The seismic shifts continue to roll as advertising today is less Mad Men and more MythBusters: lots of smart people testing assumptions that used to feel like laws of physics. Nothing is “broken,” exactly, but several things are being politely disproven in real time. Holding companies deserve credit for building industrial-scale creativity. They mastered reach, specialization, and global coordination, no small feat. But the industry they perfected has quietly shape-shifted.

Given what feels like the daily disruption (meltdown/tremors/WTF news alerts) in the marketing landscape, can’t say I’m shocked at how many new agency search asks are showing up in my inbox. But more CMOs managing growing pressure and highly competitive markets know that inertia is not a strategy and maybe it’s time to stop clinging to their current agencies like it’s a toxic marriage with shared passwords and no prenup. An agency search isn’t a betrayal; it’s due diligence

Breaking and Entering Media has done something rare in the advertising world: it respects time. In an industry capable of turning a two-sentence insight into a 60-slide deck, their “industry news in 60 seconds” format feels almost revolutionary. One minute, a few headlines, no throat-clearing, no panel discussion about “what it all means.” Just the facts, the wink, and you’re back to your day. It’s the espresso shot of ad-industry content. Which is why their temptation and

Among other things, I watch advertising agencies pitch for a living. And what’s evident is that these agencies are in the curious position of being the world’s most fluent storytellers but too often the least convincing protagonists. They urge brands to “zig when others zag” while presenting themselves in a blur of identical language, interchangeable case studies, and purpose statements that sound cloned from the same master brief. Every agency promises transformation, is “p

What I see in tougher competitive landscapes, especially in retail, are that too many brands are walking around clutching “best practices” like they’re the Ten Commandments. “Thou shalt optimize. Thou shalt discount. Thou shalt post at 9:17 a.m.” Who decided 9:17? Was 9:16 busy? Here’s the thing: there’s no such thing as a universal best practice. There’s only a practice that worked for one company, in one category, during one oddly specific quarter… and now everybody’s acti

The number one question CMOs ask me when we start talking about agency search? "Should we hire one fully integrated agency or assemble/continue with a roster of specialists and hope everyone plays nice?" At a high level, it’s orchestration vs. optimization. The integrated model, whether Independent or HoldCo, is appealingly tidy. One partner, one P&L, one strategic storyline. In theory, strategy, creative, media, SEO/SEM, social, production, and analytics are aligned from day

You gotta be kidding me. A brand lead asked me today to audit his app and my conclusion is this: There is a special place in digital purgatory for marketers who still base their app dev on their website. Because nothing says “mobile-first” like taking a 42-tab desktop experience and squeezing it into a device people use while standing in line for coffee, half-watching a 12-second video and texting three friends about a meme. Once again, (and again), a phone is not a tiny lapt

The AI debate is exhausting and pointless… It takes massive data center clusters to power AI, but the human brain is THE astonishing piece of hardware. It runs on about 20 watts, crashes occasionally due to lack of sleep or caffeine, and yet can invent culture, fall in love with fonts, and instantly sense when an ad is trying too hard. No machine, no matter how many GPUs it eats for breakfast, comes close to matching its blend of logic, intuition, memory, emotion, and bad de

Most of us find out the hard way what happens when you over-promise and under-deliver. And so we swathe ourselves in the warm comfort of under promising, and then (hopefully) over delivering. But that dogma needs busting as under promising is merely setting a lower bar which could not be less inspiring to clients and customers. Elite performers over promise and over deliver. Over promising: I’m not talking about defying gravity here, but the risk/reward of over promising pays

Five Ways This Process Needs To Change. “ There’s got to be a better way, ” said every agency ever at some point during a search process. The fact is, just because agencies know what they’re jumping into doesn’t mean the entire endeavor is any less of a time suck or emotional dive to the Mariana Trench where the odds are forever 3:1 against, or worse. One agency’s elation is matched by multiple runner ups (“ it was SO close ”) left to wallow in the sunken place. Valuing agenc

What really motivates search consultants Agency search is inevitable. A new CMO or brand lead is one trigger, sure. But performance...

The True Retail Masters and Augusta's Mind Blowing Brand Value Have you heard the one about the retail shop that does a million dollars an hour? Oh yes, in fact most of us who understand best in class retail performance were gobsmacked when those 2024 numbers recently surfaced as the world’s most prestigious golf tournament concluded yesterday. While the week-long event known as The Masters rakes in $152 million in total, the $70 million from the golf shop alone is enough to

Agency searches are inevitable, but also inevitably too late. You’ve been avoiding this… the specter of holding a search for a new agency...

The best way to lower employee turnover, is to stop focusing on employee turnover: It's the number one question I hear from Chief HR...

A clarion call for a 10X investment your workforce. For those who believe experience is the best teacher, consider what experience looks like today: A series of small boxes via Zoom, MS Teams, or Google Meet. It's professional encounters relegated to scheduled and agenda heavy zoom calls where attendees are simultaneously answering texts, emails, and merely trying not to miss an action item. It's all about the to do, without the opportunity to learn. It starts with where we a

WHEN A BUZZ TERM DU JOUR BECOMES A JOKE Sitting at a Starbucks recently talking career opportunities with a highly skilled marketer,...

The daunting challenge of building sustainable corporate cultures in a remote work world. This is not an ode the gold watch retirement...

THE CREATIVE LEADER'S ULTIMATE CHALLENGE... GIVING FEEDBACK No need to name names, but plenty of legendary creative "leaders" have...

EVEN CULTURALLY DIVERSE AGENCIES CAN STILL BE SOW DINOSAURS As corporate diversity continues to blossom, not all commitments are created...

WELCOME TO THE LOWER FUNNEL, THE NEW RABBIT HOLE As marketing's vox populi has spent an inordinate amount of time proclaiming the virtues...