Essays

It's always worth it to stop for a moment and ask, “what else could be going on here?”

What is your driving force? Is it still being the best purveyor of what you do? Or has it become doing what it takes to meet the numbers?

When asked to explain the meaning of “brand,” I say it is the answer to the question, “What do people think of when they think about me?”

I had a conversation this week with a client about the fact that a brand is not just about “outreach” – it is about “inreach.” – What kind of company do you want to be? What kind of a company do your employees think they work for? What kind of culture are you building?

Here’s a nutty idea: Just start making good, attractive, reliable products.

"Shoe-horning" is no way to build a relationship. If your product or your campaign is not good enough to win customers via truth, get a new product or get a new agency.

When a brand is expressed correctly, it takes on manifestations of a real-life character.

When you walk into a restaurant and see that they have several "Best Of" awards but the most recent was from, say, 3 years ago. What does that mean? They forgot to put up the most recent accolades? They now suck? Well, we don't necessarily know, but as I often remind clients: "if you fail to put out a message, one will be put out for you" - perhaps by your competitors.

It seems that more than ever our students are frightened of failing. And so they don't risk it. Without freedom to fail I'm not sure you have freedom at all.

How easy is it for your customers to deal with you when things are not going well? Friendships born in the crucible of fire are quite often the strongest.