From warehouses to meeting places. From transactions to conversations. — Matteo Penzo of Frog and Tim Kobe of Eight Inc had an interesting conversation about the future of brand experiences at Step Conference in Dubai last month. …

Don’t Disrupt. Focus on Adding Value to the Lives of the People You Want to Engage With. — It’s hard to believe it’s been 18 years since Cluetrain Manifesto was first published. I still remember sitting on a plane totally oblivious to my surroundings and just devouring the book. It was life changing. The most meaningful and important marketing book I have read — to this day. It…

How a toy shaped my image of CAT — I’ve always admired the way CAT has branched out from their core business of making the biggest and boldest machinery that literally shapes the Earth to clothing, footwear, mobiles phones and all the way to toys. I’ve worn CAT boots and loved them for keeping me warm during the cold…

Our brains have been overclocked for too long. Time to install some fans, bring down the Mhz and let the most critical resource we have in our industry breathe again. Marketing today is a continuously evolving mashup of creativity, psychology, sociology, understanding of the latest and future trends and immensely…

In todays connected world it’s the never ending stream of interactions that defines your brand. Big hollow statements no longer cut it. Building a loved brand takes time and effort spent relentlessly focusing on the seemingly inconsequential and often ignored details of each interaction between you and your audience. To…

When was the the last time you just listened? — When I was in my teens I worked at a record store. It was the best and coolest summer job you could have back then. I mean this was a record store of the 90’s when CD’s had just came out, vinyl was still the thing and music was still…

Why jumping through hoops is a waste of time. For everyone. — The purpose of an advertising pitch is to evaluate and ultimately find the best possible creative partner for a brand. …

The village is back. With a vengeance. — This was originally posted on my now offline blog in 2010. Thought I’d repost as it still rings true. Imagine you live in a village sometime in the end of the 19th century. You buy your bread from the village baker every day. You know it to be good, tasty…

Affecting change in a startup city Dubai is a city of change. It’s relentless pursuit for the best possible in everything combined with the surprising humility in admitting mistakes, learning from them and pivoting quickly is what makes it a unique test lab defining the city of the future. …