“The ranking of people, objects, and brands is not only a convenient method of organizing things but also an absolute necessity to keep from being overwhelmed by the complexities of life.” Jack Trout and Al Ries, Positioning “We see status virtually everywhere in social life, if we think to look…

“Imitation, obedience to authority, and the fear of being different are forces that drive crowds.” Peter Bevelin, Seeking Wisdom We humans are social, even tribal, creatures. We find safety, identity, and comfort by banding together with others. Our communities of family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and interest groups help us to…

“Fear is fundamental because life is fundamental. If we die, everything else becomes irrelevant.” Rush W. Dozier, Fear Itself We live in a scary world. If we feel before we think, one of our primary emotional responses is fear. Try as we might to deny it, being scared is a…

“In the family of ideas, there are no orphans. Each notion exists within a network of relatives linked through a shared system of associations. We link therefore we think.” Robert Cialdini, Pre-suasion Over the past few newsletters, we’ve been considering “why brands work”. What is it about human beings and…

“A brand is a shortcut that tells you what to buy.” Adrian Hanft, Art of the Living Dead Our brains are remarkably complex. The human brain packs nearly 100 billion neurons despite the fact that it weighs only about 3 pounds. Each of those neurons connects to thousands of other…

“Reason is…the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.” — David Hume “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” …

“Much of history revolves around this question: How does one convince millions of people to believe particular stories about gods, or nations, or limited liabilities companies?” Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens I’ve been a brand strategist for over 20 years. During that time, I’ve worked with brands of all sizes —…

It’s the day after Labor Day, and like 100s of millions of others around the world, I’m reluctantly shaking off the sticky cobwebs of summer relaxation and laboring to get back into the groove. These last weeks were spent with family and friends, almost totally focused on the things I…

Last month, one of the largest websites on the internet went down for two days. …