Berry Gordy Jr., founder of Motown Records, was a notoriously mercurial and mercenary businessman. Although Gordy was responsible for some of the most powerful, popular, and passionate R&B and soul music ever created, the stories of him making musical decisions based on finances instead of aesthetics are legion. What’s more, Gordy insisted on ironclad creative ...
It was Winston Churchill who first said: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Churchill’s words are perfectly appropriate considering what’s going on today with the Coronavirus and Covid-19. This could very well be the crises he was talking about. According to The Harvard Business Review (HBR), “in studying the marketing successes and failures ...
Up on stage as the opening keynote speaker, I explained to my audience why their efforts branding their businesses by promoting the functions of what they sell or what they do was ineffectual. Instead, I suggested they should spend their time establishing an emotional connection with their customers. I showed them why this would both ...
Back in the not-so-distant dark days of Web 1.0, I belonged to a group of entrepreneurs, engineers, and marketing types called The Internet Users Group. We would meet once every couple of months in San Francisco and talk about the emergence of the Internet and what it would mean to all of our businesses. Most ...
Each time I use a restaurant bathroom I see a different version of this sign: “Please Wash Your Hands After You Go To The Bathroom.” Here’s something I don’t understand: why should you wait to wash your hands until after you go to the bathroom? Pardon me for getting personal here, but if you shower ...
This morning I read one of my favorite blogs, Who Will Lead, written by my old friend John Calia. John was discussing how conflicted he felt about a recent radio appearance he had been on. Examining his feelings, John wrote, “…it has been a difficult journey to this imperfect place at which I behave imperfectly. ...
Lots of people have trouble writing. I guess that’s why folks often ask me how I’m able to write books and blog posts. Apparently, they think there’s some undisclosed magic, some professional insight, that’ll unlock access to their inner author. If you’ve tried to blog regularly, or maybe you know you have the next great ...
Click on Roger to check what his media group is doing now
By now the entire advertising industry is buzzing with news of the new ways coming to rate commercials. While ratings have always calculated how many people (the industry term is “eyeballs”) watch a particular ad, the new system will report on how many people change the channel or turn the TV off when measured ads ...
We sell Miami as the hippest, hottest, most fashion-conscious place in the world, using beautiful models dressed in beyond trendy fashions enjoying themselves in a variety of uniquely Miami settings. And it works — over the last three years Smith Travel has consistently ranked Miami number one or two in growth for both hotel occupancy ...
6. All Five Senses. Human beings are hard-wired to respond to visual and verbal stimuli. But human beings are also armed with three other senses (taste, touch, and smell) that can all be called upon to evoke an emotional response. Perhaps a certain color or phrase will provoke your consumer to recall a memory that ...
1. All About Them. Your consumer is your first priority. What do you know about them? What don’t you know? What motivates them? What keeps them up at night? The answers to these questions all come from understanding your consumer—their motivations, their lifestyle, their values, their concerns—everything in fact, that could effect their purchasing decisions. ...
