Advertising Against the Grain

Advertising, LeadershipAshley VillarrealFebruary 2, 2022advertising, success, financial, podcast, business opportunity, agency, marketing, Microsoft, Zoom, risks, VW, break rules, campaigns, McCannComment

Storytelling is the Heart of Advertising

Culture, AdvertisingWill GearySeptember 28, 2021story, marketing, advertising, branding, audience, success, audience reach, data, persuasive writing, small business, technology, growth mindsetComment

Your Instincts Are Wrong: Leading Through the Crisis

Reading all the news and predictions—20% unemployment, millions dead, endless quarantine—how could one not think that now is the time to panic?

News, Leadership, FinancialTom GearyMarch 24, 2020business, consultant, email, profess, Clouseau, family, Pink Panther, coronavirus, panic, unemployment, China, Trump, politics, business advice, marketing, agency, failure, success, pandemic, crisis, communication, financial, financial crash, leadership, thought, thought leadershipComment

Where Science and Art Meet

In marketing (as in baking) there’s always some tried-and-tested recipe that people say works. It comes with the kind of directions that seem too easy to mess up. When it comes down to it, marketing is based on science, but it’s still pretty easy to screw up. Why is that?

Culture, AdvertisingAshley VillarrealMarch 5, 2020marketing, art, cooking, cake, cookies, recipe, entrepreneurship, data, business, degree, pie, directions, how to, science, arts, creativity, creative, advertising, success, TED, difference, campaign, audience, awareness, diversity, brandingComment

For a Stronger Brand, Find a "Black Hat"

As I sit here typing this, Mark Zuckerberg is mea-culping live on CNN about Facebook’s privacy breaches. In parallel, our good friends (forgive the sarcasm) in Russia are endorsing their candidates for the 2018 U.S. elections. Not to mention, the credit reporting agency Equifax has—well, the kimono isn’t just open, it’s gone.

Advertising, Culture, NewsTom GearyMarch 26, 2018advantage, agency, benefit, best, black, brand, business, campaign, company, content, critical, data, Experian, Facebook, failure, finance, hat, headline, impact, important, Mark Zuckerberg, marketing, media, mistake, perspective, Prudential, retirement, Schwab, smart, speech, startup, strategy, success, tech, technology, thinking, tomorrow, transform

Check Yourself, Before You Tech Yourself

Like the frog slowly, unwittingly boiled, we are being transformed by technology—faster than we realize. And while this advance is filled with possibility, it’s important we remember that where it goes from here is up to us.

CultureNick ComneyJanuary 24, 2018advance, advertising, agency, best, brand, fast, growth, industry, marketing, offer, San Francisco, school of thought, skill, success, talent, tech, technology, time, top, video, viral

Superheros Who Code

One of our favorite clients is Pat Renzi. She’s a quiet juggernaut in insurance, a director at the consulting firm Milliman. We were interviewing her for a story when she mentioned this program in Seattle, The Ada Developers Academy, designed to help mid-career professionals get into coding.

Culture, DiversityTom GearyNovember 11, 2017academy, Ada, agency, best, change, coders, coding, diversity, engineer, hacking, industry, inspiration, job, LGBT, media, Milliman, photo, POC, program, resume, San Francisco, school of thought, staff, STEM, story, success, tech, top, video, womenComment

Oh, do we have thoughts