Chapter six:
Deep Thoughts
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Insights, Outsights, and Oversights
This Heineken ad just came on, it’s called “The Closer.” On the surface, it’s about how they’ve built a bottle opener that is also a blue-tooth enabled
Information versus Story
My partner Jim and I disagree about very little, but over the years, we have debated the weight he is willing to grant to information
Out of Context: How not to test a brand character
“What was that movie you worked on with Stephen Spielberg that one time?” my friend Jim asked me out of the blue. Not the Jim
Ted Lasso and Other Well-Designed Brand Characters
I was eating popcorn and watching the Emmy’s with my friend Jim. Yes, we are both named Jim. Anyway, we were watching the Emmy’s when
Jeff’s Parting Gift: The Value of Conflict
My daughters and I just finished reading Jeff Bezos’s final letter to shareholders as CEO of Amazon. Not for fun. We’re a weird family, but we’re not
“Alexa, who’s the wife?”
I was streaming a show the other day with my daughters when a commercial for Amazon’s Alexa came on. I remember that brief golden age
Feel the Blur: The 2020 Year in Review
Of course, this past year was not your average year. It’s not every year you find businesses encouraging their would-be consumers not to buy. Like
Finding Your Brand Voice
By brand voice, we mean the tone and character in which a brand communicates—the qualities that convey its distinct and, ideally, engaging personality. Many brand
Stories of Fear and Stories of Hope
Four days after the murder of George Floyd, my community was still in a lot of pain. Personally, I was experiencing a kind of emotional
I Get by with a Little Help from My Friends
Over the roughly twenty years that Jim and I have been doing this work, we have often found ourselves talking story strategy with friends who,
Who we are in crisis is who we are
Trying to reschedule projects, conduct meetings by video-conference and deal with getting my freshman daughter home from a college that is suddenly shutting down, I’m
Trust Me
In 2010, I did a TED Talk, titled “Is it Better to be Loyal or Honest?” My talk was based on the idea that humans subscribe to