A classic from Hugh MacLeod, November 2004: The primary job of an advertiser is not to communicate benefit, but to communicate conviction. Benefit is secondary. Benefit is a product of conviction, not vice versa. Whatever you manufacture, somebody can make it better, faster, and cheaper than you. You do not own the molecules. They are stardust. […]
The market for something to believe in is infinite
October 6, 2012
A classic from Hugh MacLeod, November 2004: We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary. We humans want to believe in our own species. And we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human […]
Your brand is the cannon, not the ball
June 4, 2012
Hugh MacLeod drew this insightful image for our SocialMedia.org members. It’s a reminder that your brand isn’t this week’s ad, concept, or social media campaign. You can fire off little cannonballs all day long — but they aren’t what’s important. Your brand is the platform. It’s your ability to send out messages to lots of […]
Are you a social object?
May 19, 2012
“Social Object” is a term coined by Hugh MacLeod to describe the subject of a word of mouth conversation. (It’s the parallel to my term WOM Topic.) You need to give people a social object, or they’re not going to talk about you. Just being there, or just delivering a good product, doesn’t cause a […]
Be interesting, or be invisible
August 1, 2011
I talked to two extremely talented email designers today. This is what they do, and they do it really well. There are a lot of companies with email newsletters and almost no specialty design shops to make them great. Then they said, “We really want to get into all kinds of ecommerce design.” I really […]
I'll give you an iPad if you'll be my friend!
July 19, 2011
Imagine if you said that to a real person. It’s like saying, “I’m desperate for friends, but I’ll pay you to hang out with me.” Folks, true friendship does not involve a cash transaction. But advertisers make these awful offers every day, trying to buy friendship. Sad, desperate — and terrible marketing. True friends are […]
Do you have a social object? If not, how are people going to talk about you?
August 12, 2010
Hugh MacLeod designed these two prints based on my favorite WOM lines. Do read Hugh’s social object post to understand one of the biggest ideas in word of mouth: 1. Would anybody tell a friend? If it’s a social object, yes. 2. Advertising is the cost of not being a social object. And then … […]
Advertising is the cost of being boring (Andy Sernovitz tells the hard truth. Hugh MacLeod makes it pretty.)
July 8, 2010
Advertising is the cost of being boring. If your customers won’t talk about your stuff, you have to pay newspapers and TV shows to do it for you. But when people trust you, they are willing to put their words on the line for you. Please them, inspire them, and they’ll bring their friends to […]
Get My Newsletter
*Third-party newsletter (Privacy Policy)
Contact Me
I'd love to hear from you. Use this form, please.