by Mark O'Brien | Apr 9, 2015
Is any tired rhetorical trope more trite and trivial than making a difference? “We’re making a difference.” “Let’s make a difference.” “One person can make a difference.” “Our company is making a difference.”...
by Mark O'Brien | Apr 7, 2015
In the past, we’d have said the younger of my two younger brothers, Ben (to protect his privacy, this is not his real name), is mentally retarded. In these enlightened times, we’re more likely to say he’s intellectually disadvantaged, synaptically challenged, or...
by Mark O'Brien | Mar 31, 2015
We tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization. (Charlton Ogburn, 1911-1998) I once helped a company establish its brand in a new...
by Mark O'Brien | Mar 30, 2015
Here it comes, kids. I’d just about gotten my stomach settled after the nausea-inducing wave of inbound marketing, marketing automation, and ad tech … then the next wave hit. That wave, of course, is experience marketing. That’s right. Since feeling...
by Mark O'Brien | Mar 26, 2015
ZEPHYR COVE, Nev. — A 53-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of being naked near a high school on Lake Tahoe’s east shore … after three Whittell High School students reported spotting him tied to a rock and lying face down behind the school. When the students...
by Mark O'Brien | Mar 24, 2015
For living in a world obsessed with communication, we don’t seem to be paying much attention to language. Think about the language of marketing: First, we speak impersonally. We talk about industries, markets, verticals, and accounts. Those referents...