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Dear CMO: The story goes that Rosser Reeves, ad man responsible for the “unique selling proposition” and slogans like “I Like Ike” came across a man begging in the street one afternoon and offered him a suggestion. Instead of “I am blind,” Reeves added a sub-text to the man’s plackard, so the story goes, that […]

Dear CMO: Once upon a time, I wrote a piece describing the last time I entered an oriental carpet store with the intention of buying a rug. I bring it up again because it clearly animates how anchor points control our perceptions – and perceptions control what we think and do, which makes them worth […]

Dear CMO: The NFL thinks Twitter is bad for business, which confuses me as a marketer. I need someone at the NFL to tell me why banning their players, coaches and operations personnel from using social media 90 minutes before games and until post-game is wrapped up makes sense for their brand. As marketers, we’re […]

Dear CMO: Is marketing an art or a science? This is a more important question than the typical “chicken versus egg” treatment it usually gets because it sets up two questions: First, what sort of marketer are you? Are you an “artist” or a “technocrat”? A Branson or a … well, “technocrat”? Some gravitate to […]

Dear CMO:

Ed Rush is the former head of all NBA referees and now runs clinics for those who aspire to greater things in their refereeing careers. He had trouble filling his early clinics, and the evolution of his positioning is a lesson to anyone selling solutions to smart people.

What do referees need to progress in their profession? According to Ed, the answer is “become better referees.” The problem is that referees don’t think they need to get better. They think they’re already pretty good.