Why most advertising fails
When you’ve been in advertising as long as I have, you learn that there is really only one reason why most advertising fails, and it’s called fear. How fear manifests with regard to advertising presents … Read more
Monthly Archives: January 2012
There is no new thing under the sun, except that there is
“There is no new thing under the sun.” – Solomon Two great reasons this phrase is so powerful: 1) it wields the power to inspire, and 2) it suggests all humans are equal. The quote … Read more
Mass transit, bicycles and obesity – how about some direct dialog?
As I enjoyed an early morning ski in my neighborhood a week ago, I tried to take a few moments to enjoy the silence of the night. Except I found that 4:00 a.m. Seattle is … Read more
Fear: how bad hair, habits and horrible has-beens happen
Fear is a convenient excuse, a procrastination technique, an avoidance tool. Fear is free, so it’s easy to wield it in the face of anything in life that imposes difficulty. A better method is to … Read more
On categories – People are people, human is human.
People are people, human is human. All the rest are just categories used to market ideas. Sometimes those ideas are valid, legitimately protective, promoting community and joy. Often though, categories are used as means to … Read more
How can you know what I want before you know what I know?
We live in a time of experts. Everyone is an expert, a guru, a leader, an authority. Few customer service departments practice active listening because they’re too busy asserting their authority. Have you ever encountered … Read more
Humanity-based customer service is the new rule
Since customer service is a top-down equation, poor customer service experiences are clearly designed with pessimism in mind. Which is odd because that’s a person or a team of people working against human nature to … Read more
We are inherently a world of optimists
If you divided everyone in your life into two columns, optimists on the left and pessimists on the right, you would wind up with one full column and one empty column. Which is which? The … Read more
Your greatest potential
Is it possible that when we reach a high level of comfort in a profession, it is our signal and clearest indicator that to realize our greatest potential, it’s time to move on to the … Read more
Honest marketing begins within
Honest marketing used to be thought of as impossible. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it had to do with romancing a stone, or to put it more succinctly, polishing a turd (ick). Thing … Read more