Note to CMO: The Importance of Expectations

Dear CMO: The promise of branding is that you will be able to count on a consistently delivered experience, time after time. When you pop open a Coke. When you go to Disneyland. When you order the hanger steak at Les Halles. You don’t want someone to “do it their way” with their own special […]


Note to CMO: Adding Method to Message

Dear CMO: In this election year, with presidential (and not-so-presidential) hopefuls criss-crossing the world, a fundamental… what? There isn’t an election this year? Right. Sorry. In this run-up to an election year, etc., etc., a fundamental lesson emerges for marketers that could benefit from further inspection. In the realm of public relations, there are more […]


Note to CMO: The Changing Perspective of “Premium”

Dear CMO: Your perspective changes once you’re acclimated yourself to a new experience, doesn’t it? Much like the study of wealth, happiness, or online banking, we quickly become accustomed to “magic” very quickly and then are instantly bored with it. Lottery winners aren’t happier than low income earners any more than a late adopter with […]


Note to CMO: The Decline and Fall of Experts

Dear CMO: I got an unexpected laugh the other day reading a pick up from Variety magazine on the success of the movie, “300”. Movie critics universally panned the film. And naturally, the audiences read the reviews, put down their newspapers, and went to see the movie in droves, setting new March box office records […]


Note to CMO: The Consistency Trap

Dear CMO: People expect other people to be predictable. People like to be predictable, too. Usually, this works pretty well, except when it doesn’t. When things change, for example, people don’t always change with them. As a result — and even when presented with overwhelming evidence — we often are faced with opposite numbers who […]