Insight

March Madness and the Benefits of Injustice

Yesterday one of the great traditions in college sport took place as the field of 64 (ok, 65) teams was set for the NCAA men’s college basketball championship. Of course, any time you are selecting a certain number of teams, others are going to be left out. In the weeks leading up to Selection... »

NBC’s Voyage of the Damned Continues with the Marriage Ref

Let’s put aside the quality of the first episode of NBC’s “The Marriage Ref” for a moment (ok, one comment: the show was so mind-numbingly pedestrian it made me contemplate the entire Jerry Seinfeld oeuvre.). Rather let’s look at this production through the lens of a Chief Culture Officer. Now, as Grant has pointed out... »

Jordan Brand Transcends Jordan

Quick, who was Chuck Taylor? You have no idea, but you’ve probably worn shoes named after him, haven’t you? In 20 years, will kids know who John Madden is? Probably not, but they’ll still be playing the video game named after him. It’s been seven years since Michael Jordan stopped playing basketball, and according to... »

Crowdsource eBook – Everyone is Illuminated

Apologies for the long interval between posts, but I’ve been occupied on a number of fronts. One of which was the creation of my first eBook. During Q4 of 2009 I wrote several times about Crowdsourcing: 1. Crowdsourcing a Discussion on Crowdsourcing: Agency Nil, Anomaly and Victors & Spoils 2. A More Civilised Approach to Crowdsourcing 3.... »

ClickPredictions eBook now available

Last fall I was fortunate enough to be asked by Ambal Balakrishnan to participate in her ClickDocument’s ClickPredictions eBook. Before I get into the details of this book, let me just say that Ambal is one of the most organized, detailed and forward-thinking people I have had the pleasure of working with. What I’ve... »

Planning for the Future: Redscout & PSFK’s SPUR series comes to a close

Three cheers to PSFK and Redscout for their thought-provoking SPUR series, which looked at Account (or Brand) Planning. The final segment talks abou the future of Planning: If you can see this, then you might need a Flash Player upgrade or you need to install Flash Player if it's missing. Get Flash Player from Adobe. I’m... »

New Year’s Resolution: Embrace the Epic Fail

Continuing my New Year’s resolutions, today I’m going to talk about my goal to try something a bit daring, a bit challenging and even a bit out of my comfort zone. The objective isn’t to fail, but rather to not let the fear of failure stop me from trying. It’s a bit like my... »

New Year’s Resolution: Best Case Scenario

As we close out 2009 I want to share some New Year’s resolutions that I think are worth considering. The resolution I’m sharing today is: Consider the Best Case Scenario We’re in a period where caution and prudence are in the ascendancy. Where it is easy to visualize the worst case scenario and in fact blow... »

Social Media, Storytelling and the Premature Burial of Ad Agencies

Most people agree that ad agencies have been wrong-footed by the shift towards Social Media. The big agency business model, for so long such a profitable venture, now looks slow and bloated. But business models aside, what ad agencies do best is tell stories. I’ve just read a couple of great posts from Gaurav Mishra... »

Windows 7, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky and Chief Culture Officers

I’ve just started reading Grant McCracken’s indespensible new book, Chief Culture Officer. In it he highlights the efforts CP+B is doing on behalf of Microsoft (read my take on Grant’s take here). Looking at the campaign in its newest incarnation through the lens of Chief Culture Officer, I appreciate CP+B’s efforts even more. Here’s... »