I’ve always been a bit of a fanboy of the Ideation and Design Thinking firm IDEO – and I’m finally taking some courses at their school here in San Francisco. My second class, “Storytelling for Influence” is packed with creative thinkers from all over the world and already proving to be a great experience. This week saw us creating a brief… Continue reading My Experience at IDEO U
Last Tuesday, I was lucky enough to present at the latest AIGA Buzz gathering. My good friend Diana Merkel hosts the event and got me involved late last year. We brainstormed on a topic and landed on “How to establish and build your personal brand”. I’m by no means an expert on this subject but… Continue reading I talked to some millennials today, and it was awesome.
This week we’re considering the concept of Users Not Customers as defined by Aaron Shapiro, CEO of Huge. This is not a new concept – you might remember the story of the customer who returned a set of snow tires to Nordstrom – despite the fact that Nordstrom doesn’t sell tires. He was treated as… Continue reading Users Not Customers
Trading brand integrity for short term gain is a rookie mistake. Frequent discount campaigns could be trashing your brand. How did Cancun become a discount destination for Spring Break? In 1988, the average room was around $300 – it was an exclusive, up market resort town. Then hurricane Gilbert came along, trashed the town and… Continue reading Cancun, a study in short gains that wrecked a brand
Here’s an Editorial example from 2015. Personally I fall somewhere between mild irritation related to the incorrect usage of the language and an “Oh god, here comes this jackass schooling us on dangling participles on Facebook again”. Regardless of your thoughts on the subject, the results of this study are worth a gander. ________ What is it… Continue reading Are you smarter than a prescriptivist?
Remember green washing? Some marketing specialists claim that it stymied the long term acceptance of the Green movement by mainstream consumers. The sentiment was there – in 2007, 9 out of 10 shoppers felt that the environmental impact of a product was important to consider when making a purchase, and 7 out of 10 would… Continue reading The Made in America movement :: Growing up and going strong
Engage an enthusiast in conversation, and by the time they’re finished discussing their passion, chances are you’ll want in. Regardless of the subject matter, it’s nearly impossible to avoid the infectious enthusiasm that pours out of a true aficionado talking about their “thing”. A few years ago, while working for Sterling-Rice Group, I produced an… Continue reading The Bernina 8 Series
