by Mark O'Brien | Dec 1, 2015
As every consummate consumer knows, the Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. The term is a marketing and public-relations abbreviation of the full name — Black-Eye Friday — which comes from all the shiners given and received in the shameless,...
by Mark O'Brien | Nov 17, 2015
This past weekend, I attended the ninth annual Natural Living Expo in nearby Marlborough, Massachusetts. I have no idea why. Being at the Expo recalled the first time I walked into a hardcore comic-book shop. I was in search of the first two editions of the legendary...
by Mark O'Brien | Nov 3, 2015
My colleague and LinkedIn connection, Derrick Martins, posted what he had to have known would be irresistible bait for a word-shark like me. More specifically, he angled for trouble when he published this piece — “Analytics and Big Data: The Skeptics vs. the...
by Mark O'Brien | Oct 9, 2015
I don’t want to sound vindictive. But there are very rare moments at which the market’s disinclination to tolerate garbage dovetails harmoniously with karma’s disinclination to being denied. And when they come along, you have to take notice. Case in...
by Mark O'Brien | Oct 8, 2015
Forbes has introduced something called BrandVoice, which it describes thusly: Forbes BrandVoice allows marketers to connect directly with the Forbes audience by enabling them to create content – and participate in the conversation – on the Forbes digital publishing...
