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Dear CMO: Whether you choose to call this “crisis management” or “brand management” or “message management” or just plain good judgment is up to you. This isn’t a football post. It isn’t even about Michael Vick, the soon to be released inmate who may or may not return to a life of professional football. It’s […]

Dear CMO: You know what else testimonials can do? You already know that they help you close new customers because under conditions of uncertainty we always look to many similar others to help us figure things out. We “satisfice.” We go with the first acceptable answer and move on, because we’re really very busy. But […]

Dear CMO: I chased an idea through Google today, looking for a reference and ended up poring through cybernetics, Eigen-behaviors, the artwork of Boetti and the writings of Heinz Von Foerester. It was the idea of the Eigen function that hit a branding nerve and has brought me out of my work-induced flow state to […]

Dear CMO: Disruption has a way of throwing out old rules of convention. What is normal in times of good fortune doesn’t always apply when things are going down the drain. For those of us who have been around the block for more than one (or two) of these downturns, we can think back and […]

Dear CMO: “For every pundit who proclaims that smart brands don’t cut marketing in bad economic times there are a thousand business owners who know differently.” But when should you listen to these pundits and actually increase your marketing spend in bad economic times? Here are three cases to consider: When our marketing puts us […]