FastCo: Unscripted Re-builds Credibility

TweetThis article in Fast Company – Throw Out the Script to Re-build Credibility – Unfiltered Marketing: 5 Rules to Win Back Trust, Credibility, & Customers in a Digitally Distracted World – is a derivative piece I wrote based on the research and insights from four years of the Culture & Technology Intersection study, from which […]


Election 2020: Not Trump vs. Biden, but “Raw” versus “Peak Outrage”

On Friday, October 23, after the final presidential debate, President Donald Trump held a rally in Florida that featured something rare even for a Trump event. At the rally, there were large screens showing video clips that he would reference like colossal visual aides during his speech. Don’t take my word for it, he seemed […]


Adidas’s Approach to Co-Creation: “Swimming in the Culture”

In Stephen Denny and Paul Leinberger’s new book, Unfiltered Marketing: 5 Rules to Win Back Trust, Credibility, and Customers in a Digitally Distracted World, they interview Adidas’s former global creative officer Paul Gaudio on co-creation, finding unexpected cultural intersections, and building raw-ness into the design process at a 23-billion-euro global brand. The following is an edited excerpt. In-Process as cultural […]


Managing the account: Data and Insight

This is from the True Stories archives – I posted this on LinkedIn originally but it belongs here, as well. This is a quick story about managing the account: data and insight. These things are built on professionalism and entail communicating a more compelling vision of the future than the next guy in the next […]


What Texas Hold ‘Em Can Teach You About Influencing Customers

A smart sales strategy includes both the up-cards and the down-cards. Do you play Texas hold ’em poker? If you’re a business owner, you should. The simple reason is that Texas hold ’em teaches that when you’re selling a product or service, you can’t focus on its features and benefits alone.  If you’re not familiar with this particular variation […]