by Mark O'Brien | Feb 5, 2015
You might remember the first caper I reported here. If not, don’t worry. Most folks forget me almost as fast as my ex-wives do. Just in case, I’ll fill you in: I’m a private brand detective. Most of the mysteries I’m hired to solve have to do...
by Mark O'Brien | Feb 3, 2015
In the late ’90s, I was invited to pitch the annual report business of the now-defunct Outpost.com. While there, I asked the Communications Director about the results of their recent television spot. She said, “Oh! The spot won all kinds of awards! The...
by Mark O'Brien | Feb 2, 2015
I recently read a blog post, “Lead Behaviors not Lead Scores”, by Josh Hill, and a book, Great Sky River, by Gregory Benford. The latter opened my eyes to the former. In Great Sky River, the last of humanity fights to survive on Snowglade, pursued by...
by Mark O'Brien | Jan 27, 2015
When our clients tell us about their products or services, we invariably ask two questions: (1) Is there a market for it? (2) If we hand you a check right now, can we buy it? The latter is to prevent putting carts before horses. The former is to prevent the...
by Mark O'Brien | Jan 26, 2015
Here are five perennially perplexing questions, as intriguing as they are troubling and, as yet, unanswered: Why do so many organizations create the position, VP of Sales and Marketing? Why is the VP of Sales and Marketing typically a sales person? Is the chief...
by Mark O'Brien | Jan 20, 2015
SASS (self-absorbed self-satisfaction), is a philosophy, not to be confused with its homonymic variant: SaaS (software as a service). SASS is the twin sibling of stubbornness and the bane of creative productivity. It can be stated in one simple sentence: “We do...
