What’s the Difference?

What’s the Difference?

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.”...
Instant Karma

Instant Karma

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...
People First

People First

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...
Experience Marketing

Experience Marketing

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...
The Naked Truth

The Naked Truth

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...
You Talkin’ to Me?

You Talkin’ to Me?

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...