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Dear CMO: I was absolutely sure, about ten years ago, that the whole question of branding was divining where on the axis of freedom and fear you fell. You were aiming at one or the other. In a way, this is still true. You want to drive the XTerra because Lenny Kravitz is singing “Fly […]

Hipness is what it is…and sometimes hipness is what it ain’t…(Tower of Power, ‘What Is Hip?’) Dear CMO: Look for ‘What Is Hip’ by Tower of Power when I pen my iTunes Celebrity Playlist. Not sure about the timing at present, but I’m ready when they are. I’ll do this right after James Lipton interviews […]

Dear CMO: I am a chronic user of euphemisms. Home-grown acronyms completely crack me up. (In my Sony days, we used to say the company stood for, “Soon Only Not Yet”, which holds true to this day, now that you think about it). In current news, I absolutely love the phrase, “undocumented worker”. It makes […]

Dear CMO: You remember Bobby Riggs — the tennis pro who went on to host the ‘Battle of the Sexes’, losing a tennis match in his 50’s to Billie Jean King? Bobby once told a great story about his life as a tennis hustler. He would play guys while holding a broom under his hitting […]

Whatever your habitual thoughts are like will determine the character of your mind. Your soul will take on the particular color of your thoughts. (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations). Dear CMO: Reading the right stuff, and doing it often, will straighten you out and make you a better marketer. What Marcus Aurelius says, above, is that good […]