BRANDING

I always attempt to describe brands as entities so complex, they rival human physiology. With fears, goals, strengths, weaknesses and so on, well-orchestrated brands use personas so adeptly, they feel like friends and neighbors. Before any one of us knew it, we found a friend in Coca-Cola, we have relationships with our Apple device, our…

We don’t consume things in blind taste tests. We look at the packaging as we take it off the shelf, we read, we open, we pour.

And just as a good song leaves enough ambiguity to let the listener apply it to his or her own life, a good ad always leaves room for the audience to complete the thought.

Knowing your audience means knowing the elements of your audience. Yes, you manage an “Audience Structure.”

Here’s a gravely important truth: The goal of advertising is NOT sales.

The revolution of distributing original television shows (not on television) was formally acknowledged as being “for real” about 10 years ago, at the 65th Primetime Emmys in 2013.

While integrating video into your marketing campaign is a basic necessity these days, it isn’t as easy as simply creating a video and putting it up on YouTube.

We all know “people like that.” You know, Harley-riding rebels or Nike-wearing heroes or Chevy-driving regular guys. There are so many different types of people in the world — or just in our circle of friends for that matter — and each of us is motivated by something specific. To satisfy that inner motivation, we…