“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” I’m reminded of this Eric Hoffer quote every time I think about the racket of amateur sports under the National Collegiate Athletic Association — better known as the NCAA. Intercollegiate athletics is about to drastically change. It’s a disruption that will fundamentally change everything you know…
I’ve written about my incurable disease extensively over the past few years, and if you need to get caught up, here are a few posts on it: Moonshot 1 “Embrace the Change That’s Coming”, Moonshot 2 “Positive Progress”, and Moonshot 10 “ Update On My Clinical Trial.” In summary: I have achalasia, a rare esophageal disease where the muscles and…
Did you hear about the mind-blowingly brilliant Taco Bell Hotel? In May 2019, Taco Bell announced they were going to open a four-day-only pop-up hotel, “The Bell,” (in Palm Springs), to serve its loyal fan base. But that’s not the real reason Taco Bell did it… The marketing team at Taco Bell dreamed up this amazing idea for one simple…
6 years ago, I made a life-altering decision. My wife, 6-month old daughter and I had just experienced an amazing vacation, relaxing in the warm turquoise waters of Florida’s gulf coast. We returned to our home in Washington, D.C., and decided to shake off the jet lag and go to the children’s park just a few blocks from our house.…
My new favorite NFL team? The Cleveland Browns. Say wha?!??!? The same team that lost 37 of 41 games from 2016–18? Yes. The same team that’s experienced 11 consecutive losing seasons? Yes. The same team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2002? Yes. That’s right — I like this team because of two hulking figures in their organization that have won the hearts and…
Life always comes full circle. Growing up in the 1970s and 80s I saw a massive disruption that most likely caused my incurable disease. The transition happened when “mom and pop” grocery stores, sourcing their products from small farms and local farmers, became overrun by mass-produced grocers, offering cheap-prices and thousands of options. Think: the big box revolution. Before this disruption hit,…
I love outliers, especially business and marketing outliers because they go for it. No matter how crazy the idea, they pick a lane, they commit, and then they do the hard work to prove their theory. I often write about two industries, in particular, due to their competitive nature and outlier marketing creativity — food and alcohol… In this day…
There’s an old axiom in politics, “When you are explaining, you are losing.”(*My wife says the same thing to me during an argument.) Think about an instance where you’ve heard a politician try to defend themselves against an outrageous attack — by repeating the attack, and thus, further branding the accusation in the brains of the voters. Does it always work? No. But…
I often talk about how we are in the most disruptive time in human history and that political marketers are innovating faster than corporate marketers. A political marketer’s pace is based on one key factor and the ultimate scorecard — Election Day. It creates a “win or die” mentality and forces speed, innovation and accountability with each and every marketing campaign. We either…
David Meerman Scott is one of the great marketers of our generation, and he recently taught me an incredible lesson…but first, an amazing, jaw-dropping story: In 1980, David took the last photo of Bob Marley on a concert stage (at The Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh) before the singer died of brain cancer. Nine years ago, the Marley family released the live…