How Zohran Mandani’s Viral Campaign Is Rewriting the Rules of Political Advertising
The creative duo behind agency Melted Solids explain why storytelling—not slogans—is reshaping advocacy.Read More
Taylor Kitsch Leads Jefferson’s Bourbon on a Rule-Breaking Adventure
Jefferson’s Bourbon and Taylor Kitsch try to redefine the brand for younger, modern drinkers.Read More
Canva’s Latest Hire Hints at Major Global Creative Push
Canva has hired Ted Markovic as global head of advertising and creative operations as it scales its creative footprint worldwide.Read More
Two useful AI tactics
Create a document, several pages long, that explains who you are. What sort of learner are you? Do you have degrees or expertise? What sort of change are you making, who works with you, what are your standards? How do you want to engage?
Periodically, upload the doc to the chat you’re having with an LLM. Let it know you’re offering a reminder of how you want to work together.
One size doesn’t fit all.
Also: Don’t look to AI as a source for verified facts. The phrase, “That can’t be right, please double check and offer sources,” is not going to hurt the AI’s feelings, but it might save your project.
Human beings are used to being productive by decreasing the amount of time and effort we put into something. Computers don’t work that way. Give them instructions on how to take the long way around and you’ll both come out ahead.
Apple’s Latest Underdogs Adventure Takes a Swipe at Microsoft
Apple’s Underdogs conquer a system malfunction at a convention in the latest chapter of the popular ad series.Read More
Gushers Revives Its Fruitheads in a Body Horror Film With Bradley Whitford
Gushers and Imagine Entertainment tapped into nostalgia and the Halloween season by turning a ’90s ad into real body horror.Read More
Uncomfortable/unspoken
If you want to make a change (or make a living) it might pay to find a topic that people hesitate to talk about. There’s enormous leverage in making the uncomfortable urgent enough to take action on.
One of the easiest ways to improve public health and reduce cancer is by increasing the adoption of colonoscopies. No scientific breakthrough is needed, just a cultural shift.
The same sort of impact happens when we prioritize women’s health, or retirement savings or drunk driving.
Culture works hard to maintain its status quo, and persistent community action can change our standards.
Two kinds of luck
There’s “regular luck” and “earned luck.”
When a stranger dies and leaves you $10,000,000, that’s regular luck. Undeserved, unearned, a bolt out of the blue. Someone is going to win the lottery and might be you.
The other sort of luck happens after a lot of focus and effort.
This is the third novel that becomes a bestseller, or the hard work that turns into a promotion to VP of sales.
It’s easy to imagine that earned luck is well deserved, because it is. But quite often, earned luck, while earned, doesn’t arrive.
Acknowledging the boost from our good luck doesn’t diminish the hard work we put into the project. In fact, it celebrates it.
It’s hard work to stick around long enough to get lucky.
Building a Framework for Authentic Real-Time Brand Strategy That Works
This post was created in partnership with Monks Key takeaways Real-time brand strategy is more complex than being the first to notice something and react. Putting frameworks in place so […]Read More
How to Keep the CMO From Becoming an Endangered Species
While the chief marketing officer (CMO) post isn’t about to disappear tomorrow, it’s impossible to ignore the mounting evidence of its steady erosion. As ADWEEK reported in August, the average […]Read More