was hauling bags of groceries through the biting cold into my second-floor apartment. It was a time-between-times for me, when everything felt like it was going wrong. And I desperate to imagine a way out of it all. The last few months had seen me...
Jack & the Beanstalk, David & Goliath, and Jayson Gonzalez
If you haven't been following the hilarious exploits of Jayson Gonzalez and the Krispy Kreme donuts fiasco, here's a link. My summary is this: a student in Minnesota saw an opportunity in the market, and grabbed it. Krispy Kreme at the time has no stores in Minnesota...
Why storytelling must be a part of your brand – with Claire Winter
A favorite topic for us both, Claire and I discuss the massive need for people to share more of their own stories, the inverse problem of oversharing, a simple test for knowing when to share or not, and a tip for finding your ‘lightbulb moment’ – often the most important story in your stack.
‘Burn out on your hobbies.’ Really? My 3 Week, INTP Burnout Challenge
About a month back, a Facebook post swiped by and suddenly started haunting me. Some trite photo, and a caption that said something like "If you have to burn out on anything, do it on your hobbies. At least they're worth it." Burnout and I are old friends. I can...
If your brand was a movie character, who would it be?
A few years back, I was on a brand call with a mobile locksmith. He was a young guy, and I was enjoying the passion he brought to his business. He would talk about how normal it was for people to get ripped off just because they were locked out of home or car.
Your marketer should be able to answer this basic question
Recently, I was chatting with two different copywriters on the same day. They had just written up the content for some new websites they were working on.
The day I started a magazine, and created a tribe
Leading a tribe is like showing people where to go, and then getting out of the way. It's not an ego trip. It's a we-go together trip. A few years back, I was hugely excited to be given carte-blanche to start up a tribe. I was working with a private, distance school...
