a thought-provoking ramble on the state of life, clients and the universe at large
However you consume your news, be it scrolling through an app or thumbing through an actual paper, you’ll have seen headlines over the last year emphasizing the enormous political polarization which now grips America. It’s certainly a true contention, and one that I’ve written about before. But the heart of this story should not necessarily…
The names of retail businesses that have failed in the Age of Amazon are too numerous to list. Just this year alone, more than 3800 brick and mortar businesses have closed, including all 735 Toys R Us locations. The wave of closures has prompted many to declare this period one of “retail apocalypse”; however, one…
The past couple of truly innovative start-ups such as Airbnb and Uber did not arrive quietly or smoothly. In fact, nearly nine years after Uber’s founding, the company still makes regular headlines as local governments try to control the company’s growth and operation. The latest emerging innovative force, the electric scooter, is trying desperately to avoid Uber’s fate. And…
News has become one of the more polarizing issues in the world. That which should be true and clear is way too often fake and opaque. What I consider fake, you may not and vice versa. As I’ve often written about before, fake news is not a new phenomenon. Compounding the issue of fake news…
For those of you international folks unfamiliar with the holiday, Labor Day Weekend marks the end of summer, and with it, the end of regular summer barbecues—another American tradition. In fact, the cuisine has become synonymous with American identity—and yes you cynical people, it is a cuisine. Among food that is indisputably American, the grilled…
On the one hand, in today’s world of 24/7 always-on, globally connected digital media, we assume that most everything is (or should be) transparent. And many in the West believe that access to information is one of the fundamental underpinnings of Democracy. Yet, on the other hand, we agonize over the consequences of too much…
We are now firmly entrenched in the dog days of summer. If you have been following news in the United States, you might have noticed from headlines across the country that there is something about these scorching hot days which seem to capture America’s imagination—and its angst. But what is it about the late summer…
Over the past few weeks, I’ve looked at how unique personal brands have transcended the role of traditional brands like the President of the United State or the pope. In today’s ramble, I’d like to look at how a particular athlete is doing the same for the role of athlete. As I’ve written many times,…
He’s been called many things ranging from positive—”The Reformer Pope”—to the not so positive—”The Dictator Pope.” But no matter your take on this pontiff, one thing remains certain: Pope Francis is unafraid of bucking tradition and has, in the process, created a personal brand that transcends one of the most historical and traditional roles in…
One performed the first successful face transplant in the U.S. and is the youngest alumna of both the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and University of Wisconsin Madison School of Medicine. Another is a Harvard Law graduate running for Attorney General of the State of Illinois. And another graduated from Stanford and hosted a hit cable-news show, before…
What is the strongest brand in the United States? Take a guess, but you, like most of us, will probably get the answer wrong—not because the answer is surprising, but because it is perhaps so obvious you won’t even consider it. In America, the strongest brand across all adults measured is, quite simply, Brand U.S.A….
We love a good story. All people do. Most recognize this as a universal human truth—but those of us who work in advertising consider it a particularly critical truth that transcends time and place. As General Electric’s Beth Comstock once said, “You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything.” But what is a good…
Irrespective of political alignment, most would agree that there is a leadership crisis in the world. As an antidote to this perceived lack of government guidance, citizens are looking more and more to private companies for support. BAV ®, Y&R’s proprietary brand measurement data tool, recently quantified this trend, finding that 82% of people around…
This past month at the Lions International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, I spoke to an industry audience about purposeful brands, a hot and buzzword laden topic in the marketing world. During the course of my talk, I offered ten perspectives on the power of purpose, one of which I would like to share: “Purpose can be unifying…
The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2018 has come to a close. The streets are empty but for locals and tourists, who can now get a seat in any restaurant, and the window-shaking beach music is absent, returning quiet tranquility to the nights. Yet even as the final stragglers pack to leave, there remains unfinished…
A celebrity tweets a racist comment and her very successful show gets cancelled. Some 500 miles across the country, another celebrity, this one using her media channel-sponsored platform, calls the daughter of the U.S. President an expletive and gets her hand slapped. Interestingly, many considered one reaction or the other to be either overblown or…
What makes a media company? Most recognize that BBC, NBC or Aljazeera are unabashed (or perhaps grandfathered in) media entities, while Facebook continues to reject the label and Amazon has yet to even face the “accusation.” I say “perhaps grandfathered” because who would want to be a media company today, facing regulation, when you could…
Who doesn’t love a Royal Wedding? I mean really. All over the world people watch The Crown, Downton Abbey and The Queen. Full confession: I have always believed that if you scratch the surface of most Americans, (myself included) there is royal envy…and maybe just a little regret that we couldn’t work it out back…
A true story…short…and one that points out the issues with so called targeting online. I say so-called because there is targeting and…there is targeting. Its easy to find me…yes…but why and with what is the real question. Once upon a time… My daughter and son-in-law went way for the weekend. The spa they stayed at…
Crossing the country and back, I passed through five really sad airports. All were dirty and rundown (although all were making efforts at renovation). Services were spotty; food was old school and unhealthy… and one even still utilized the people movers of the last century to take people between terminals. I won’t comment on security,…
Can a border be closed off? Can a population be locked in or locked down? Seems that the topic is much in the news these days…all around the word. It got me thinking. Physical and political barriers—fences and road blocks—did used to keep people locked in…and locked up. Without going too far back in time,…
Amazon had yet another great earnings call, wowing the market with their growth. But these earnings have nothing to do with e-commerce, as MarketWatch explained: “E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc.’s earnings surge in the first quarter was largely due to major acceleration in its Amazon Web Services business, which is powering the bulk of Amazon profits…