Racism, like any extremist view, is an idea. And you don’t “fight” an idea. You manipulate it until they see things the way you want. Trust me, I’m in advertising. Each year roughly 600 billion dollars is spent globally on advertising. It’s an incomprehensible amount of money. But the reason is simple–people are influenced by tactical messages. You can convince anyone of anything if you have a great plan and solid execution. Not all advertising is effective, however. In fact, most of what I…
I parked across from an old white guy in a pickup truck at Home Depot today. His front license plate was a Confederate flag. I judged. Hard. As I put my car into park, I sat there scowling at him for a few seconds. The old man stared back. I suppose he knew why I was looking at him, and probably wondered why I might be upset. I was white, after all. What’s the problem? Unless … I’m one of…
I’m a copywriter who gets paid to come up with ways to make people think about things differently. In order to do my job, I have to think “creatively.” I’ve won awards, shifted perception, and moved product. Anyway, with the advent of social media, I’ve met a lot of other people who do my job. And while everyone seems to take different paths to creative problem solving, the one thing the people I admire most have in common is that they embrace…
Never has it been more evident to me that I’m a writer as right now. I’m talking about a real writer. A person who writes for food. During the 5.5 years I was at Boxman, I created and executed marketing strategies, but mostly I wrote. Hundreds of posts, thousands of tweets, sales materials, strategies, proposals, and general correspondence. Since leaving there in January, I’ve continued to write my ass off. I had to write a strategy for my new…
You want me to pay attention to something? Get me to try something new? Make me think about an idea a certain way? Use emotion. The one thing that every target market anywhere in the world has in common is that they’re human. You might sell dog food, but you’re not selling it to the dogs. No, human beings are always the target. Even in B2B. And all human beings have one thing in common—emotions. Too obvious? Stay with me…
Children in the CMS system here in Charlotte are currently taking their end-of-year exams. Four days of intensive testing … to see how well they test. It’s stupid. But hey, go America! Anyway, our daughter’s 6th grade math teacher sent this note home with her students. NOTE: It’s been pointed out to me that this note has been circulated amongst teachers since 1999. And for good reason. It’s amazing for kids to hear this. And no, I’m not going to tell my…
