Category: Marketing

  • Interpersonalization

    Does the marketing dream of AI-generated ads for every person make sense? Digital advertising uses all the data it has about you (which is a lot) to draw conclusions about the things you want and then place ads about those things in front of you. My friend (and media deep thinker) Jim Meskauskas describes the worst-case scenario…

  • The Paradox of No Choice

    An odd VENN diagram of tariffs and AI are narrowing our choices as customers. Will this change be permanent? What are the implications for products and retailers? Note: this piece takes its title from Barry Schwartz’s famous and terrific book, The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. In 1985, Wendy’s ran a memorable, minute-long spot,…

  • The Distraction Button

    What Sydney Sweeney and Jeffrey Epstein have in common, plus why it’s time to revive the word “Ridiculous.” For the Dispatch readers who aren’t compulsive media watchers, a summary: a scandal of the week involves the actress Sydney Sweeney in a new ad campaign for American Eagle jeans. The campaign’s tag line is “Sydney Sweeney has great…

  • The Precipitous Decline of Brands

    …and the rise of generics because of AI agents and other things. (Issue #173) In a recent issue of my newsletter, I mentioned a wide-ranging conversation about AI with my friend Louis Jones of the Brand Safety Institute. Louis and I spent a chunk of time talking about the rise of AI Agents, how they will impact…

  • A Marketing Win

    Since so much of the news is dyspeptic and terrifying, here’s a story about how 1-800-FLOWERS creates happiness and profit at the same time. My last piece was grim, so I wanted to explore something smart that 1-800-FLOWERS does that drives business and profit while also making its customers happy. 1-800-FLOWERS.com owns Harry & David as…

  • The Flip

    In today’s world of limitless information, stores, experts, and brands need to find new functions in order to avoid irrelevance. I’m traveling for business, so I hope you’ll indulge me and let me share a piece I wrote for The Center back in November of 2019 that I think holds up. I’ve updated links and fussily changed…

  • Agentic AI Will Change Everything

    How realistic is the idea that AI-powered agents will change the way we work, play, and live? The answer: it’s already happening. Last time, I shared a microfiction (1,000 words or less), a short science fiction story called Piercing the AI Wall about an executive who had surrounded himself with a barrier of Agentic AIs that prevented…

  • Movie Marketing Magic and… Stupidity

    Two Hollywood stories this week prompted a mediation on the two things movies need to succeed—and yes, it’s only two.  Two things in the movie biz happened last week: one fantastic and one fatuous. Let’s start with the dumb one. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal ($) ran an article titled, “Here’s a Hollywood Twist: Streaming Success…

  • Tempest on a Toy Box

    Mattel printed the wrong URL on the back of the boxes of toys for the new “Wicked” movie, which was not good, but just how bad was it? Lady Sneerwell in Sheridan’s School for Scandal observes, “There’s no possibility of being witty without a little ill-nature: the malice of a good thing is the barb that makes…

  • Musk’s Latest Antics

    On August 6, Twitter/X owner Elon Musk filed a frivolous lawsuit against an obscure advertising trade group; the timing is suspicious. As longtime readers know, I’ve written an intermittent series about Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. You don’t have to read those older pieces, nor must you care about advertising or know anything about GARM (the Global…