Whoa, everybody. There were no paper towels in the men’s room at one of my past employers, just one of those wall-mounted blowers for drying hands. One day a colleague said, “I hate this thing. I don’t have time to stand here and rub my hands dry. I’m too busy.” (There may have been a […]
We’ve all been captivated, entertained, or intrigued by an ad only to be left wondering whose it was. Instead of fondly remembering the brand that just appealed to us, we Shazam the song, google the voiceover, or IMDb the actress to discover if she was in fact the one who was in that thing with […]
Hint: Your answer doesn’t really matter. Because the fact is, you are not the best source for the differentiating truth about your brand. Your customers are. Want the truth? Ask for it. Engage your customers. Talk with them. Chances are, you’ll be amazed by what you learn. People are more than happy to talk about […]
Go ahead and brag. (But just a little. And only when appropriate.) As kids, we’re all taught not to brag. That’s good advice in pretty much every aspect of life, but you might want to temper it a bit when you’re thinking about your marketing efforts. They can have greater impact with some well-executed […]
There was a too-long period in my life during which I would become incensed over typos, misspellings, poor grammar, and bad writing style in content. I interpreted them as signs that those responsible were reckless ne’er-do-wells whose efforts at communicating were unworthy of my attention: If they don’t care about their presentation, why should I […]
Last year, the Rhode Island Department of Health asked us to create a campaign that would encourage people to get tested for HIV. Experience has taught us that delivering important messages to niche audiences can be challenging, so we developed several concepts that ranged from the unequivocally safe to the undeniably raunchy. Fingers crossed, we […]