I sat down with Forbes to talk about marketing and cybersecurity startups:
The cybersecurity industry has long been defined by its cautious pragmatism—measured growth, technical jargon and a general aversion to flair. But that mold is beginning to crack. Following Google’s headline-grabbing $32 billion acquisition of Wiz, industry analysts and investors have turned their attention to what might come next. One name that frequently comes up in those discussions is Torq.
Read more here.
We see the smart brands begin focusing on outside-of-the-home activations – IRL experiences to generate brand awareness and build community. I think we will see a lot more brick-and-mortar stores, pop-ups, and in-person engagement. We're going to see the smart brands focus on deploying non-digital strategies – more analog than AI – this will help stand out from all the digital noise.
Related: Severance activation in Grand Central Station is another example of an out-of-home cultural moment.
The title of the album was taken from Jostein Gaarder’s 1991 philosophical fiction novel Sophie’s World from the line: “Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. Some of them fall off, but others cling on desperately and yell at the people nestling deep in the snug softness, stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen,’ they yell, ‘we are floating in space!’ But none of the people down there care.” This context of philosophers feeling perhaps a tad lonely in their pursuit of knowledge is reflected in the lonely tone of the music throughout the album.
If you are feeling lonely and worthless, however, fear not, Spiritualized produced the cure through not just sound, but vision too. The marketing for this album coupled with the novel and quite frankly astounding music made for an incredible work of art. The cover art for the album was a triumph due to its intense simplicity which draws the eye in an unexpected manner. The artist Mark Farrow was inspired by the words “music is medicine for the soul” which he recalls Pierce saying when they first met to discuss the aesthetic direction for the album. With this, Farrow set about designing the sleeve in a way that made the album appear like a medical product... [read more]
In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO. His first task was to rebuild and reintroduce the Apple brand. The result was the "Think Different" campaign.
Just prior to introducing the new campaign to his colleagues at a company all-hands meeting, Jobs shared his thoughts on the role of marketing:
"Marketing is about values... This is a very complicated world, a very noisy world and we're not going to get the chance to get people to remember us. No company is. So we have to be very clear about what we want people to know about us."
The award-winning “Think Different” commercial did not once mention a computer. In fact, it didn’t even mention Apple by name. Instead, the campaign focused on people and personalities that changed the world.
Instead of sharing information about their product, Apple focused on creating an emotional connection with their customer — more feeling than function.
The campaign was a tribute to the creative rebels, who thought differently and broke the rules. Although the campaign never once showed the Apple computer, it effectively positioned Apple, and those who purchased an Apple computer as people who were going to change the world — the computer was simply the tool to empower that change.
The most iconic brands in the world spend very little time marketing the features or function of their products. Most of the time, they avoid mentioning products altogether. Instead, they focus their messaging around a purpose or an idea.
"Each piece of Patagonia clothing, whether or not it’s organic or uses recycled materials, emits several times its weight in greenhouse gases, generates at least another half garment’s worth of scrap, and draws down copious amounts of freshwater now growing scarce everywhere on the planet."
