Content Innovation: Making a Case for Reverse Engineering
In the first article of this content innovation series, I made a pretty strong argument: that most companies are not innovating in their content or their programming, they are emulating. Emulation means that you are following someone else's lead, innovation or ideas. If you are Samsung and you are copying Apple's music sharing and app...
Content Innovation: You’re Not Innovating, You’re Emulating
Innovation. A word so often used in business that it's become a cliché: applied to everything we do, everything we create, every campaign and every department. We trumpet that we are continually "new and innovative" and that everything we do is with an eye toward being disruptive. That, my friends, is not innovation. Webster defines "innovation" as the act...
Social Media Content: Unicorn vs. Horse
I saw the cartoon above online searching for images for another post. Immediately I knew it would one day be a post of its own. Partially because I love Matt Groening's sense of humor and the incredible diversity of messages he's put on this chalkboard over the years. (Note, this one is not actually from an episode...
Fish the Pocket, Not the Current: A Fresh Perspective
Confession: I love to fish. When I'm up at my place in Montana, or a stream here in Colorado, or when I travel, I often find myself drawn to the beauty of a stream much like many of my friends are drawn to a picturesque golf course. It is my place of total relaxation, where...
Education: It Doesn’t Come from School
It's back to school season, and as my son left the house today, it got me thinking about the topic of education. Let's start with my favorite thing, a quote: I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Preach it Mr. Twain, preach it. As a father of a high school student who has...
Content is (Not) King, Content is Currency
I have a love/hate relationship with the idea that content is king. For starters, there are many examples of great companies, killer profits and expansive growth that do not have content. These companies may have advertising or even marketing, but true, narrative content they do not. With respect to Bill Gates, content is not king, content...
The Importance of Being Unique in Small Business
I have a confession to make: I started my company not knowing exactly what I was going to do. OK, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. Truthfully, I spent a long time thinking about going off on my own, but not actually starting anything. I was frozen by the dreaded MFA_ and IGN acronyms....
Brand Development: Splicing the Impulse Gene
I recently heard a talk by Kodi Foster, Viacom's VP of Data Strategy, as part of PSFK's "Future of Advertising" conference series. It was all about how Viacom is rethinking data mapping for creative purposes across channels, brands and campaigns. This is the future of brand development and creative strategy, and you can find the talk here. One of...
Branding: In Media, What’s Old is New Again
Over the past few years, the television industry has grappled with diminishing ad revenue in an increasingly diversified media landscape. Choices amongst platforms means that funding has been spread over more than network and cable, to now include OTT/SVOD platforms and a myriad of digital and social media platforms. Upfronts now have to compete with digital...
Lessons from the Field (of Dreams)
Do you have a go-to film? That one you've seen so often you can recite every line (with the proper cadence and emphasis)? One that makes you laugh and cry as hard today as when you first saw it? I have 10 of these go-to films, one of them (and tied to the title of this article,...
How to Deliver a Great Elevator Pitch
"I have a great idea!" "I want to tell you about my project." "You have to hear this pitch!" OK, so you've teed up a conversation, but can you deliver on it? When the person you're wanting to impress (the decision maker who could literally change your life or your business) is ready to listen, do...
Rethinking Engagement in a Digital World
I was recently interviewed by Joel Pilger of RevThink on what I would tell agencies looking to get into TV. In listening back, I might sound overly pessimistic about traditional linear media. Let me be clear, I am a TV guy. I have spent almost two decades developing, selling and producing television. So no, I do not think that TV...
How to Live a Life of Purpose
The purpose of life is living a life of purpose. The power of this particular mantra came to me last week on a call. I was talking to a potential client about their brand and their goals. I asked, "What's your purpose?" They laughed and said, "To make money!" Then they turned serious, saying, "Actually, I've...
Life Outside of Work? Confessions of a Non-Relaxer
A few months ago, LinkedIn had a series of articles on My Life Outside of Work and provided some tremendous insights from influencers like Richard Branson, Mary Barra, Maynard Webb, Robert Herjavec, Suze Orman and Janine Allis, to name just a few. I have to say, they were all great reads and waxed poetically about balance, hobbies...
How to Avoid the “Shiny Penny” Marketing Mentality
One of the benefits of having a child is getting to go to animated movies without any guilt or questioning from contemporaries. “Oh … I would have much rather gone to that new (insert former SNL cast member here) movie, but my kid wanted to go to see that new animated film.” True, these films really are...
There is Nothing Wrong with Reinvention!
Millennials have a reputation for being incapable of sticking to one career. It has become a rallying cry for businesses: that they have to "put up" with bad prioritization and lack of focus from those ages 18 to 34 (which represent roughly 35 percent of the workforce). Those that believe this is a problem point to...
Making a Case for Thinking Inside the Box
Oh... the box. That "thing" we do. That "widget" we promote. That "idea" we present. Every company, every brand, every piece of media fits in a box. The shape, size, color, texture, smell (etc.) of the box changes, but there is indeed a box for each of us. That's commerce. That's how we define and distribute...
Media Today: A Never Ending, Ever Changing Las Vegas Buffet
Ever been to Las Vegas' renown buffets? The piles of crab legs, the omelette station that can make you a 6-lb. omelette, endless waffles, the potential for at-your-table flambés? That my friends is a great analogy of today's media landscape. I come from "traditional"/linear media: television. One in which most programs are paid for by a...