In today’s performance-obsessed marketing culture, optimization feels like the golden rule. We measure, we A/B test, we trim the fat. We narrow our targeting to the most “efficient” segments. It feels smart. Clean. Precise. But there’s a problem: what feels like smart marketing on a dashboard...
We’ve entered a marketing era obsessed with optimization. Media teams are targeting down to the decimal. Audience segments are sliced to the molecule. Programmatic budgets are tweaked daily to squeeze out fractional gains in click-through rates and conversion metrics. And yet, amid all this precision, we continue...
In many organizations, brand is still viewed as the domain of marketing—something colorful, creative, and occasionally nebulous. But in today’s competitive landscape, that view is dangerously outdated. The truth is this: your brand is a financial asset. And it’s time the CFO paid closer attention. A strong...
We now have the clearest evidence to date that attention drives brand outcomes—and the implications for digital strategy are huge. In the largest study of its kind, Lumen Research, Havas Media Network, and Brand Metrics analyzed 9,000 brand lift studies to explore the link between attention...
We’ve always said cult brands are built on emotional connection, not just conversions. Now, the data backs it up. A major new report, "Profit Ability 2: The New Business Case for Advertising," was recently released, analyzing £1.8 billion in advertising spend across 141 brands and 14...
Over the past two decades, humor in advertising has quietly disappeared. And that’s a big problem—because humor works. According to WARC’s 2024 report, “What’s Working in Humorous Advertising,” the world’s most effective ad campaigns have one thing in common: they’re funnier. Here’s why that matters to you: 91% of...
There’s creativity—and then there’s Cult Creative. The kind of creative that doesn’t just market a product but moves people. The kind that becomes part of the cultural conversation. The kind that inspires loyalty not with discounts or gimmicks but with meaning. At the heart of Cult Creative is a...
A long time ago, we started telling stories. Before we had words, we painted our stories on cave walls. Stories helped us make sense of the world before we could explain it. They still do. We’ve been obsessed with stories ever since—not just for entertainment but for survival, meaning,...
I’ve spent years helping brands build communities. And I’ve seen time and again that the brands winning today aren’t the loudest—they’re the ones that become part of culture. One of the most powerful recent examples I came across didn’t involve a real spokesperson or influencer.. It involved an...
If you’ve spent any time analyzing business performance, you’ve likely encountered the Pareto Principle—also known as the 80/20 rule. Named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, this principle suggests that roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes. In branding and business strategy, this insight can...