Our new tiny agency didn’t make an ad for “the big game” this year, so who really cares about my opinion. Here it is anyway. — I know how much goes into a Super Bowl ad. And I know how easy it is to lob criticism from the cheap seats. So kudos to everyone who invested time, talent, and treasure into this year’s commercials. With nearly 50 (!) of them released early this year, it was…

Favorites from a year where I realized my music regimen probably changed forever — When I first started thinking about my annual list, my initial hit was, “Huh. 2021 wasn’t a great year for music.” That would be understandable–year two of the global pandemic threw the music world into chaos. But as I dug deeper and reviewed the albums that caught my ear this…

Bits of creative inspiration for the modern marketer from the past six months — Each Friday, my agency puts out a short email newsletter with three things that caught our eye that week—creative campaigns, PR stunts, art installations, branded entertainment and other inspiring bits. The goal is simple: lots of marketers get so mired in the day-to-day on their own brands, they often miss…

It’s all about your network, the numbers, and not getting stuck with people who are all talk and no action — Six months ago, I started an advertising agency called Agency SOS. (These were the five reasons why.) To say “I’ve learned a lot these past few months” is a major understatement. It’s been terrifying and thrilling, exhausting and rewarding. Talented people joined the team, we’ve been blessed with great clients…

How to grab attention and motivate action — When you work at a creative agency you are, for better or worse, in the “presentation business.” It’s a big part of what we do every day, both internally and for our clients. Here’s the cold hard fact: the better presenter you are, the further you’re going to go in…

Get your act together before you start your marketing project — You know the old saying: garbage in, garbage out. It’s particularly true at the start of a marketing project. If you don’t get “the brief” right, you not only waste a ton of time and money, you end up with the aforementioned “garbage.” There are approximately 49.1 million articles out…

It’s probably the last thing the ad world needs. Here’s why I’m doing it anyway. — Three years ago, I pulled in “my shingle” from my freelance business to take the ECD job at San Francisco ad agency Duncan Channon. It’s been a great run and I’m incredibly proud of the work that we’ve done together, including new business wins and great campaigns for SweeTARTS, Black…

I didn’t make an ad for the “big game” this year, so who really cares about my opinion. Here it is anyway. — Shitting on Super Bowl ads is easy from the cheap seats. Was not a fan of all the stock footage anthems (and the ones that felt like stock footage anthems.) …

Favorites from a year that went on and on and on… — I thought it might be funny if, instead of posting the annual end-of-the-year ranking of my favorite albums, I just posted a 10,000 character scream. You know… “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…” (You get it.) It’s been a crazy, awful year and nothing makes sense. Pretending that there’s anything normal about 2020 or that…